Stagg Distillery Timeline

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Stagg Distillery Timeline

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:26 pm

Since Geo. T. Stagg is so popular nowdays, I thought I would put my timeline for the distillery here. It has several items that are of doubtfull orgin but were included so that we could know where they came from should we ever need them. Just look at the source listed before taking as fact.

George T Stagg History

1820 - The first steamboat trip from Leestown, Ky. to New Orleans. In that year 2,148 barrels of whiskey are shipped (U D Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p.40).

1840 - George T Stagg establishes a distillery (Kentucky's
Bourbon Industry, J Atherton, Filson Club).

1849 - Benjamin Harrison Blanton makes a fortune in the California Gold Rush. He spends the money purchasing most of the business section of Denver, Colorodo and then exchanges this property for Confederate Bonds and becomes a Major in the Confederate Army (U D Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p.39).

1865 - Benjamin Harrison Blanton opens a small distillery on his property in Leestown, Ky. The sight later becomes part of the OFC Distillery (U D Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p. 39).

1869 - O.F.C. Distillery built by Pat Frazier. (Remarks of
Merit, "Biography of a Distillery", UD Archives,
991.m.144).

1873 - Distillery is modernized by E H Taylor. George Stagg is
working for him (U D Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1881 - Col A Blanton is born. (UD Archives, 991.m.140).

1882 - Col. Edmund H Taylor buys O.F.C. Distillery. (Remark
Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

o - Fire destroys the distillery (U D Archive, Uncataloged
Item).

1885 - George T Stagg buys the distillery. (Remak Merit, UD
Archives, 991.m.144).

o - The company remains named the E H Taylor Jr Co. (U D
Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1887 - The Geo. T. Stagg Co. incorporates on the 9th day of
November, 1887 (U D Archive, Minute Book I, Geo. T.
Stagg Co.).

1889 - George T Stagg is President of Company, with Samuel R
Smith as Plant Superintendent and Stanley M Stagg as
Warehouse Superintendent. (Remark Merit, UD Archives,
991.m.144).

1890 - Georfge T. Stagg dies and the Duffy Family purchases
the distillery (Remarks of Merit, U D Archives,
991.m.144).

1891 - George T Stagg moves its offices from 122 East Main to Frankfort, Ky. where their distillery is located. E H Taylor listed as the distiller (Wine and Spirit Bulletin, Jan. 1, 1891).

1892 - Walter B Duffy elected to fill the position on the
board of Directors created by the retirement of Geo. T
Stagg (U D Archive, Minute Book I Geo. T. Stagg Co.).

1893 - Stagg bottles its product for the first time - before
this they only sold bulk whiskey by the barrel.

o - Stagg claims to be the first company to bottle the
pint bottle. (Remarks Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

1897 - Col. A Blanton is hired as a clerk at Geo T Stagg. (UD
Archives, 991.m.140).

1900 - The E H Taylor Co becomes Geo. T Stagg Co. (U D
Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1911 - Frank G Stagg becomes Secretary-Treasurer of of Geo. T.
Stagg Co. (Remarks Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

o - The 1911 Mida's Financial Index list the address of the main office as 246 Michigan Ave, Chicago, Ill. and the distilleries as Dy. No. 2 and Dy. No. 113, both in the 7th Dist, Frankfort, Ky. with a capital value of over $1,000,000.

1912 - A B Blanton becomes Plant Manager at Stagg (U d Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p.39).

1919 - Prohibition shuts the distillery down, but bottling
house continues to operate, bottling "medicinal use"
whiskey. (Remarks Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

o - The distillery becomes a concentration warehouse (U D
Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1920 - A. B. Blanton purchases the Stagg distillery (Spirit,
Aug. 1953).

1921 - Col A Blanton is made President of Geo T Stagg and
is resposible for the distillery during prohibition.
(UD Archives, 991.m.140).

1929 - Fire destroys the Dry House. (Remarks Merit, UD
Archives, 991.m.144).

