Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)Anthony Wright de Hernandez, Librarian
Permission to publish material from Old Kentucky Distillery Warehouse Receipt must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Collection is open for research.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Old Kentucky Distillery Warehouse Receipt, Ms2015-057, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Old Kentucky Distillery Warehouse Receipt was purchased by Special Collections in October 2015.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Old Kentucky Distillery Warehouse Receipt was completed in December 2015.
The Old Kentucky Distillery operated from circa 1880 until it was shut down due to the United States ban on alcohol in 1919. Prior to 1895, it operated under the name Mayflower Distillery Co. In 1892, it was purchased by Dick Meschendorf who changed the name to Old Kentucky Distillery and produced different brands of whiskey including "Cherokee Springs", "Dew Drops", "Fountain Spring", "Goodwill", "Kentucky Dew", "Moon Light", "Normandy", "O K D", "Old Cherokee Spring", "Old Jefferson County", "Old Kentucky", "Old Oak Ridge", "Old Watermill", "Royal Velvet", and "Woodbury."
Bluthentahl & Bickart (B & B) was a distillery that operated in Georgia, beginning in 1880. In 1906, they moved operations to Maryland, when the state of Georgia passed prohibition laws. The distillery continued in Maryland until the United States ban on alcohol in 1919. Among the many distilleries with which they worked was the Old Kentucky Distillery. B & B produced whiskey under the brand names: "Allegheny", "Alligator Bait", "B & B", "Cleveland Club Old Rye", "Fitzhugh Lee", "Four Aces", "Good Value", "Good Whisky", "Hop Scotch", "Kentucky Blue Blood", "Mark Rogers", "Mark Rogers", "Mistletoe", "Mobile Buck Gin", "Mountain Dell", "Oakland", "Old Joe Rye", "Old Rookery", "Old Velvet Rye", "Royal Arch", and "Silas Deane."
The collection includes a receipt from Old Kentucky Distillery for five barrels of Cherokee Springs whiskey deposited by Bluthenthal & Bickart distillery of Georgia. The barrels were deposited in the warehouse on July 13, 1901, and the receipt indicates that they were stored in warehouse "D." The receipt has been stamped "Cancelled" multiple times.