James E. Pepper was a pre-Prohibition whiskey man with quite the whiskey pedigree, at least if you define pedigree as the people he was associated with. His father, Oscar Pepper started a distillery near Versailles, Kentucky that is today’s Woodford Reserve Distillery, hired James Crow as his distiller and by all accounts made some pretty good whiskey. Very probably because James Crow (of Old Crow Bourbon fame) was the developer, or at least the popularizer, of the sour mash fermentation method that is used in making most American Whiskey to this day. After Oscar died, James inherited his distillery but was deemed too young to run it so it was managed by his court-appointed guardian Col. E.H. Taylor (of Old Taylor fame). Taylor did the young Pepper the favor securing money to expand the distillery, but then also ended up losing it in bankruptcy proceedings. The distillery was then sold to Misters Labrot and Graham, whose name still graced bottles of Woodford Reserve up until pretty recently.
Now this is speculation on my part based solely on hindsight of the eventual outcome, but I’d say that the court may have misjudged who should be running the distillery as going bankrupt and losing the business might just be the worst outcome that could have happened to a business. Of course those were turbulent financial times in the US so James Pepper might have faired even worse. Hard to tell from almost 150 years away.
But, regardless, it seems that James may have learned a thing or two about making whiskey through all of this as he, along with a business partner, decided to try again. This time in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. That distillery lasted beyond James’ death in 1906 until Prohibition shut it down. The James E. Pepper brand and distillery passed to Schenley and then to United Distillers during various mergers and acquisitions. According to bourbon historian Michael Veach, the James E. Pepper distillery was shut down in the late 1960s and the brand “disappeared from the market by the end of the 1970s” only to briefly reemerge in the early 1990s as an export-only brand before being abandoned for good.
Which takes us out of the past and brings us to tonight’s whiskey. In 2008, the abandoned trademark for the James E. Pepper brand was acquired by Amir Peay. He and his team started by bottling MGP juice under the 1776 brand name while they got a new James E. Pepper distillery going on the site of the historical James E. Pepper distillery. Here is what the company has to say:
The Story
In 2017 we completed the multi-year project to rebuild the historic Pepper Distillery, which had been abandoned in 1967 for over 50 years. This label is a celebration of that project and where we showcase our single barrel picks, small-batch bottlings, or limited specialty finishes.
Technical
Age statements and bottling proofs are on the labels. Bottled by hand at the Historic James E. Pepper Distillery, using water from the historic limestone well to cut whiskeys to proof. Distilled at various distilleries, including ours (DSP-KY-5), the Lawrenceburg Distillery in Indiana (DSP-IN-15023), and the Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Kentucky (DSP-KY-20037); relevant details can be found on the labels.
My bottle was distilled in Indiana and is 4 years old. Let’s see how it tastes.
Old Pepper Single Barrel Rye
Purchase Info: So, I lost the receipt for this. No idea what I spent on it. But Total Wine sells it for about $40 in Michigan and $53 in Kentucky. So it was probably in that range somewhere.
Price per Drink (50 mL): (based on the figures above) $2.67 - $3.53
Details: 4 years old. Cask 1126. 55% ABV. Distilled at DSP IN - 15023. Bottled at DSP KY-5.
Nose: Cinnamon candies, spearmint, and brown sugar.
Mouth: Very hot. Lots of cinnamon candy right off the bat. following that are notes of cedar, mint, and nutmeg.
Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering notes of spearmint, cedar, and cinnamon.
Thoughts: This is a very tasty rye. Very cinnamon forward until it gets to the finish when the mint takes over. It is very hot, but takes water well. A little water brings out a sweet malt note. All in all, I like this one. Tastes good neat and works really nicely in a Sazerac cocktail as well.
Sources:
bourbonveach.com: Brand History – James E. Pepper
bourbonveach.com: Lexington Kentucky Distilleries – James E. Pepper
Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men: James E. Pepper: Was His Whiskey Revolutionary?
JamesEPepper.com: Old Pepper - Single Barrel & Small Batch
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