The Great American Spirit
The story of how Bourbon became America’s spirit, isn’t romantic, patriotic, or award-winning. It’s corrupt, crime-driven: a cutthroat industry. In 1964 a piece of legislation declared bourbon “ a distinctive product of the United States”. Most lawmakers questioned giving this blue-collar drink this special recognition. In all honesty, distilling was one of the most corrupt industries in American History. The justice department had its eyes on a group of companies known as the “Big Four”, these 4 companies held nearly three-quarters control of the liquor trade. The Big Four companies were made up of Schenley Distilleries, National Distillers, Hiram Walker, and Seagram. They were all founded during Prohibition, which gave them a hand up when prohibition was over, they had bourbon and whiskey that was aged and could compete with imported whiskey.
Bourbon roots are uniquely American; traditional, deep-rooted legacy, family heritage, all traits that we believe are American standards. No one wants to hear the ugly truth on how this spirit got its high label, but it’s an important part of bourbon history and has carried through to today.
Most people haven’t heard of Lewis Rosenstiel, even if you’re a bourbon enthusiast. Lewing was the head of one of the world’s largest liquor companies, Schenley Distillery. No bottles or distilleries are named after him, and that might be because he was a criminal, charged with bootlegging during Prohibition, and then later linked to organized crime. Bourbon now is named after frontier icons, or sweet old men who remind you of your grandfather, not gangsters, even though his obituary described him as “the most powerful figure in the distiller spirits industry”. Almost a decade before the 1964 legislation, he predicted that the Korean War would cause a whiskey shortage, like what would happen after World War II, but that didn’t happen. What did happen was his distilleries produced so much American whiskey, enough to supply national demand for 8 years. Was this all a part of his plan to get control of almost the entire control of liquor, or did he make a mistake? I guess we won’t know. When he passed away his distillery died with him.
National Distillers was also created during prohibition, what was different about them was they had the license to sell medicinal spirits and controlled a large portion of those sales. They owned brands such as Old Crow, Old Granddad, Mount Vernon, Sunnybrook, and Old Taylor. They continued to expand after prohibition and found new distilleries for existing brands. By the 1980’s the company was sold to American Chemical which owned Jim Beam.
Hiram Walker was actually a Canadian company and once prohibition ended they came to the United States and built a huge distillery in Peoria, Illinois. In 1980 Hiram Walker purchased the Makers Mark brand and distillery from the Samuels family, but eventually, this company was sold off and the brand was sold to other companies.
Lastly, Seagrams was a Canadian Company that moved here once Prohibition ended and built a large distillery in Louisville. They bought distilleries such as Frankfort distillery and their brand Four Rose, as well as Henry McKenna. The Canadian company focused their sales on blended whiskey such as 7 crowns and turned four roses into a blended whiskey. By the end of the 20th century, they were sold off to Diageo who then sold the Four Roses brand and distillery to a company in Japan.
Four huge companies, but by the 20th century not one of them exists. But they built brands that are still with us today and that is something that we can be thankful for.