Lawrenceburg: Where Bourbon History Runs Deep
by Patti Nickel
As hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when bourbon, America’s only native spirit, fell out of favor with the drinking public.
During Prohibition the only legal bourbon people could get was for “medicinal purposes.” Following Prohibition, with the shuttering of so many distilleries, fickle drinkers turned their attention to other alcoholic beverages – rum, tequila, vodka, gin and Scotch. It wasn’t until the 1950’s when the cocktail craze was in full swing that bourbon experienced a brief resurgence, only to fall out of favor again during most of the 1980’s and 90’s. Some distilleries again went out of business and some brands disappeared from the shelves.
Those that were left toiled tirelessly to come up with ways to get back in the game. In the 2,000’s, with the introduction of small batch bourbons and the trend swinging pendulum-like back to classic cocktails, the production of bourbon again flourished. From that time, the industry never looked back.
With the Commonwealth of Kentucky producing 95% of the world’s bourbon, many of the state’s cities and towns have staked their claim to the amber liquid. Bardstown, Kentucky officially refers to itself as “the Birthplace of Bourbon.” Louisville markets itself as “the Gateway to the Bourbon Trail.” Lexington claims to be “the heart of bourbon country.” Georgetown boasts that it was where bourbon was born in 1792 when Reverend Elijah Craig came up with the first mash bill and distilled the first bourbon in Kentucky.
Some of these claims have legitimacy; others can be disputed. One that cannot be disputed is Lawrenceburg’s claim to having one of the oldest distilling traditions in the state. So, why Lawrenceburg and Anderson County?
Water, Water Everywhere:
If water is the elixir of life, it is also the key to distilling bourbon. Water is crucial in pulling flavor from the grains during the mashing process, and the mineral content in the water – particularly that in Kentucky limestone water – has significant influence on the final flavor profile and character of the bourbon. Thus, Lawrenceburg, situated on the Kentucky River as it flows through limestone cliffs, and with a vast network of creeks and estuaries, like the Salt River Valley, making their way into the river, has been an ideal geographic location for distilling for more than 200 years.
Additionally, the ample water supply also resulted in a thriving agrarian community, with a multitude of farms growing corn, which at 51% is the primary ingredient in bourbon’s mash bill.Water was necessary not just for making bourbon, but for transporting it. The Kentucky River ran into the Ohio River which in turn emptied into the Mississippi River, making it easy to transport bourbon to New Orleans, its major market.
The process was made even easier by the fact that Anderson County had one of the few places along the river that had a flat landing where the barrels could be easily loaded for transport. That place was Tyrone. Now a ghost town, it was originally known as Streamville where in 1869 James Ripy opened a distillery, and renamed the site in honor of his family’s home county in Ireland.
The distillery (and the community) flourished up to Prohibition when it closed, later to re-open as Wild Turkey Distillery.
A Bourbon Bonanza:
In the 19th century, a yeasty perfume scented the air throughout Anderson County which by now was home to 14 distilleries. During the early part of the century, bourbon was made wherever a distiller could find a viable water supply, a corn crop and oak trees from which to construct a still.
The earliest recorded distilling history in Anderson County dates back to 1820, although bourbon historians claim that whiskey was being distilled in the county two years prior to that.
Here Comes the Judge:
It wasn’t until 1844, however, that the first commercial distillery was established by William Harrison (W.H.) McBrayer, otherwise known as “the Judge.” Originally just referred to as Distillery #44, it was later renamed Cedar Brook. An interesting footnote on Cedar Brook is that McBrayer bought the property from an emancipated slave known only as Uncle Dave. He had inherited it from his former owners who, having no heirs, left it to him in their will.
Joining forces with a cousin, J.H. McBrayer, the Judge opened another distillery on Hammond’s Creek in 1848, thus establishing the McBrayer dynasty, celebrated for making some of the highest quality bourbons in Kentucky.
McBrayer’s (and thus Anderson County’s) reputation rose to new heights in 1876 when his bourbon took a gold medal at America’s first World’s Fair in Philadelphia. His bourbon earned global recognition, becoming known as “the whiskey that made the crowned heads of Europe turn from Scotch to Bourbon.”
To understand just how valuable McBrayer’s “perfect batch of bourbon” was, his will stipulated that his name be removed from the bourbon, resulting in a legal dispute on behalf of his heirs.
Cedar Brook had been purchased by a company called J. Levy & Bro which owned the rights to the Cedar Brook brand, but not the McBrayer name. That remained with the McBrayer family who sued to keep it on the bourbon. The reason? In 1894, the name McBrayer on the label was worth a cool $200,000 ($6,918,593.41 in today’s currency).
The Bourbon Legends:
If McBrayer could be considered the king of early day distilling in Anderson County, he had an impressive royal court.
If there was a royal family of Anderson County distilling, it would be the Ripy family with a distilling tradition that began in the waning years of the 19th century and lasted through the end of World War II. The patriarch, J.P. Ripy, emigrated to Anderson County from Ireland, and in 1888 purchased land in Tyrone that is now Wild Turkey Distillery. He went on to spawn a dynasty of distillers which included his son Thomas (T.B.) Ripy and grandsons Ezra, Forest and Ernest.