1930 - First run of whiskey allowed to keep stocks of
"medicinal use" whiskey at a stable level. (Remarks
Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

1933 - Schenley buys Geo. T. Stagg. This includes the O.F.C.,
Geo T Stagg, and Cream of Kentucky brands. (Remarks
Merit, UD Archives, 991.m.144).

o - Blanton marries a Miss Stevens of Lawrenceburg, Ky. (UD
Archives, 991.m.140).

o - The Stagg Distillery had a capacity of 1,000 bushels of grain which equals 42,000 gallons of rye or 46,000 gallons of bourbon (U D Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p. 38).

o - Blanton had experienced help at the Stagg distillery when Schenley took over the plant. William B Pythian was warehouse supperintendent (hired 1889), John T Mayes was distiller (hired 1895) and Walter B True was Chief Engineer (hired 1899) (U D Archives, Unpublished Manuscript, p. 41).


1935 - Col. Blanton has the lodge built at the Frankfort
distillery for the benefit of the employees (UD
Archive, 991.m.140).

o - Schenley opens a Louisville office for George T Stagg
at 672 Starks Buliding (Louisville City Directory, U of
L Archives).

1936 - Using bulk whiskey of a "bourbon type" purchased in Canada, Schenley creates Schenley's Ancient Age (Fortune, May, 36).

1938 - The first mention of Ancient Age as a Schenley Brand in the stockholders report (1938 Schenley Annual Report).

1939 - Schenley starts to make Geo Dickel at the Stagg
distillery. (UD Archives, 991.m.143).

1951 - After having made the brand for several years, Schenley
regesters the Ancient Age trademark (Trademark
Registration book).

1952 - Col. Blanton retires after 55 years of service at the
George T Stagg distillery. Schenley renames the
distillery Albert B, Blanton Distillery (UD Archives,
991.m.146)

1953 - The 2,000,000th barrel of whiskey is made at the
distillery (U D Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1961 - The 3,000,000th barrel of whiskey is made at the
distillery (U D Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1959 - Col. Blanton dies (UD Archives, 991.m.146).

1967 - Ancient Age Bottled in Bond is introduced by Schenley (Schenley Annual Report, 1967).

1968 - The distillery becomes part of the Glen Alden Co. (U D
Archives, Uncataloged Item).

1983 - Schenley sells the Ancient Age Brands and the Albert B
Blanton distillery to Ancient Age International (C
Morris, 12/11/92).

1984 - Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon is introduced (The Book
of Bourbon..., Gary and Mardee Regan, p.114).

1987 - Guiness buys Schenley (C Morris, Glenmore, 15/11/91).

1989 - Sazerac purchases the Benchmark Bourbon and the Eagle Rare Bourbon brands from Seagrams (The Book of Bourbon..., Gary and Mardee Regan, p.113, p.129).

1990 - Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon is introduced (The Book of Bourbon..., Gary and Mardee Regan, p.186).

1991 - Hancock's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon is introduced (The Book of Bourbon..., Gary and Mardee Regan, p. 137).

1992 - Takara Shuzo Co.Inc. of Kyoto, Japan purchases Ancient
Age (Courier-Journal, Oct.3, 1992).

o - Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon is introduced (The Book of Bourbon..., Gary and Mardee Regan, p. 152).

1993 - Ancient Age introduces a 100 proof Bonded Whiskey (Kane's Beverage Week, 5/10/93).

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Unread postby Mark » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:33 pm

Thanks for posting these timelines Mike, I enjoy reading them. I was hoping you'd do this one :)
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Unread postby bourbonv » Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:58 pm

Mark,
It is a good time line but out date some. I have not added anything to these since 1996. I know for a fact now that Stagg was a partner in the St. Louis firm Greggory and Stagg (anybody in St. Louis want to look them up in old city directories and share the information?). Taylor did not start doing business with the firm until 1873 and Stagg was never his employee but later Taylor was Stagg's employee in a round about way. Taylor ran into financial trouble compound by 1) James E Pepper not paying money loaned to him, 2) over production of whiskey nation wide and 3) the bank failures of the late 1870's. This caused Taylor to sign a deal with Greggory and Stagg to pay his debts for the OFC distillery in return for Greggory and Stagg gaining control of the production of the distillery and eventually control of the distillery. I don't think Taylor and Stagg were ever on good terms again after Stagg took over the distillery. From the letter press books I have seen from after the deal, Stagg was a bit of a jerk in Taylor's opinion.

