Pieces To A Puzzle.....

I was fortunate to pick up six extremely rare Michter's labels- so rare I actually did not think they existed. When Michter's whiskey was first introduced, it was in little ceramic jugs. Lou Forman found himself in a bit of quandary- his product was selling, but people weren't actually drinking the whiskey, they were just displaying the jugs. So he began bottling Michter's in glass bottles too. It is widely assumed that the square "1827" bottles were the first Michter's glass bottles. These look very similar to modern day Evan Williams or older Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's bottles. The reason for this assumption was because on Michter's very own bottle and decanter lists, that is what is first. But, they are incorrect apparently. These labels are from a run of bottles that predate the square "1827" bottles. How do I know? Take a look at the advertisements below. The jug shown next to the bottle and also the general dates of the ads predate all of the information I have on the "1827" bottles by about 5-10 years. I had assumed the glass bottle in the ads shown below was never made and was for promotional visuals only. These labels prove otherwise. Now I need to track down at least one of these bottles! Pieces to a puzzle.

Two More Pieces Come Home

I was shocked one morning when, in my email, was a notification that two Michter's/Pennco barrel head stencils were up for sale. It's been a dream of mine from early in my Michter's collecting career to own at least one Michter's stencil. Now was my chance! I was fortunate to win both, though not cheaply, and they arrived a few days later. Understand that this is not a personal pride thing- I am trying to amass the largest and most complete Michter's collection to not only ensure history is preserved, but also because I want to make sure anyone looking for information on Michter's and its predecessors gets detailed and accurate information to answer all their questions.

The Pennco barrel stencil appears to be nearly new, if not new. Yes, it's real and not a reproduction, but it appears to have been an extra or back up stencil. Pennco produced quite a lot of rye over the years, so it would have been well used. The distillery was a famous rye distiller, so I am happy to have it.

The Michter's stencil tells a story. I'll walk you through some of the secrets a keen eye would notice....

The first interesting thing we're going to look at is the obvious spot where tape had been applied over "INC." on the stencil. As Michter's changed hands in the early 80's, the "Inc." was dropped from the Michter's name. From what I can tell, it was dropped after the Veru era of ownership in about 1982. To ensure the correct name was applied to whiskey being barreled after the ownership change, the simple thing to do was just tape over the "INC." and keep using the stencil.

A very sharp eye would notice that at one time the small "C" has been occasionally taped over as well. I am not 100% sure what "C" designates on barrels, but I would assume it means the barrel was charred or new cooperage. Being that Michter's Whiskey was aged in a combination of new and used barrels, they may find themselves in situations where the "C" would have been taped over when filling used barrels.

The last secret hides on the rear of the stencil- Tan paint residue. Michter's, when reusing barrels, would paint the heads tan to cover the old stenciling of the prior product. Then new stenciling was applied. It seems they were in a rush at times and the tan paint was not dry before stenciling with the new information.

These stencils were made by Quaker City 234 Arch St in Philadelphia. Today the building appears to be occupied by an insurance agency.