The history of this distillery has been extensively researched by Bill Ambrose (2002).

1867: The distillery was founded by G. W. West & Bros. who operated the plant for four years.

1871: Younger Stone purchased the distillery and relocated the plant outside of Fayette County.

1880: The original property was acquired by Nathaniel Harris of Versailles, KY., who rebuilt the distillery on top of the spring at a cost of $15,000.

The distillery was half stone and half frame, with a floor area of 12,000 sq ft. The plant had 170 mash tubs of 80 gallons each and four fermentation tubs of 5,000 gallons each. The grain bill included 86 bu of corn and 14 bu of rye and barley destined for the mash tubs. The sour mash was allowed to ferment for seventy-two hours. Waste from the process was used to feed 700 hogs. The doubler had the capacity of 600 gallons.

Production was started in January 1881 with the “N. Harris” brand of “pure hand-made sour mash whiskey” at a rate of about 10 barrels per day. It operated for nine months and employed 6 hands at a cost of $1 per day, yielding a total of 2,000 barrels during the first year.

The company had three warehouses – built of stone and ironclad. After the first year, the warehouses held 1,435 barrels of bonded bourbon valued at $45,000.

Insurance underwriter records from 1892-1896 show the location of the bonded three warehouses:
A stone warehouse located 75 ft west of the still. Part of it operated as a Free warehouse.
An iron-clad warehouse with a metal or slate roof, located 105 ft west. It connected with the stone warehouse.
A new iron-clad warehouse with metal or slate roof, located 225 ft west.

1895: During the whiskey recession of the 1890s, the distillery was sold to Colonel James E. Pepper, who mothballed the plant for the next five years. The distillery became known as the “Little Pepper” Distillery during this time.

1900: In July, Colonel Pepper organized the Henry Clay Pure Rye Distilling Company of New Jersey and transferred to the new corporation the Little Pepper Distillery for $20,000. This included the plant and the “Henry Clay Pure Rye” brand. Colonel Pepper was listed as President of the company, Frank Dutson was Secretary. The company issued $300,000 in gold bonds with the North American Trust Company of New York and used the funds to rebuild the distillery and construct two new warehouses. The latter had a capacity of 5,000 barrels each.

1901: On February 25, the renovated distillery was placed in commission and operated at full capacity for the season. The new plant could mash 160 bu, or roughly 46 barrels of rye whiskey per day. The plant was leased to the Jas. E. Pepper & Co., who ran the facility.

After Pepper's death, the plant was sold with to Joseph Wolf of Chicago.

1913: The Henry Clay Distilling Co. was incorporated in January by Matt S. Walton, Trustee (994 shares), John L. Boor (3 shares) and George C. Roberts (3 shares). Capital was set at $100,000. They acquired the distillery and operated the plant until Prohibition.

1918: The distillery was dismantled during Prohibition and today the site is the Silver Springs Farm. The spring still flows, but nothing remains of the distillery or warehouses (last warehouse torn down in 1962). The distiller’s house built in 1880 is now a bed and breakfast.

Review bonded warehouse transactions for this distillery