James C. Crow

James C. Crow (born 1789 in Scotland ; died 1856 in Versailles , Kentucky ) was a Scottish-American doctor and master distiller of bourbon whiskey . Numerous innovations go back to Crow that shape the Bourbon production to date, including working with Sour Mash (sour mash ), which is the industry standard today.

Crow was born in Scotland. He trained as a doctor and chemist at the University of Edinburgh and emigrated to Kentucky via Pennsylvania in the 1820s . There he mainly worked as a master distiller for various distilleries - mainly for the Old Pepper Distillery (now Woodford Reserve ), but also for Newton Henrys Distillery in 1837/1838. In addition, he continued to practice as a doctor in the rural communities in which he lived.

Crow's most important discovery was the sour mash process. After the mash was burned, he inoculated the new grain to be fermented with leftover mash from the previous fire, so that the same yeasts and microorganisms were present in the fermentation. Crow's strong concern for hygiene also ensured that relatively few wild yeasts and bacteria influenced the brewing process and that Crow's whiskey received a consistent quality. At that time, the leftover mash was fed to pigs and cattle and almost all distilleries moved these animals right next to the distillery site in order to keep the transport route for the mash as short as possible. Crow insisted that the animal stalls were a clear distance from the distillery building for hygienic reasons.

In contrast to the practice at the time, which was based more on the experience and feeling of the master distiller, Crow used the scientific instruments available at the time to find out what made a whiskey good or bad and experimented with different production methods. He checked the temperature during the actual burning, measured the pH value and alcohol content and used a saccharimeter to determine the sugar content. Crow insisted not to distill more than two and a half gallons of whiskey from a bushel of grain and was the first to sell exclusively whiskey that had previously been stored in wooden barrels for some time. A letter from 1849 in which the amber color of Crows whiskey is particularly emphasized is the first written source for bourbon, which apparently was stored in wooden barrels for some time.

Crow worked the longest at the Old Peppers Distillery (now Woodford Reserve ), where he also created the Old Crow whiskey. Although sold almost twice the price of other whiskey, Old Crow spread throughout the United States and had many prominent followers such as Henry Clay , Andrew Jackson , Ulysses S. Grant , Daniel Webster and others.

Crow died at work in 1856 and was buried in the Versailles cemetery. The Old Crow whiskey brand still exists, but is now a budget brand of the Beam Suntory group. The bottles contain Jim Beam whiskey , which has been stored for less than a real Jim Beam.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael R. Veach: Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage University Press of Kentucky, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8131-4165-7 , pp. 40-43
2. ^ ^{A b c d e} C. K. Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 , pp. 110-112