The James Crow Chronicles: Part 9 (Old Crow Brand)
The James Crow Chronicles: Part 9 (Old Crow Brand)
Editor’s Note: This is the final
The saga of the Old Crow whiskey brand
The origins of the Crow brand started in the 1840s when James Crow marked his one-eight share of barrels by chalking C-R-O-W on each of his barrel heads. He then scratched over the chalk with an iron hook, C-R-O-W, etching ownership of his whiskey barrels, that represented his future income. In the Pepper warehouse, the whiskey was either known as Pepper’s whiskey or Crow’s whiskey; they were one and the same. Whiskey put away for more than three years gained the lingua franca, ‘old’ whiskey.
The James Crow Chronicles: Part 8 (Old Crow Distillery)
The James Crow Chronicles: Part 8 (Old Crow Distillery) chronicling the life of James Crow, an extremely important figure in the history of American whiskey. A chemist originally from Scotland, he is credited by some as having invented the sour mash process. Watch this time slot on Thursdays (11am Pacific Time) for the other articles.
Old Oscar Pepper distillery 1865 to 1869
After Oscar Pepper’s death in June 1865, his 35-year-old wife, Nannie took over the farm. Her eldest son, James was 15 years of age, her youngest (Presley) O’Bannon only three. The farm was divided amongst the seven children into varying allotments with O’Bannon awarded an ‘unequal’ 126 acre-block also containing the homestead buildings and distillery complex by the creek, giving Nannie oversight of the distilling business and custodial control of the farm and its assets. In late 1865, Nannie leased the distillery to her neighbour and relati