Every so often, a bottle comes along that feels less like whiskey and more like a piece of living history. This 1913 Old Taylor quart, filled under Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. and his son Jacob, is exactly that, a pre-Prohibition Bottled-in-Bond release that connects us directly to the man who helped shape modern bourbon. Looking at it today, you’re not just seeing a bottle of whiskey, you’re holding a chapter of Taylor’s story in glass.
E.H. Taylor was a towering figure in the whiskey industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He began his career as a banker, financing distilleries, before discovering a passion for whiskey production. In 1862, a young Edmund Taylor co-founded Gaines, Berry & Company with partners Hiram Berry and W.A. Gaines. His travels through Europe introduced him to Scottish, Irish, and German whiskey-making traditions, where he observed the use of copper in production—a technique he would later adopt.
In 1864, following the death of Oscar Pepper, Taylor became guardian to Pepper’s young son, James, ensuring the survival of the Old Oscar Pepper Distillery. By 1868, Taylor’s firm also founded the Hermitage Distillery, further cementing his influence on the industry.
In 1869, Taylor acquired the Leestown Distillery, renaming it the Old Fire Copper (O.F.C.) Distillery. The following year, he dissolved his partnership with Berry and Gaines, and in 1873 he demolished O.F.C. to rebuild it using state-of-the-art methods such as column stills, copper fermentation vats, and heated warehouses—techniques inspired by his European travels. However, the ambitious project left him heavily in debt, and by 1879 he was nearing bankruptcy. The liquor firm of Gregory & Stagg purchased his debts, forcing him to sell both O.F.C. and the Oscar Pepper Distillery, which led to James E. Pepper losing his family business.
Despite this, Gregory & Stagg retained Taylor at O.F.C., eventually renaming the firm E.H. Taylor Jr. & Company. In 1882, tragedy struck when O.F.C. was destroyed by lightning and fire. The company rebuilt under Taylor’s guidance, and this structure is what we know today as the Buffalo Trace distillery—the present-day home of E.H. Taylor bourbon. That same year, the firm acquired the J. Swigert Taylor Distillery, operated by Taylor’s son, Jacob.
By 1885, weary of corporate entanglements, Taylor negotiated the return of the J. Swigert Taylor Distillery in exchange for his remaining shares in O.F.C. He reclaimed and renovated the site, renaming it Old Taylor. By 1887, he had transformed it into the iconic castle-like distillery we now know as Castle & Key. Taylor and his son operated the facility until Prohibition forced its closure in 1917.
Taylor is widely recognized as one of the driving forces behind the 1897 Bottled-in-Bond Act. Alongside other industry leaders, he fought to eliminate low-quality “rectifiers,” who adulterated whiskey with additives and chemicals. The legislation helped establish higher standards of quality and authenticity in American whiskey.
In 1935, the Old Taylor Distillery was acquired by National Distillers and reopened after Prohibition, continuing to thrive throughout much of the 20th century. Old Taylor brand bourbon was especially popular in the export market with their 86 proof offerings being imported to Germany, Australia and Italy. When National Distillers was sold to Jim Beam in 1987, Beam chose to shutter the site. The property changed hands multiple times, even being used as a maturation site for brands like Wild Turkey and Jim Beam, before finally being revived in 2014 when Will Arvin and Wes Murry invested heavily to restore it—relaunching it as Castle & Key.
Meanwhile, the Old Taylor brand continued under Jim Beam into the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2006, the label was sold to Buffalo Trace, which transformed the E.H. Taylor line into a highly allocated and sought-after collection of bourbons. For over a century, the continued use of Taylor’s name has kept his story and legacy at the forefront of American whiskey.
From his fight for the Bottled-in-Bond Act to the castle-like distillery that still stands at Castle & Key, Taylor’s fingerprints are all over bourbon’s past and present. But bottles like this 1913 quart are where that history feels most real: tangible proof of his vision that has survived more than a century. Alongside this example, the BAXUS vault holds a collection of rare Old Taylor bottlings, each one carrying forward the story of the man who insisted bourbon could—and should—be timeless.
1917 Old Taylor Quart, bottled in 1933 – a rare pre-Prohibition vintage released after repeal.
Read the full article at He Lost His First Bourbon Empire, Then Built Another. The Story of E.H. Taylor Jr.
