Old ads

Whisky ads of the 1910s

Ads from 1911 to 1915, the last years before Prohibition, each with where and when it ran.

The last decade of legal whisky. State after state went dry, the trade papers kept running color covers, and the big Kentucky names fought each other in court over who could use them. National Prohibition took effect in January 1920.

There are no ads here from 1920 to 1930. Whisky could only be sold legally as medicine on a doctor's prescription, and no whisky ad from those years has turned up yet that passes this site's rules.

Old Taylor, the label, 1913

Color insert showing the orange cross shaped Old Taylor label with a portrait of E. H. Taylor Jr. and the distillery, Bottled in Bond, Frankfort, Kentucky — The front of a two sided insert: the Old Taylor label in color. Praising it, the copy says, would be "to paint the lily, to gild refined gold."Pacific Wine, Brewing and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1913, unnumbered insert, front. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr56301913311914sanfrich.

E. H. Taylor Jr. had spent years in court against a Louisville blender, Marion E. Taylor of Wright & Taylor, who sold whisky under the Taylor name.

Old Taylor, the injunction, 1913

Back of the insert in large type: Important Notice, Kentucky's Highest Court has granted us an injunction against Wright and Taylor and Marion E. Taylor — The back of the same insert: "Kentucky's Highest Court has granted us an Injunction against Wright & Taylor."Pacific Wine, Brewing and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1913, unnumbered insert, back. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr56301913311914sanfrich.

Old Taylor bought space to tell the whole trade it had won. The company went into American Medicinal Spirits in 1927, and from there into National Distillers.

The Old Taylor castle, 1911

Full page line drawing of the Old Taylor Distillery, a limestone building with towers and smokestacks, for E. H. Taylor Jr. and Sons, Frankfort, Kentucky, distributed by the Julius Levin Company of San Francisco — The castle distillery near Frankfort. The building still stands.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1911, page 19. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri54sanfrich.

Kentucky's Court of Appeals had ruled in 1905 that the rival "Old Kentucky Taylor" had to be sold as a blend.

Old Kirk, Christmas 1911

Color trade journal cover with Yellowstone across the top and a panel of a salesman holding up a bottle of A. P. Hotaling's Old Kirk, alongside Cinzano, Martini and Rossi and Boar's Head ads — "The only things in a bottle of A. P. Hotaling's Old Kirk are pure whiskey and satisfaction."Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1911, front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri54sanfrich.

"Pure whiskey" was a loaded phrase after the 1906 food law and the 1909 Taft ruling on what could be called straight, blended or imitation.

James E. Pepper by mail, 1911

Magazine advertisement with an engraving of a colonial gentleman raising a glass over a boxed notice headed The Standard Whisky, James E. Pepper Whisky, Born With the Republic — "Born With the Republic." Four quarts bottled in bond for $5, shipped prepaid east of the Rockies, money back if not satisfied.Puck, New York, February 1, 1911, volume 69, number 1770. Internet Archive, sim_puck_1911-02-01_69_1770.

The ad claims 131 years. In 1893, as a federal judge, William Howard Taft had found Pepper's own former partners guilty of passing off blends as Old Pepper.

Roderick Dhu Scotch, 1913

Trade journal advertisement for Roderick Dhu Scotch Whisky of Wright and Greig, Glasgow, with a bottle and a figurine of a kilted Highland soldier — "The choicest product of the best Distilleries in Scotland."Pacific Wine, Brewing and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1913, page 30. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr56301913311914sanfrich.

Wright & Greig of Glasgow named the blend for the Highland chief in Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake and bought the new Dallas Dhu distillery in 1899. The firm went into liquidation in 1919.

Cedar Brook and the judge, 1915

Trade journal advertisement headed America's Most Famous Distiller and His Product, with an oval portrait of Judge W. H. McBrayer beside a bottle of Cedar Brook — "America's Most Famous Distiller and His Product." The distiller in the portrait had died in 1887.Pacific Wine, Brewing and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1915, volume 58, number 1, page 5. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr5819151916sanfrich.

By 1915 the brand belonged to J. Levy & Bro. and was made by Julius Kessler & Co. at Lawrenceburg, as the ad says. The McBrayer family had kept the name.

More ads: 1880s and 1890s · 1900s

Sources

Old Taylor, the label, 1913. archive.org
Brian Haara, "Kentucky Wasn't Big Enough for Two Colonel Taylors". brianhaara.com Source for the note on Old Taylor.
Old Taylor, the injunction, 1913. archive.org
Evening Star, November 24, 1927, page 15. loc.gov Source for the note on Old Taylor.
The Old Taylor castle, 1911. archive.org
Brian Haara, "Kentucky Wasn't Big Enough for Two Colonel Taylors". brianhaara.com Source for the note on The Old Taylor castle.
Old Kirk, Christmas 1911. archive.org
Brian Haara, "James E. Pepper's Fraud Previews the Taft Decision". brianhaara.com Source for the note on Old Kirk.
James E. Pepper by mail, 1911. archive.org
Brian Haara, "James E. Pepper's Fraud Previews the Taft Decision". brianhaara.com Source for the note on James E. Pepper by mail.
Roderick Dhu Scotch, 1913. archive.org
Scotchwhisky.com, Wright and Greig. scotchwhisky.com Source for the note on Roderick Dhu Scotch.
Cedar Brook and the judge, 1915. archive.org
Michael Veach, "19th Century Distillers: Judge William H. McBrayer". bourbonveach.com Source for the note on Cedar Brook and the judge.