Navy foresters at NSA Crane assess a white oak tree set aside for future use in repairing the USS Constitution. (U.S. Navy/Bill Couch)Whiskey has only four ingredients and one of them is white oak, but there is a certain 50,000 acre stand of whit…
The huge letters atop several buildings in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, still say ‘SEAGRAMS,’ but the famed GNS and whiskey-maker is now Ross & Squibb Distillery.Back in January it was announced that MGP Ingredients, based in Atchison, Ka…
The furnace at Bourbon Iron Works, established by Jacob Myers in 1791 in Bath County. It was the first iron mill in Kentucky. Jacob Boehm was born in 1760 in Pennsylvania. You may know him better by the Americanized version of his name, Jaco…
Front labelThis pint bottle, probably from 1937, has me hooked. It raises so many wonderful questions. Such as: how can a blend of straight whiskies contain whiskey that is just eight months old? Clearly this product was made when fully aged whis…
Mural on a warehouse at Green River Distilling Company in Owensboro, Kentucky.Green River Distilling Company is in Owensboro, Kentucky. Although it is on the site of several historic distilleries and bears the name of one of them, Green River is …
(NOTE: I usually don’t promote this sort of thing, but it’s a cool opportunity and the money goes to a worthy cause. It’s personal because the daughter of a friend of mine has this condition. Click here to jump straight to the auction.)This aucti…
Isaly’s was a chain of dairies and stores that began in Mansfield, Ohio, my hometown.For a simple advertising sign, the image above packs a ton of information. It tickles my memory. It is easy to date because coonskin caps such as the one wo…
Alice gets it.As a writer I have two audiences, you and me. It’s kismet when they align. When I started this blog in 2005, I intended it as a platform for whatever I felt like writing. In those early days I wrote about American whiskey but also p…
American Vincentians established St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri, in 1818. It has served as an educational institution, a Vincentian house of formation, and a Vincentian community residence. For the story of Mansfield and B…
St. Mary’s of the Barrens Roman Catholic Church, Perryville, Missouri.If you are just joining us and interested in the Beam family in Mansfield, Ohio, my home town, you need to go back to Part 1. We have moved on to other history regarding my fam…
