I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Lux Row for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.
I recently got an email from Lux Row Distillery that started with the following statement: “To pay homage to the rich distilling tradition of Daviess County, Kentucky, Lux Row Distillers is re-launching Daviess County Kentucky Straight Bourbon – an ultra-premium family of bourbons, with three variants.” Now, I had no idea what Daviess County Bourbon was, but I’ve come to trust that Lux Row is putting out some pretty decent whiskeys so I felt pretty comfortable requesting a sample from them.
In the meantime, I got to learning all there was to learn about the history of the brand using my library of whiskey books supplemented by my patented “30 minutes of Googling” method of research. I found some interesting things about the brand and its original distillery outside Owensboro, KY. And in lieu of bitching about the pandemic again tonight, I thought I’d share what I found with you. To begin, I’d like to quote an 1883 book snappily titled: History of Daviess County, Kentucky. Together With Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, Biographies of Representative Citizens. And an Outline History Of Kentucky.
Daviess County Distillery Company (W. S. Harris and John Callaghan). — This distillery was started April 16, 1874, by Callaghan & Trigg. Mr. Bell afterward bought an interest in the concern, when the firm name became the "Daviess County Distillery Company." In March, 1879, Mr. Harris commenced, alone, and Oct. 14, 1880, the present partnership was formed. Both these gentlemen reside in Louisville, and their business here is superintended by C. A. Todd, General Agent. The distillery is located about a mile west of town, on the river, and its capacity is 800 bushels of corn per day; it has 720 mash tubs and its engine is ninety horse-power.
Callaghan & Trigg were located on Main St in Louisville. I can’t find anything about Trigg, but John Callaghan stayed with the distillery in a leadership role along with a rotating cast of partners. Harris & Callaghan was how the records in 1882 listed them. They were listed as Millett & Callaghan in 1886. And in 1888 the distillery was purchased by Richard Monarch, a whiskey man from Owensboro with John Callaghan being mentioned as Vice President and Treasurer of the Daviess County Distilling Company.
As mentioned, Monarch was a whiskey man. A whiskey man from a whiskey family. He and his brothers each owned numerous distilleries. Unfortunately, they didn’t see their current whiskey boom ending soon enough and overproduced throughout the mid-1890s. Shortly after Monarch finished building his lavish house near the distillery, his whiskey stocks were basically worthless and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. His brothers would do the same not too long after. Monarch died in 1900.
Bourbon historian Sam K. Cecil states in his book, The Evolution of Kentucky Whiskey that in 1901 Monarch’s estate sold a portion of the company to George E. Medley (you’ve probably heard of the Medleys, there are still a couple of bourbons out there with their name on the bottle. They were another Whiskey-making Family in Kentucky. Jack Sullivan has a nice write-up on the family over at his site Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men). Cecil says in 1904 Medley bought the entire company with the help of Dietrich “Dick” Meschendorf.
Meschendorf had a financial interest in multiple distilleries and was considered enough of a whiskey expert that he advised Presidents Roosevelt and Taft on what the definition of whiskey should be. His advice helped lead to the Taft Decision which defined what whiskey actually was and more importantly, what it wasn’t.
Things went smoothly from then on. Well, aside from 1911 when Meschendorf and then two warehouses burning down and destroying $300,000 worth of whiskey (that’s 1911 dollars, it’d be about just under $8 million today). But they rebuilt and expanded. Of course, there was also that little thing called Prohibition that closed the company down and forced them to sell all their stocks to Wathen Bros. Finally in 1928 the distillery was sold to the Field Packing Company.
Ok, not so smoothly then.
However, the brand survived Prohibition. There was a whiskey-ish thing being sold as late as 1980 that had the Daviess County name on it. Josh over at the WhiskeyJug has a review of a 1980 era dusty he found. Sounds like it was…unpleasant. The brand went from the Medley family to the precursor of Diageo to Luxco, who has the brand today. They have apparently decided that the blended whiskey that Josh tried wasn’t the best legacy that this historic distillery could have and so we get back to where we started: “To pay homage to the rich distilling tradition of Daviess County, Kentucky, Lux Row Distillers is re-launching Daviess County Kentucky Straight Bourbon – an ultra-premium family of bourbons, with three variants.”
I’ve received samples of all three, but I’ll only be reviewing the Straight Bourbon tonight. I’ve typed enough for one post, no need to make it any longer.
Daviess County Straight Bourbon
Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Lux Row for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $39.99.
Price per Drink (50mL): $2.67
Details: 48% ABV. A combination of both wheated and rye-mash bourbons.
Nose: Mint, bubblegum, toasted grain, and a hint of nutmeg.
Mouth: Nutty with mint, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cocoa.
Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm but not hot. Nutty with mint cocoa and nutmeg.
Thoughts: This is a good bourbon. I like it. The nutty flavors remind me of a good Beam bourbon without going full peanut. The toasted grain on the nose is interesting. It reminds me of the aroma you might get when you lightly toast whole grains before making a granola or a trail mix. And I’m a sucker for cocoa notes in a bourbon. All in all, I’d recommend this one. This isn’t part of the recommendation, but I also love the color blue they used for the label. It’s my favorite color.
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