T.B. equaled and then surpassed the success of his father when after the Civil War, he partnered with McBrayer to purchase the Walker, Martin and Co. Distillery. His first brand, T.B. Ripy, was sold in 1868; by the following year, the two men were mashing 150 barrels a day, and by 1872, Ripy was the sole owner of the distillery. He also owned two other distilleries (Cliff Springs and Clover Bottom), and his brother James entered the bourbon business in 1888 with the purchase of Old Hickory Springs Distillery. By the end of the 19th century, T.B. Ripy was the largest independent sour mash distiller in the world.
Prohibition ended the Ripy empire as it did so many others. While the Ripy Brothers Distillery in Tyrone re-opened in 1937, the Great Depression put the end to what Prohibition started. Their legacy was to live on, as what they had started morphed into a Kentucky legend with the Tyrone location becoming Wild Turkey Distillery whose iconic distiller Jimmy Russell learned his trade from one of the Ripys.
Mary, Queen of Shots
Those who thought bourbon distilling was solely a masculine industry never met Mary Dowling. Another Irish immigrant, Mary’s business savvy earned her a leadership role in the distillery partly owned by her husband John at a time when most women were limited to baking pies and birthing babies. Upon John’s death, Mary inherited the business, becoming one of the few women to run a major distillery.
At the onset of Prohibition, she sold part of her inventory to those distilleries which had been allowed to remain open to distill bourbon for medicinal purposes. All perfectly legal; it was the other part that proved problematical. Thumbing her nose at the federal government, she bootlegged her remaining supply. It earned her a living, but it also earned her three years of court cases. In the end, however, Mary prevailed. Her convictions were overturned, leaving her to transport her entire operation to Juarez, Mexico where she continued to distill bourbon.
There were many others who made significant contributions to the distilling industry in Anderson County. William Butler (W.B.) Saffell, S. O. Hackley and Wiley Searcy may not be household names outside of the bourbon industry, but each played an important role in Anderson County’s distilling history.
Saffell began distilling bourbon as a teenager and opened his first distillery in 1889. A protégé of Judge McBrayer, he became known for his handmade sour mash. S. O. Hackley, along with partner Ike Hoffman, started Hoffman’s Distillery in 1889, and while the name Hoffman is shrouded in the mist of time today, the distillery is anything but.
It was owned for 19 years (1983-2002) by Julian Van Winkle III, grandson of the inimitable “Pappy” Van Winkle. During that time, the distillery was associated with the production of some of America’s most iconic whiskey brands, including Pappy Van Winkle. Wiley Searcy was a Civil War veteran who, although the son of a tavern owner, had a somewhat murky entry into the world of distilling. He purchased a distillery on Gilbert’s Creek where in 1818, a man named Joe Peyton, better known as “Old Joe,” pitched a tent and began making bourbon.
After Searcy bought the distillery, he continued advertising his “Old Joe” whiskey as the best that can be made. The distillery flourished under his leadership, but following a fire in 1909 that destroyed all three of his warehouses, he sold the property to the Ripy Brothers and vanished from the bourbon world as quickly as he had entered it.
Four Roses and a Wild Turkey:
In the 19th century, Lawrenceburg could have been called a company town – that company being Bourbon, Inc. Its mid-century population totaled 4,520, two-thirds of which were connected in some way to the distillation of bourbon. With the arrival of Prohibition in 1920, however, the U.S. went dry and the party ended in Lawrenceburg. The yeasty perfume evaporated from the air to be replaced by the scent of despair. Of the 14 working distilleries in the county, only two remained – Four Roses and Wild Turkey.
Visitors are often surprised upon first seeing the California mission-style complex on the scenic Salt River. It’s home to Four Roses Distillery, and while the buildings were constructed in 1910, Four Roses has a distilling tradition dating back to 1888. Originally known as the Old Prentice Distillery, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
One of the few distilleries allowed to remain open during Prohibition, the Four Roses brand experienced a decline in the mid-20th century after being purchased by the Canadian company Seagram’s, which focused on making second-tier blended whiskey. Four Roses had a resurgence in the 1990s under master distiller Jim Rutledge who refocused the operation on producing single barrel and small batch bourbons.
A lovely story which may be fact, fiction or a bit of both has it that Four Roses got its name when the founder became enamored of a lovely Southern belle and proposed marriage.The lady replied that if the answer was yes, she would wear a red rose corsage to a ball that was to be held the following evening. Entering the ballroom and seeing the object of his affection wearing a corsage of four perfect red roses, the young man was inspired to name his bourbon Four Roses.
Today, Wild Turkey sits atop a hill overlooking the Kentucky River in Tyrone, hallowed ground which has been central to distilling bourbon in Anderson County for more than two centuries. The distillery was one of only two to survive Prohibition, but it didn’t officially become Wild Turkey until 1940.
