Liquor Advertising
Thompson Bourbon
Thompson is a brand of blended American whiskey produced by Barton Brands, which is now owned by the Sazerac Company. The brand dates back to 1904. Though the label doesn’t use the word “bourbon,” the company states that Old Thomson is “Blended from the finest quality bourbons available.”
This advertisement reads:
Uncle Sam Says:
The Label must tell the truth, so always read carefully the label.
Every brand we sell is labeled in the above manner, and you should refuse to accept any whiskey which fails to state the guarantee of the contents on the label.
Thompson Straight Whiskey Co., Louisville, Kentucky
Established in 1778, A.M. Bininger & Co. was a longstanding and successful New York City wine and liquor company, which also packaged a multitude of spirits in a wide variety of different bottle types.
Bininger’s Bourbon, 1861
A. M. Bininger, son of Isaac Bininger, began selling in the country and later moved into New York City. His main store was located at No. 19 Broad Street from 1860 to 1863 and 375 Broadway from 1863 to 1865. The house of A. M. Bininger & Co. used much newspaper advertising to promote the sale of its products.
The most active production years were 1850 to 1875. The old bottles of the company are in much demand by collectors. These included square bottles, clocks, cannons, barrels, and handled jugs in amber, aqua, green, and puce.
W.A. Gaines and Company, also known as the “Whiskey Trust,” were the largest producers of fine “sour mash” whiskeys in the world. W.A. Gaines erected the Hermitage distillery in 1868, and brands included Old Crow and Old Hermitage.
The involvement of W.A. Gaines and Co. in the whiskey industry ended with Prohibition. National Distillers, which owned the distillery and brand from the end of Prohibition until 1987, continued to use the W.A. Gaines and Company name until Jim Beam bought out in 1987.
In brewing and distilling, mashing combines a mix of milled grain and water and heating this mixture. Mashing allows the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the grain into sugars. Sour mash is a process that uses material from an older batch of mash to start fermentation in a new batch. A whiskey made using this process can be referred to as a sour mash whiskey.
Sour Mash Express, 1877
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