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Unread postby bourbonv » Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:13 pm

On 3 October 1992 the Japanese became involved as investors and gained control of the Blanton's brand.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby EllenJ » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:56 pm

Mike, thanks for the (brief) update. It caused me to look at the posting you'd made before it, even though that was two & a half years ago!

Anyway, for what it may be worth today, you might want to check out this site for any info you don't already have. It's from the The American Law Register (1852-1891), Vol. 28, No. 10, New Series Volume 19 (Oct., 1880), pp. 648-651 (doi:10.2307/3304307) and is available through JSTOR.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1558-3813(188010)28%3A10%3C648%3ACOAOKT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2

JSTOR is a professional archive service not open to the public. They do occasionally make articles available for sale, but even that isn't authorized for this publication. You can access it online though, but you'll need to log on with your Filson credentials.

The article is four pages, of which I've attached a copy of their teaser. This action was brought in Kentucky, but presumably the parties' business locations are specified elsewhere in the document. I thought you'd find it particularly interesting since it clearly indicates that Stagg was associated with Greggory at that time, and that Taylor was a separate entity with whom they were doing business. It also implies verification of the "rumor" that Ed Taylor might not have been above selling the same barrels of whiskey to multiple buyers on occasion.

That brings up a couple questions of the sort you'd expect from me...

1. It appears from the unsigned agreement that what Greggory & Stagg transacted with Taylor was not a purchase of actual whiskey to be delivered to them but rather a loan secured by title to that whiskey in the form of barrel receipts. It then appears that Taylor, having received the money from G&S, then proceeded to sell the same barrels to Thomas Farmer. What isn't clear is whether Farmer was a bottler or distributor intending to take physical possession of the whiskey or whether he, too, was lending Taylor money on the value of those barrel receipts. It would be interesting to learn more about Farmer.

2. And so, since Farmer's purchase of the whiskey was from Taylor, not G&S, why is he bringing suit against them instead of against Taylor? The second paragraph is ambiguous as to whether the authority-giving "owner" refers to the owner of the whiskey or the owner of the warehouse. The document's language, using the term "warehouseman" to indicate Taylor, would seem to reinforce what you said about Taylor's role as "employee in a round about way". But that would then make not just George Stagg but the Greggory & Stagg firm itself the owner of the warehouse (and presumably the attached distillery) at the time this was going on. The Kentucky Court of Appeals position upholding the validity of an unsigned "agreement" and denying that the authority of the Kentucky Warehouse Act of 1869 (which would pre-date any of the actions at issue here) specifically prohibiting the sort of double-dealing described applies to this situation seems puzzling, too. Frankfort politics? And does this add any new dimensions to the relationship between Stagg and Taylor?

3. And what about BOB??!!!
Attachments
Farmer vs Greggory&Stagg .jpg
Farmer vs Greggory&Stagg .jpg (127.72 KiB) Viewed 18571 times
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Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:16 pm



EllenJ, are you going to make it down again for Scorpiofest this coming Saturday? I have a new Martin guitar.

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Unread postby EllenJ » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:01 am

Gayle,
We'd love to, but we can't make it. The new guitar sounds tempting; congratulations. Is it NEW new, or newLY Acquired?
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Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:51 am

NEW, NEW!

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Unread postby bourbonv » Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:40 am

John,
By 1880 Gregory and Stagg were in control of the business. The law suit has them listed because they were the primary owners of the distillery and Taylor was on his way out. If Taylor sold that whiskey, it was probably at the instructions of Gregory and Stagg.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Re: Stagg Distillery Timeline

Unread postby p_elliott » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:25 am

So when did this become BT if I am correct it did become BT?
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Re: Stagg Distillery Timeline

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:36 am

I am not sure the exact year, but it was around 1998 when the distillery changed its name to Buffalo Trace.
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Re: Stagg Distillery Timeline

Unread postby p_elliott » Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:50 am

A follow up to the same question how and when did Sazerac come to own the distillery but not a lot of the labels ?
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