COL. JAMES E. PEPPER
Master Distiller and Horseman of International Fame
Colonel James E. Pepper (1850-1906), was a larger-than-life bourbon industrialist and flamboyant promoter of his family brand. He was the third generation to produce 'Old Pepper' whiskey, “The Oldest and Best Brand of Whisky made in Kentucky,” founded during the American Revolution. Colonel Pepper proudly proclaimed his continued use of his grandfather’s original Revolutionary War-era recipes, nicknaming his whiskey 'Old 1776'. His namesake distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, built in 1880, was said to be the largest and most technologically advanced whiskey distillery in the United States at that time.
An innovative producer of high-grade whiskies, Colonel Pepper pushed boundaries to grow and strengthen the industry at a critical time. In 1890, he convinced the state of Kentucky to change its laws, allowing distilleries to bottle their own whiskey—a right previously held only by rectifiers. To assure consumers of his whiskey's integrity, he invented the now-ubiquitous “strip stamp seal.” By printing his signature on a strip label applied across the cork, he was able to prosecute counterfeit producers and “bottle re-fillers” under existing forgery laws. His advocacy was instrumental in the passage of the “Bottled in Bond Act of 1897”—the first consumer protection law, ensuring the purity and identity of the whiskey in the bottle.
A noted horseman, Colonel Pepper operated the finest horse farm in Kentucky. His thoroughbreds competed in races across America and Europe, once even beating King Edward VII for the Doncaster Cup in England. Isaac Burns Murphy, one of the greatest riders in horse racing history and a personal friend of Pepper, raced for him in both the Kentucky Derby and the Oaks.
Colonel Pepper traveled in an ornate private rail car named "The Old Pepper," colorfully painted with images of his famed whiskey label. He spent considerable time at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, where he socialized with other American captains of industry, including John D. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, C.V. Vanderbilt, Charles A. Pillsbury, Fred Pabst, Charles L. Tiffany, and William Steinway. It was at the Waldorf that Colonel Pepper popularized the “Old Fashioned” cocktail, which was said to have been invented in his honor by a bartender at the famed Pendennis Club in Louisville.
