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In today's Courier-Journal, the obituaries listed the passing of Ralph Dupps. I only met Ralph Dupps briefly during a talk I gave at the St. Matthews Historical Society, but learned much of him from the United Distillers Archive. Ralph was the man that Schenley chose to build the Geo. Dickel Distillery and was the first Master Distiller at Dickel. A very great whiskey man who has passed on and left the world a little poorer for the loss.

Hey Mike,

It's been a while since I chimed in, but reading about the passing of Ralph Dupps struck a nerve. He was mentioned in a Malt Advocate article a while back about the reopening of Dickel, where he was the guest of honor. Though I never met him, my tour of the Dickel distillery (on my honeymoon in 1984) was the best distillery tour I've ever had, at an attractive modern distillery that was built with it's surroundings in mind. We'd toured Jack Daniel's earlier in the day, and were part of a busload of tourists. At Dickel, we were the only two on the (very personal) tour. I acquired a love for Dickel then that remains to this day. Too bad we can't get in PA anymore!

God bless you, Ralph!

Sam,
I drank a toaste with some Dickel to Ralph at the Four Roses dinner at the Bistro. Chuckmick and Jim Rutledge joined me in the toaste. Ralph was an interesting person - distiller and pilot of fighter planes in WWII.

I have been down at Dickel many times and had people from Jack Daniels tours come by and state that Dickel is what they thought Jack Daniels would be like. It was always a great tour. I hope Diageo keeps it that way.

Mike,

OMG, a fighter pilot AND a distiller! God bless America!

Best part of the Dickel tour was when our guide, (a man of position at the distillery, not some trainee) showed us the fermenters. I asked what the mash smelled like, and he told me to take off my glasses before I took a whiff. I looked at him strangely, but did so, then stuck my head down inside. I instinctively jerked back because of the total inability to breathe in a CO2 environment, and he said, "We had somebody lose their glasses in there once!."

You're right, Dickel is THE Tennessee distillery tour. No wonder Al Quaida hates us!

Ralph Louis Dupps, 90, of Louisville, Ky., passed away Saturday December 1, 2007.

A native of Louisville, he was preceded in death by his wife, Rosemary Holland Dupps in 1977. He was retired President of George A. Dickel Distilling Co. and served as a pilot in World War II. He graduated from Male High School and Speed Scientific School of Engineering, University of Louisville, where he lettered in football and track. Ralph was past president of American Society of Mechanical Engineers and former director of St. Joseph's Hospital. He was a member of Second Presbyterian Church, The Pendennis Club, Owl Creek Country Club, and the University of Louisville "L" Club.

Survivors include his wife of 29 years, Martha Hayes Dupps. Sons, Ralph L. Dupps Jr. (Ellen); of Hilton Head Island, S.C. Kirk Dupps (Cynthia) of Eureka Springs, Ark. Daughter, Ann Dupps Kegley (Michael). Also survived by Martha's children, Bruce Madison (Linda), Doug Madison (Stephanie), Nancy Madison Harrison (Hugh) of Richmond, Va. 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Memorial service 11:00 a.m Tuesday at Second Presbyterian Church 3701 Old Brownsboro Road, Louisville, Ky. Private burial Cave Hill Cemetery. Visitation 4-7 p.m. Funeral director: Pearson's 149 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville. http://www.pearsonfuneralhome.com

I remember a story - maybe from Elmer T Lee - that Dupps buzzed the Geo. T. Stagg distillery while in flight training during the war. That seems to be the type of person he was. Very energetic and not afraid to take a risk or bend some rules, but always getting excellent results. I think he did very well on building the modern Dickel distillery.

Didn't he also play a big role in post-repeal Bernheim? Isn't that how he became a Schenley employee, by them buying Bernheim? Or did he come along later, after Schenley already owned it? I know he was the distiller at Bernheim when he was sent to Tennessee to restart Dickel.

A sad event, indeed. Any idea how long he stayed with Dickel? Any chance he was there until the shutdown and perhaps trained the new Master Distiller or the previous MD? Any other info about his career would be nice.

Dickel has only had three master distillers since Prohibition, which is a little misleading since there wasn't a Dickel distillery again until 1958. Ralph Dupps trained and was followed by Dave Backus, who was the distiller on both sides of the shutdown. Backus trained his replacement, the current distiller, John Lunn. Since he's only in his late 30s, it could be a long time before Dickel gets its fourth post-Prohibition distiller.

Chuck,
I am not sure where Ralph Dupps started working for Schenley, but yes he was at Bernheim when he left to build Dickel. I think he might have been working at Bernheim and going to School when the war started and it was after the war and a degree that he started to rise in the company. I could be wrong. The next time I am in the archice, I will have to look at some of the files about building Dickel if they are still there.

I was writing a short obit of Dupps for the next Reader and that and a longer story on Dickel history got me looking both at Mike's timeline and the history section of the Dickel web site.

Mike, who is the "N. Morgan" to whom many of the Dickel items are attributed?

What's worth noting is that Diageo seems to be engaging in some revisionist history on Dickel's behalf. First, they now have George and his wife, Augusta, visiting Tullahoma in 1867, where he dreams about "creating the finest, smoothest sippin’ whisky," and then "In 1870, Dickel’s dream came true, and a company which bore his name was opened at Cascade Hollow, Tennessee."

Both, based on everything else I can find out about Dickel's history, appear to be complete fabrications.

One purpose seems to be to obliterate both the independent history of the Cascade Distillery and diminish the role of the Shwab family (which the Dickel web site misspells as Schwab, like the stock broker), much like Four Roses has built up John Paul Jones at the expense of Rufus Rose.

Chuck,
Dr. Nicholas Morgan was the archivist for United Distillers and paid someone to do research on Dickel while they were talking about Dickel a million case selling brand. The credit reflects a timeline he did for Newsletter based upon his findings.

I noticed that Diageo seems to be making up a lot crap for Dickel myself. I personally don't understand it because the truth is so much more interesting.

It may be similar to what Beam has done, pretending the only Beams are the ones descended from Jim, or Four Roses in pretending Rufus Rose never existed. George Dickel's line died with him and there is little doubt that Diageo owns the George Dickel name and can say whatever they want to about him without any claims being made by descendants. Also, his name is on the bottle so why bother with the Shwabs, many of whom are still vertical and may want the truth told. Of course, truth is always a defense, but if the stuff you're saying is not true then it's a good idea to say it about somebody who doesn't have any descendants.

Was that the stated target? Million case brand? Guess they came up a little short.

Chuck,
Dickel and Rebel Yell were both to be million case selling products by 2000. That is one reason for the over production of these two whiskeys in the early 1990's that led to the Dickel shut down and the abundance of Wheated bourbon on the market in the early 2000's.

I do hope you do Ralph nicely in the Reader. He was a great person from all I have ever heard and seemed nice enough the only time I met him.

When am I ever not nice?