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I'll be posting photos of antique Maryland rye whiskey stuff here. From the 1800's until the last distillery shut down in 1972, Maryland was famous for its rye whiskey.
These pictures will show some of the many different Maryland rye whiskey brands and companies that have been lost including items from my personal collection and items from the James Bready collection owned by the Maryland State Archives.
Only recently thanks to laws changing and whiskey gaining in popularity, new distilleries are opening up all around the state and they are starting to produce rye whiskey once again.
With any luck, one day Maryland will once again be famous for its rye whiskey.

Pre-prohibition jugs and bottles.

Some pictures of the James H. Bready collection...

Some rare pre-prohibition signs from the Bready collection....

Found this pre-prohibition bottle today at an antiques show.
Has the original cork and contents but sadly the seal has fallen off.

Here's a large advertising bottle and another sign.

Man I like your photos.

Here's some more signs.

More signs.

Very nice collection of prints.

Bourbon Joe wrote:Very nice collection of prints.

Here's the last set of pictures from the James Bready collection. It was donated to the Maryland State Archives and was recently put on display in Baltimore for a few weeks where I took most of these pictures. All of the signs but two are part of the Bready collection. "Pikesville" and "Beacon Hill" are mine.

Very impressive collection, thanks for sharing. Have you tried any of the bottles that had whiskey in them, e.g. the one pictured above? Curious on your impressions. Is the taste similar to straight rye today, to bourbon, to the new craft ones, etc.? If different, how so?

Gary

gillmang wrote:Very impressive collection, thanks for sharing. Have you tried any of the bottles that had whiskey in them, e.g. the one pictured above? Curious on your impressions. Is the taste similar to straight rye today, to bourbon, to the new craft ones, etc.? If different, how so?

Gary

I've only tried one pre-prohibition whiskey and it was quite a bit more aromatic and tasty than any of today's whiskeys I've tried. After opening the bottle that was sealed for over 100 years, we poured it out into another bottle and it filled the whole room with a buttery caramel/toffee kind of smell. I've never experienced anything like that with any of today's whiskey. People say whiskey doesn't change once it's bottled, but I swear I can taste the age. I can only describe it like how you can smell the age in an antique book. New books just don't smell the same as antique books and I believe it's the same with pre-prohibition whiskey.

Interesting, thanks.

Made a short youtube video of my Maryland rye whiskey antiques including a large collection of antique Maryland whiskey labels.
It's amazing how many whiskey brands and distilleries Maryland once had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJazfUb_24M