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Next Auction starts Friday 29 March. Bottle Deadline: 18 March.

Silver Wedding 1916 Bottled in Bond / Prohibition Era Bottling

Lot: 5009682

Silver Wedding 1916 Bottled in Bond / Prohibition Era Bottling

Winning Bid: £1,400

Currency Estimate

Important: Currency exchange rates are constantly changing; this feature is to be used as a guide price only. All final transactions occur in British Pounds (£).
Lot:
Distillery: 
Fleischman & Co
Age: 
N/A
Vintage: 
1916
Region: 
Ohio, USA
Bottler: 
Schenley
Cask Type: 
N/A
Bottled Strength: 
100 us proof
Bottle Size: 
1 pint
Distillery Status: 
Closed
product Details

Silver Wedding 1916 Bottled in Bond / Prohibition Era Bottling

A fantastic old Prohibition era bottling of Kentucky straight bourbon whisky. Although the Volstead Act of 1919 had banned the production and sale of alcohol throughout the US, a certain number of distilling companies were permitted to continue bottling existing stock, mostly for medicinal use, but also for weekly baking rations.

One such company was Schenley, organised in 1920 by Louis Rosenstiel as the Cincinnati Distributing Corp. It was one of just six companies granted a license by the US government to bottle medicinal whiskey, alongside Brown-Forman, Frankfort Distilleries, the A. Ph. Stitzel distillery, the American Medicinal Spirits Company, and James Thompson & Brother. In the same year, Rosenstiel acquired the Joseph S. Finch distillery in Pennsylvania, its stock and its Golden Wedding brand, which would go onto become one of the flagship labels of Schenley in the 20th century. In 1922, Rosenstiel met Winston Churchill while holidaying in France, and the future British Prime Minister advised him to begin preparing for the eventuality that the unpopular Prohibition act would be repealed. Rosenstiel then spent the next decade accruing assets in the whiskey industry and by the time his foresight finally paid off in 1933, Schenley were the owners of numerous distilleries including George T. Stagg, James E. Pepper, and the Squibb distillery in Indiana. They added the famous Bernheim distillery to the portfolio in 1937, and the year prior made their first play in the Scotch market by becoming the US distributor for John Dewar & Sons. Rosenstiel's spirits empire dominated much of the market share of American whiskey for the next forty years through brands like I.W. Harper and Cream of Kentucky, before he sold his controlling stake to the Glen Alden company in 1968. He passed away eight years later, and in 1987, Schenley was bought over by United Distillers, newly formed through a merger of the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) and Arthur Bell & Sons after both were acquired by Guinness that year.

This is the Silver Wedding sub-brand of the Golden Wedding label, first produced at the Joseph S. Finch distillery back in 1856. Schenley bottled it in 1932 using whiskey bought from the Fleischman & Co distillery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Schenley acquired its stock at the onset of Prohibition and the distillery never returned after the act was repealed.

Important Notice

We would recommend viewing/close inspection prior to placing any bids. If this is not an option and you have questions beyond the offered description and images, please contact us for a more in-depth condition report. Otherwise lots will be sold as seen in the images.

Please note: Due to the various ages of bottles and their seals, condition of liquid is at the buyer's discretion and no claim can be lodged against failure/leakage in transit.