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Est. 1780.
Pepper was a descendant of the family which gave its name to Culpepper, Virginia. His grandfather, sometimes credited with establishing the first distillery in Kentucky, dropped the first syllable of his surname becoming Elijah Pepper. James was a son of Elijah's son, Oscar and at the age of 16 when his father died, he assumed management of his father's "Old Crow'' distillery for several years. In 1870 he went to New York to engage in the wholesale liquor trade. He returned to Kentucky about 1878, after selling his father's distillery. On his return, he purchased 48 acres and the structure of the Blue Grass Pork House at the site of a deep spring where he built his distillery. In 1882 annual production was 11,000 barrels of sour mash whiskey. (Peter pp. 206-209). By 1910 capacity was 100 barrels a day. Before his death in 1906, Pepper had become a breeder of fine thoroughbred horses. He left a large estate. Schenley Distillers Corporation for a time owned the distillery until it was resold in 1977. The James E. Pepper brand was phased out in the 1960s (OASG).
The company used the brand names:
"Henry Clay", "Henry Clay", "Henry Clay Rye", "Old Lexington", "Old Oscar Pepper", "Pepper", "Pepper", and "Pepper." | | Business name timeline:
James E Pepper & Co. (1902-1907), James E Pepper Distributing Co. (1908), James E Pepper & Co. (1909-1916)
Address timeline:
Frankfort Pike (1902), 410 W Short (1904), Frankfort Pike and Q & C R R (1907), 416-418 W Short (1908-1911), SS Frankfort Pike nr L & N RR (1912-1916) | | Business category timeline (abbreviations decoded below):
D, W (1908)
Years that company appeared in directories
Years directories were consulted
Lexington directory notes
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Appearance in
directories:
1902, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1916
Directories
consulted:
1875-1876, 1898-1899, 1902, 1904-1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1914-1915, 1916-1917, 1919
Lexington directory
notes:
V = Wine & Liquor (Wholesale), V-R = Wine & Liquor (Retail), W = Whiskey (Wholesale), L = Liquor (Wholesale), D = Distiller, DA = Distiller's Agent. Wholesale. Entries in the 1902 directory are followed by numbers in parentheses, suggesting that a city street renumbering occurred in the previous year.
Directory and background information was researched, compiled and donated by Bill Ambrose.
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