As the story goes, an executive from Austin Nichols (a wholesale company that bottled distillery bourbon under its brand), took a private supply made up of warehouse samples along to enjoy with friends on their annual wild turkey hunt. It proved so popular with the sporting group that the following year they requested more of that ‘wild turkey’ bourbon, and Austin Nichols began bottling the bourbon under that name in 1942.
Thus, a legend was born, and a distillery was named.
Another Wild Turkey legend was born in the form of Master Distiller Jimmy Russell. Like a maestro blending tones from various instruments to create a symphony or an alchemist transforming base metals into gold, for more than 60 years Russell blended corn, rye and barley malt to come up with whiskeys such as Kentucky Spirit, Rare Breed Rye and American Honey, the world’s first bourbon liqueur.
Anderson County Hits the World of Heavyweight Boxing and Hollywood:
Anderson County’s reputation as a center of distilling has inspired not just two centuries of bourbon makers and bourbon drinkers, but some pretty bold-faced names as well.
Joe Louis was universally known for holding the title of Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World between 1937 and 1949. Lesser known was his post-boxing career which included a brief stint in the bourbon industry, part of which took place here in Lawrenceburg.
In 1952, if you were to pick up a bottle of Louis’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the label would tell you that it was bottled at the Joe Louis Bottling Co. in Lawrenceburg, Ky. A pair of miniature boxing gloves was used to market the bourbon, and it was stamped with the Lawrenceburg bottling and distilling name. Thus, one could say that Joe Louis became the first celebrity bourbon brand ambassador.
A half-century later, Anderson County was to make news with another celebrity bourbon brand ambassador. Actor Matthew McConaughey entered into a partnership with Wild Turkey Distillery in 2016 to serve as a spokesperson and creative director. Unlike most celebrities who sign deals to endorse products, McConaughey didn’t want to just be the face of Wild Turkey bourbon. He wanted to actually learn the process, even collaborating with Wild Turkey’s master distillers to make his own bourbon.
What Does the Future Hold for Lawrenceburg’s Distilling Industry?
That bourbon, Longbranch, was the result of two years apprenticing with Jimmy and Eddie Russell to create a brand that would marry the flavors of Kentucky to those of McConaughey’s home state of Texas.
There is no doubt that Lawrenceburg and Anderson County have had a rich and storied distilling past, but what does its future hold? You don’t need a crystal ball to predict that the future looks good for the multi-billion- dollar Kentucky Bourbon Industry, and Lawrenceburg will be a prime beneficiary of that good fortune. While there may not be the proliferation of distilleries that there were in pre-Prohibition days, five Anderson County distilleries are currently in various stages of production.
Leading the pack are the stalwart survivors, Four Roses and Wild Turkey. Both distilleries have invested heavily in their facilities, product lines and visitor experiences, making them key stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Firmly cemented as they are, there is still room for newcomers. A bourbon distillery with the unusual name of Larrikin may cause many people to scratch their heads in puzzlement.
An Australian visitor, however, would know that it refers to a boisterous, rowdy character who acts with apparent disregard for social conventions, or more succinctly, a maverick. It’s the word maverick that best describes the bourbon culture surrounding Larrikin Distillery, the first craft distillery to open in Anderson County and the first to be owned by military veterans. Larrikin, a nod to Greg Keeley’s home country, replaces the name Lawrenceburg Bourbon Company for the distillery he owns with his American wife Katie.
The veteran couple (Katie is a United States Navy reservist and Greg, a combat veteran, has the unusual distinction of having served in both the Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy) scored big with their first release in January, 2023 which sold out in one day. The fact that Lawrenceburg’s newest distillery sits in the actual shadow of one of its oldest (Wild Turkey) serves as a fitting metaphor for the county’s distilling tradition. It seems safe to say that Larrikin is a term (and a distillery) that bourbon lovers are going to get better acquainted with.
To bring the number of distilleries in Anderson County to five, two legendary operations – Cedar Brook and Old Commonwealth – are being brought back to their Pre-Prohibition glory days. In honor of the role William Harrison McBrayer played in Anderson County’s distilling history, his original distillery is back in production through the efforts of McBrayer Legacy Spirits. Their 2024 release is a 100-proof wheated bourbon made from the same high-quality ingredients (Kentucky limestone water and heirloom grains) as found in McBrayer’s original mash bill.
A former distillery (Hoffman) turned sign manufacturing shop turned current distillery is another spot on the Anderson County bourbon landscape. As previously noted, the Hoffman property was purchased by Julian Van Winkle III who, although not a distiller, kept his grandfather’s legacy alive by bottling Old Rip Van Winkle, made up of his family’s whiskey reserves.
In 2019, a trio of investors, composed of an uncle and nephew plus a family friend purchased the property and renamed it Old Commonwealth Distillery. By 2025, the owners expect to re-launch the iconic labels while at the same time honoring the facility’s heritage.
Anderson County may not be the place where the first bourbon in Kentucky was produced. It doesn’t boast the oldest nor the largest bourbon distillery in the state. It doesn’t claim to be the Bourbon Capital of the World or the Gateway to the Bourbon Trail.
Yet, when it comes to a distilling tradition and history, Anderson County is second to none.