George Dickel Tennessee WhiskeyGeorge Dickel Tennessee Whiskey George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey
George DickelFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
Tennessee, near Tullahoma and bottled in Stamford, Connecticut and Canada. The brand is now owned by Diageo PLC. Three whiskies are produced at the George Dickel Distillery: George Dickel Old No. 8 Brand, Superior No. 12 Brand, and Barrel Select Tennessee whiskies. Old No. 8 Brand, with the black label, is an 80 proof whisky and sells for an average price of US$17 for a 750ml bottle; Superior No. 12 Brand, with the ivory label, is 90 proof, and sells for an average price of US$19 for 750ml. The Barrel Select is 86 proof, and prices vary dramatically depending on market. George Dickel's Tennessee Whisky uses the traditional Scottish spelling of whisky (as opposed to whiskey). Reportedly, this is because Dickel believed his product to be as smooth and high in quality as the best Scotch whiskies. The distillery is part of the American Whiskey Trail and offers tours to the public. HistoryGeorge Dickel was born in 1818. He founded a retail business in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1850s. Cascade Tennessee Whisky was first produced in 1870.[1] The Cascade Hollow distillery was founded in 1877 by John F. Brown and F. E. Cunningham.[2] George Dickel bought a controlling interest in the distillery in 1884. He also bought the exclusive rights to bottle and sell the whisky. Dickel withdrew from daily operations of the distillery in 1888 and died in 1894. After Dickel's death, his share in the company was willed to his wife Augusta, along with the advice to sell out. Augusta opted instead to retain her share of the company until the time of her death in 1916, when his brother-in-law and long-time business partner V. E. Shwab took over full control of the distillery. Tennessee prohibition forced distilling operations to move to Kentucky in 1910. National Prohibition forced them to shut down altogether. In 1933, national prohibition was repealed. Shwab had died in 1924, and in 1937 his family sold the Cascade trademark to the Schenley Distilling Co. In the 1940s and 1950s, their product, produced at the OFC Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, was marketed as Geo. A. Dickel's Cascade Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky.[3]
The Cascade Hollow distillery was reopened in 1958, and the present building dates from this era. In 1931, Schenley attempted to buy the Jack Daniel's brand.[4] After their offer was refused, they decided instead to return one of their own brands to its roots and compete. In 1958, after the passage of enabling legislation and a referendum, Schenley's Ralph Dupps reconstructed the Cascade Hollow distillery and the original recipe, and George Dickel Tennessee Whisky was first bottled in 1964. They opted to use George Dickel's name as the trademark because of the reputation the Cascade brand had gained as a value-priced bourbon. Schenley shut down the Tennessee bottling line in the 1980s and the whisky has since been hauled in tanker trucks for bottling elsewhere. Various mergers and buyouts have resulted in Diageo PLC owning the Dickel brand. Increased production of George Dickel in the 1990s caused supply to exceed demand. In response, the distillery was closed to allow the whisky's value to rebound. The distillery was reopened in 2003, almost too late to prevent a shortage of Old No. 8 in the market by 2007. Diageo floated a younger, three-year-old expression branded Old-Fashioned Cascade Hollow Batch Recipe to fill in any gaps. Once new stock of Old No. 8 appeared on shelves, the Cascade Hollow Batch proved unpopular and has been discontinued. The Cascade Distillery currently operates under the supervision of Master Distiller John Lunn. External linksRetrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dickel" Categories: | ||||||||||||||||||
