Maysville
We’re going to talk about Kentucky bourbon.
Yep, I know what you’re going to say. Bourbon is far from unexpected in Kentucky. It’s actually one of the Big Three draws for Kentucky tourists that I mentioned in my opening blog. People expect to see 1) horses, 2) bourbon whiskey, and 3) bluegrass when they come to the Commonwealth. And that’s still true.
But . . . when you find a family-owned distillery with a sixth-generation distiller in an area of the state where bourbon production is just now, at this moment, experiencing a revival? That’s unexpected.
And I found such a place off U.S. 68, in Maysville.
Back to the future
There are a few things you should know about bourbon whiskey:
-It can’t be called bourbon unless it is produced in the U.S.,
-Ninety-five percent of bourbon is produced in Kentucky, and;
-You’ll have to go to Maysville to find one of the oldest family-owned bourbon distilleries in the state, located both on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Craft Tour and the Northern Kentucky bourbon tour called the B-Line.
The name of the distillery is Old Pogue, and it produces bourbon and rye whiskies including Old Pogue Master’s Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Old Maysville Club Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Rye Malt Whiskey.
Both are the legacy of H.E. Pogue Distillery founder Henry Edgar Pogue I, a Kentucky distiller who opened his namesake business in Maysville way back in 1876.
The whiskies that Pogue produced were known for their “superior grade,” but even the best whiskies were challenged with the arrival of Prohibition in 1920. H.E. Pogue III, the distillery founder’s grandson who had taken over operations following the death of his father, sold the company’s whiskies “for medicinal purposes” under the brand Old Jordan to make it through Prohibition. Still, it was hard to recover.
The H.E. Pogue Distillery would close by the early 1960s, with the family leaving “the spirits business” in 1953 for half a century.
Enter the early 2000s, when the Old Pogue name and its whiskies bounded back under the leadership of fifth and sixth-generation Pogue descendants. The family worked with Willett Distillery of Bardstown to bring the family brand back to market in 2004. By 2012, Old Pogue whiskies had returned to production in Maysville.
Today, you can visit the Old Pogue Distillery, located on the grounds of the Pogue family homestead at 716 West 2nd Street in Maysville.
Visit Old Pogue
Tours of the distillery are by appointment only, and you can sign up for a tour online at www.oldpogue.com/tours. I’d also recommend walking down the street for a tour at The Old Pogue Experience at 100 West 2nd Street. Once inside, Exhibit Curator Marla Toncray or her staff will lead you through the history of bourbon in Maysville. Tastings of Old Pogue whiskies are also available.
If you’re a real bourbon fan, you’ll be super curious about the number system on the whiskey barrels displayed in the back room (Miller Room) of The Old Pogue Experience. The Distilled Spirits Plant (DSP) number is both an historic designation and a tracking system – Old Pogue’s number is DSP-KY-3.
You can read more about the system here.
What’s in a name
Maysville is in Mason County, which was carved out of Bourbon County (then part of Virginia) in 1789. I learned on the Old Pogue Experience tour that the term “bourbon whiskey” may have originated in this area when Maysville — then known as Limestone Landing in “Old Bourbon” County — was one of the country’s earliest shipping ports for distilled spirits and other commodities.
According to distillery history provided by Old Pogue Distillery, “. . . the whisky that passed through Maysville was known as Old Bourbon County Whisky.”
Today, a brochure provided by Old Pogue encourages folks to tour the Old Pogue Experience for “a deeper look into Bourbon and Pogue History in the Birthplace of Bourbon, Maysville, Ky.”
Enter Alexander Hamilton
Those DSP numbers that we talked about are part of a lineage of tracking, and taxation, of whiskey that was the brainchild of Founding Father and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Yep, that Hamilton.
The man immortalized most recently in the blazingly successful Lin-Manuel Miranda musical is the same man who convinced Congress in 1790 to vote to pay off the state’s Revolutionary War debts with an excise tax on distilled spirits, including bourbon. It would be among the first sources of income for the new Republic which, of course, had not earned its independence single-handed. The French people were a major factor in America’s besting of the British, thanks largely to the work of one of Hamilton’s friends.
You probably know him best as . . .
The Marquis de Lafayette
… aka Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de La Fayette.
Lafayette was commissioned as a Major General by the Continental Army and acted as a liaison with his home country to provide the American revolutionaries with the aid they needed to beat the British. He became a larger-than-life beloved hero throughout the U.S., with numerous streets, parks, schools, cities, counties and more across the nation still named after him today.
Lafayette returned to France, but would visit America again. His 1824-1825 tour of America (which was all of 24 states at the time) was one of the most celebrated events of the 19th century, and it included a stop in Maysville.
Artist Robert Dafford depicted the event in one of several flood wall murals that he and his team painted for the City of Maysville.
The General arrived in Maysville via the steamer Herald on May 21, 1825. He and his entourage were escorted from the landing along red carpets into Maysville, where a luncheon was served in Lafayette’s honor at a circa-1798 Maysville inn known today as The Lee House.
The current inn is actually three buildings, with the oldest (known as the Sutton Street building) available during Lafayette’s visit. The two other buildings, including a three-story hotel facing Front Street, were built circa 1835 and 1850.
The outside of The Lee House has several 18th and 19th century architectural elements. “Star anchors” used to secure the iron or steel rods that run through the building as masonry supports are still plentiful. Early stone and woodwork is visible and well-preserved.
If you want to have a peek inside the old inn, you may not have to wait long. The Lee House is being fully renovated with plans to reopen to overnight guests as soon as this year.
[Food log – DeLite’s]
DeLite’s is a true 1950s-era diner and Maysville landmark with a full breakfast and sandwich menu influenced by the Greek families who owned and operated the eatery in past years. That Greek heritage lives on in some of DeLite’s speciality items, including the Hercules (Son of Zeus) — a ¼ pound burger topped with fries, American or cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, a traditional Greek sauce made from cucumber, yogurt, and garlic. Gyros are also available, as are basics like the DeLite’s Burger, Fishtail sandwich, hot wings, salads, several side orders, and a soup of the day. I ordered the B-L-T, which was served on buttered toast with a healthy amount of mayo (just as I like it). DeLite’s is located at 222 Market Street.
[Side Trip – Kentucky Gateway Museum Center]
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center is a world-class facility that showcases Maysville and the surrounding area from its geologic beginnings to modern day. The Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection (billed as “the world’s 2nd-largest museum quality miniature exhibit”) features painstakingly-constructed replicas of local buildings, many made with thousands of tiny handmade and mortared bricks. The center also offers a Genealogical & Historical Research Library with extensive archives.
Maysville and Mason County have more history than I could ever cover in one blog entry, so we’ll stay here and explore for another week. I hope you’ll come along with me.
Still curious? Contact the Maysville-Mason County Convention and Visitors Bureau located in the historic Cox Building at 2 East Third Street.
Featured image: The Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge connects Aberdeen, Ohio and Maysville, Ky. on U.S. 62.
