James E. Pepper facts for kids
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| Industry | Liquor |
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| Headquarters |
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U.S.
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Key people
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Elijah Pepper, Oscar Pepper, James E. Pepper |
| Products | Bourbon and rye whiskey |
James E. Pepper is a famous American whiskey brand. It's named after a real person, James E. Pepper, who was a well-known whiskey maker. He built and ran a distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. He sold his whiskey under his family's name, "Old Pepper," and also under his own name.
The distillery, once called the Henry Clay distillery, closed down in 1958. It stayed empty for over 50 years! Then, in 2008, a businessman named Amir Peay bought the old distillery site. He brought the James E. Pepper brand back to life. Making whiskey started again at the historic location in 2017.
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Meet James E. Pepper
James E. Pepper (born May 10, 1850 – died 1906) was a master distiller and a Kentucky Colonel. He was a very colorful person who loved to promote his family's whiskey brand. He was the third person in his family to make "Old Pepper" whiskey. His family claimed the brand started in 1780, during the American Revolution.
Pepper often said his distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, was the oldest in the United States. He also claimed it was the biggest in the world and made the best whiskey.
A Man of Horses and Travel
James E. Pepper loved horses. He owned one of the best horse stables in Kentucky. He even paid a record amount for a bluegrass horse farm. His racehorses competed in the Kentucky Derby and other races across the U.S. and Europe.
He traveled in a fancy private train car called "The Old Pepper." This car was painted with pictures of his famous whiskey label. He spent a lot of time in Manhattan, New York, promoting his brand.
The Old Fashioned Cocktail
During his trips to New York, James E. Pepper often stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. There, he met many important business leaders. These included John Jacob Astor, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
It was at the Waldorf that Pepper helped make the "Old Fashioned" cocktail popular. People say this drink was first created by a bartender at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
Protecting His Whiskey Business
Pepper was very serious about his whiskey business. He spoke out against a group of large whiskey companies in the 1890s. In 1890, he helped change Kentucky's laws. This allowed him to bottle his own whiskey right at his distillery. Before this, distillers could only sell whiskey in barrels. If someone wanted bottled whiskey, they had to bottle it themselves.
He also came up with a clever idea: a special paper strip with his signature. This strip went across the cork, sealing the bottle. He told customers that if the signature was broken, they should not buy the bottle. This meant someone might have tampered with the whiskey. This idea became very popular. The government later used a similar idea for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897.
Pepper was proud to use his grandfather's original recipes from the Revolutionary War era. Because of this, he nicknamed his whiskey "Old 1776."
The Historic Distillery Buildings
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James E. Pepper Distillery
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The distillery buildings in 2014
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 Location in Kentucky
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1200 Manchester St., Lexington, Kentucky |
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| NRHP reference No. | 09000006 |
| Added to NRHP | February 11, 2009 |
The James E. Pepper distillery site first started making whiskey in the 1800s. It was known as the Henry Clay distillery. It became a very large distillery when it became easier to transport goods by steamboat and train. Also, a new tax on alcohol in 1862, during the American Civil War, forced many smaller whiskey makers out of business. This time after the Civil War is sometimes called the "Golden Age of Distilling."
Even though many other whiskey makers closed down, the distillery kept going until about 1917. Production stopped because of World War I and then Prohibition in the United States. Prohibition was a time when making and selling alcohol was illegal in the U.S.
Surviving Prohibition and Wars
During Prohibition, the James E. Pepper distillery was one of the few places allowed to store alcohol. Whiskey could still be sold for medical reasons. This helped the brand survive when many other companies closed. The distillery's equipment was put away, but bottling continued.
In 1923, James E. Pepper whiskey was sold to pharmacies. Over 40,000 doctors supported its use. It sold for six times more than before Prohibition. As Prohibition ended, the distillery was bought by Schenley Industries in 1934. Schenley was the biggest distiller in the U.S. at that time.
A few years later, World War II caused whiskey production to stop again. The distillery made industrial alcohol instead. After the war, it went back to making whiskey. Production increased before the Korean War, as managers thought production might stop again. This led to too much whiskey being stored. So, whiskey making slowed down. In 1958, all whiskey making at the site stopped.
The distillery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It was important because it was a well-preserved example of a distillery from after Prohibition in Fayette County, Kentucky. Long ago, in 1810, there were as many as 140 distilleries in the Lexington area!
The Brand's Return: 2008 and 2017
In 2008, businessman Amir Peay brought the James E. Pepper brand back. He spent over ten years researching the brand's history. He collected old materials and whiskey bottles. He even had a new whiskey-making system built to look like the original one from 1934.
The new system was made by Vendome Copper in Louisville, the same company that built the 1934 system. The new distillery started making whiskey on the historic site on December 21, 2017. It uses the same historic recipe as when the plant closed in 1967. It also uses water from the distillery's old well. Peay has shared many historic documents online and built a museum at the distillery.
Unfortunately, in 2018, new taxes on American whiskey in Europe caused problems. James E. Pepper lost three-quarters of its business overseas. This made their prices too high for many customers.
See also
- List of historic whisky distilleries
