Yellowstone (whiskey)
Yellowstone is a whiskey brand . The Bourbon Yellowstone was until the 1960s into one of the most popular whiskeys in the US. In the last few decades it has lost market share and, after several changes of ownership, belongs to the independent bottler Luxco . The whiskey is currently distilled at Heaven Hill in Lexington , Kentucky , but Luxco is building its own distillery for the brand with the Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon , Kentucky.
history
The brand was created in 1872 shortly after the opening of Yellowstone National Park by the beverage retailer Taylor & Williams from Louisville , Kentucky. The dealers bought whiskey in bulk from various distilleries and filled them in their own bottles under their own label. In the 1880s they let Joseph Bernhard Dant distill the whiskey for themselves in his new Cold Springs distillery in Nelson County , Kentucky. The whiskey was successful enough that Dant Taylor & Williams took over in 1903 and became the new president of the combined companies. In 1910, Dant bought a neighboring distillery from Minor Case (MC) Beam of the Jim Beam family. The new company only produced Yellowstone and Dant, and the Beams ran the company together.
After Prohibition ended, Dant and his sons built one in Shively , a suburb of Louisville, and continued to restore Yellowstone in collaboration with the Beams. In 1944 he sold the company and brand to the whiskey producer Glenmore , also from Louisville, who was allowed to continue producing medicinal whiskey during Prohibition and was accordingly financially sound. In the 1950s and 1960s, Yellowstone was one of the most successful brands on the market. However, the whiskey sales crisis of the 1970s hit the company hard. Throughout the 1980s, production sank steadily until the company finally closed in 1991 and the brand initially disappeared from the market.
In 1993, Glenmore was sold with production facilities and trademark rights but without the old whiskey stocks to United Distillers (today: Diageo ), who resold the production facilities and the Yellowstone brand to Heaven Hill. Heaven Hill, in turn, immediately sold the brand to Luxco , which, in contrast, had Heaven Hill produce new Yellowstone whiskey. Luxco positioned the whiskey as an inexpensive budget whiskey.
Limestone Branch Distillery
The Limestone Branch Distillery was founded in 2012 by the brothers Steve Beam and Paul Beam - descendants of MC Beam on the paternal side, descendants of JB Dant's brother William on the maternal side - with the help of funds from the Beam family in Lebanon. The brothers began to set up their own distillery amid the trend towards "craft" bourbon and small brands. Until 2014 they only sold White Dog - unripened clear whiskey, in 2014 they released their first three year matured whiskey. In 2014, Luxco bought into the distillery and acquired 50%. Yellowstone whiskey is said to be produced there again. According to the Beams, they also have the original recipe from the family.
The start of production in our own distillery according to a new recipe is planned for 2015, so that the first Yellowstone Bourbon from Limestone Branch will hit the market around 2019.
Remarks
- ↑ Chuck Cowdery : History Of Yellowstone, Part One Of Two. , The Chuck Cowdery Blog December 23, 2009
- ↑ Michael R. Veach: James Thompson and Bro. in: John E. Kleber (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Louisville University Press of Kentucky, 2001 ISBN 0-8131-2890-0
- ↑ Chuck Cowdery: History Of Yellowstone, Part Two Of Two. , The Chuck Cowdery Blog December 24, 2009
- ^ A b Chuck Cowdery: Luxco, Limestone Branch Partnership Will Return Yellowstone Bourbon to Its Roots , The Chuck Cowdery Blog December 2, 2014
- ↑ Timeline Limestone Branch ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Limestone Branch Distillery, accessed December 17, 2014
