This post is somewhat directed to EllenJay, because of the quality content they've posted on Maryland Ryes.
My father just gave me a bottle which had been left for him in 1991 by his aunt when she passed. She lived in Annapolis.
I did some searching around, but there is absolutely nothing on the internet about "LORELY" as a brand, except some mention of a woman who named her furniture line Lorely after "her father's favorite Maryland rye whiskey".
As far as value goes, I was only checking to see if the thing was worth $1000 dollars before I popped it open and ruined its worth. Having read the sticky posts above, I think I'll be drinking it on some nice occasion soon, unless someone wants to offer $1000.
Anyway, it was fun researching it. Here's what I found:
There's no date on the bottle which is a machine-made bottle with some seemingly random numbers molded in the bottom, and a little picture of an anchor molded in the center of the bottom (with what looks like a superimposed "H").
The only thing that dates it is the federal tax seal serial number 196585627. If anyone can use that number, cool, cause I couldn't find a good resource for using that to date things.
The other unhelpful detail was the fact that the maryland liquor tax sticker has Louis Goldstein's signature on it. Old Louis was maryland's comptroller from 1959 to 1998. Lots of help there. I guess we know it was bottled (or at least sold at retail) after 1959.
The fact that it was sold exclusively at Mills' in Annapolis makes me think it was probably bottled very near the end of the Wight distillery's existence. Or it's a private label that Mills had commissioned, and perhaps it's one of a dozen private labels, all containing the same stuff. But these are just my wild guesses.
Anyway, it's in pristine condition, with the spirit inside a beautiful dark amber color, very clear, no sediment, if that were a possibility.
I was just wondering if anyone knows about the LORELY brand.
I've seen other spellings, and it actually seems that the modern day spelling is Loreley, Maryland, an area in White Marsh, Maryland. There are a few roads called Loreley... Loreley Road, Loreley Beach Road, and a little road called Gin Mill Road nearby.
So another suspicion of mine is that this label was made to look "olde tyme". The "Sippin' whiskey" part sort of gives it away.
I looked up the Dougherty distillery, which had been around since the 1800's according to some newspaper article I found. I suspect it was purchased by what is now Barton Brands. But again, all this was quick and dirty internet research. I haven't visited Philly's courthouse, I haven't started an index card file (one for each resource like we learned in elementary school), and I haven't even picked up the phone to see if there's some old timer still working at Mills Liquor Mart.
Anyone have anything to add of interest? Anyone interested in the subject?
Label says:
LORELY
RARE 15 YEAR OLD
SIPPIN' WHISKEY
SPECIALLY SELECTED
MARYLAND
STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
FROM
OUR FINEST AGED STOCK
DISTILLED BY
FRANK L. WIGHT DISTILLING CO.
LORELY, MD.
SOLE DISTRIBUTOR
MILLS LIQUOR MART
87 MAIN ST., ANNAPOLIS, MD
Back Label Says:
LORELY
RARE OLD MARYLAND
STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
Distilled In The Old Traditional
Manner With Maryland's Finest
Limestone Water, Which Has Made
This Whiskey World Famous.
BOTTLED BY
J. A. DOUGHERTY'S SONS, INC., DISTILLERS
PHILA, PA
MARYLAND
STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
86 PROOF
15 YEARS OLD
DISTILLED IN MARYLAND
The bottle has been wrapped in newspaper and a plastic grocery bag in the back of my dad's garage for 17 years, but I really don't know how long it was in my great aunt's liquor cabinet before that.
I can post pics if anyone's interested.