Michter's
Michter's is a brand for bourbon and rye whiskey . It was one of the better-known whiskey brands in the United States in the second half of the 20th century , but the Pennsylvania distillery ceased operations in the late 1980s. In 1997, New York-based Chatham Imports acquired the trademark rights and began to bottle whiskey from third-party - unspecified - distilleries, which they obtained from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers , under the Michter's label. Chatham Imports is currently building its own large distillery for Michter's in Shively ,Kentucky as well as a small distillery and visitor center in downtown Louisville , both scheduled to open in 2015.
history
Lou Forman founded Michter's in Schaefferstown , Pennsylvania in 1950 . The name was derived from the first names of his sons Michael and Peter, and he tried to create a word that sounded like the Pennsylvania Dutch . Forman bought the former Bombergers distillery in Schaefferstown, which had not survived the prohibition era . In 1956 he sold it back to Pennco, but bought it back in 1975.
Michter's adopted both the sour mash technique and the bottle shape from Jack Daniels . The company never produced straight whiskey because they used used casks for maturation for part of the production and thus did not meet the legal requirements for straight whiskey. In the mid-1970s, the Pennsylvania distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a popular tourist attraction thanks to its visitor center. Michter's worked particularly hard with merchandising and history connections from 1980 to 1990, and repeatedly referred to the whiskey tradition in Schaefferstown, which dates back to 1753. The distillery also achieved particular fame by producing a small amount of whiskey on behalf of Adolph Hirsch, which was sold as AH Hirsch after several changes of ownership of the barrels , is now one of the most expensive whiskeys of all and costs several thousand dollars per bottle at auctions.
The original Michter's whiskey was produced in Schaefferstown until the distillery closed in 1990. This closed the last remaining distillery in Pennsylvania, the state that was the heart of American whiskey production in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The former factory site is now owned by Lebanon Valley farms, a local waste disposal company that wants to build a garbage dump there. In addition to the new Michter's, a microdistillery also refers to the local distilling tradition. A new Bombergers has opened in Pennsylvania not far from the former distillery and is also trying to market whiskey.
In 1997, Chatham Imports acquired the Michter's brand and began selling whiskey as a so-called non-distilling producer. This means that the whiskey was bought in from other distilleries and only bottled ourselves. The company did not provide any information about the origin of the whiskey. Although Michter's did not distill whiskey at all, the company was named Distiller of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2012.
The success in the bourbon whiskey segment since the turn of the millennium and the success of the Michter's brand prompted Chatham Imports to build their own production facilities in order to become more independent from the suppliers. The newly built show distillery with visitor center is the first working distillery in the so-called Whiskey Row , historically a center of whiskey production, in Louisville, Kentucky for decades . In the larger distillery in Shively, Kentucky, in the heart of the American bourbon production, is a 14 meter high since October 2014 pot still installed, the distillery will go into operation, 2015. The first self-distilled Michter's whiskey will not be available until 2017 at the earliest. Fermentation tanks and a filling system have also been installed since 2013. The company is experimenting with different manufacturing methods on two small test stills.
Remarks
- ↑ a b Sam Komlenic: Guest Blog: Sam Komlenic on the legendary Michter's Distillery ( Memento of the original from December 13, 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. , Whiskey Advocate Online June 4, 2010
- ↑ Ethan Smith: Guest Blog # 2: What killed Michter's distillery? ( Memento of the original from December 13, 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. , Whiskey Advocate Online August 21, 20110
- ^ A b Chuck Cowdery: Michter's To Build Micro-Distillery On Louisville's Whiskey Row. , the Chuck Cowdery Blog July 8, 2011
- ↑ Bourbon Truth: The Battle for Bombergers, David vs Whiskey Goliath , October 9, 2014
- ↑ The Bourbon Truth: Deceit vs. Deception: The Heroes and Hobos of Whiskey and Defense of a Misguided Hatchet Man , March 14, 2014
- ↑ a b c Chuck Cowdery : The Michter's Stills Are In , Chuck Cowdery Blog October 23, 2014
- ^ A b David A. Mann: Slideshow: Michter's gets new still in Shively , Louisville Business First October 23, 2014
- ^ Considering Michter's. , The Coopered Tot, March 8, 2014
