Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey

 While I was away on vacation, the CCASM crew was busy cleaning artifacts from the Swann House excavation. They found more pieces of the rye whiskey bottle that was featured at the end of last week’s blog article. It turns out that I miss identified the bottle based on the presence of the partial embossed letters “V” and “E” above the rest of the embossing for “PURE RYE WHISKEY.” The additional pieces when assembled are for “MOUNT VERNON PURE RYE WHISKEY” not for Overholt pure rye whiskey as I had initially stated.

 

Mount Vernon Pure Rye Whiskey Bottle Fragments 
The blog article from last week only had the bottom piece to work with
the addition of the two top pieces helped me to better pinpoint the company
More of the reconstructed bottle is shown below

Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey was distilled in Baltimore by Edwin A. Clabaugh and George U. Graff. The two formed a partnership in about 1858[1] and were probably distilling some version of Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey by 1859 when they advertised Old Rye Whiskey for sale from their  wholesale liquor warehouse at 38 South Street (just off the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City).[2] The 1860 Woods’ Baltimore City Directory lists two addresses for the firm of Clabaugh & Graff, the one at 38 South Street and the other, which appears to be the distillery, at Russell and Ostend Streets[3] (near what are now M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards).

 

The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, 29 August 1859, page 2.

The firm was at these locations until at least 1864. Graff is not listed as a partner in the E.M. Cross & Co.’s Baltimore City Business Directory for 1863 through 1864.[4] By 1865, Clabaugh was in partnership with George W. Harris. They are listed in city directories through 1871 as liquor dealers and distillers, located at 38 South Street.[5] The partnership probably dissolved in 1872 when E.A. Clabaugh appears in the directory as the sole proprietor of a distillery with the address at 38 South Street.[6] 

The Sun, Baltimore Maryland, 3 March 1873, page 2

The Mount Vernon Rye brand was probably sold to Henry S. Hannis of Philadelphia in 1872. Edwin A. Clabaugh was listed as a director of the Hannis Distilling Company of Baltimore and Philadelphia in a March 1873 announcement of a stockholders meeting in The Sun (see above).[7] Clabaugh renewed his partnership with Graff and the two continued to be listed as whole sale liquor dealers and distillers at 38 South street in the Woods’ Baltimore City Directory between 1874 and 1878. However by 1877, Clabaugh appears to have stepped back from the distilling business. He was head of firm of E.A. Claubaugh & Son, who were commercial merchants in the city.[8] Claubaugh was also the president of the Peoples Bank in Baltimore between 1877 and his death in November 1881.[9]

Page from the 1874 
Woods’ Baltimore City Directory
Showing the listings for the Clabaugh & Graff,
Hannis, and Mount Vernon Distillers.

Henry S. Hannis is listed in the 1872 Woods’ Baltimore City Directory as Hannis Distilling Co. at 96 W Lombard St. (the Inner Harbor).[10] His firm is not in the 1873 directory, but appears in the 1874 as the Mount Vernon Distillery, at the Russell and Ostend Streets address that had housed the various Clabaugh distilleries. In 1875, the firm is listed as both the Hannis Distilling Co. and the Mount Vernon Distillery at the same address in the Wood’s Directory.[11] 

Although the company was head-quartered in Philadelphia, it continued to distill rye whiskey in Baltimore.

In the early 1880s, Henry S. Hannis was declared legally insane and was placed in the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital at Norristown where he died in May 1886 at the age of 52. His son Herbert Hannis took over the business and in 1889, sold the sole distribution rights to Cook & Bernheimer of New York. This company went out of business in 1917 when Prohibition forced its closure.[12]

The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland,
4 June 1890, page 1

Mount Vernon Rye continued to be distilled during Prohibition as a “Medicinal” whiskey. The  brand was purchased by the American Medicinal Spirits Company, which formed in 1922. Mount Vernon Rye had been touted as a “medicinal” drink as early as 1890 in an advertisement appearing in Baltimore’s The Sun, when a liquor distributor described it as “an absolutely pure stimulant, for medicinal purposes.”[13]

Years Before Prohibition Mount Veron Rye Whiskey
was praised for its medicinal properties
Washington Post, 25 September 1910, page 3

Partially reconstructed bottle
28 August 2023

After prohibition ended the American Medicinal Spirits Company was purchased by the National Distillers, which continued to make Mount Vernon Rye until the company was bought by Jim Beam. Beam also acquired Old Overholt Pure Rye Whiskey as part of its buy out of National Distillers. They decided to keep Old Overholt and stopped making Mount Vernon in the 1980s.[14]

The bottle fragments we recovered are from a square, mold blown bottle with a double ring lip finish. This particular lip finish was produced primarily between 1850 and 1910, although it continued to be made into the 1920s. The SHA/BLM bottle website notes that this finish is found on mold blown bottles and is uncommon on machine made bottles.[15] The partially reconstructed bottle is like those shown in advertisements from the 1890s through 1913 and is associated with the period of time that Cook & Bernheimer of New York was distributing the product (1889-1917).[16] 

Advertisement in New York Metropolitan Opera House
 program for the Wagner opera Siegfried, 16 December 1898. 

Full Page Advertisement for Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey
The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
2 March 1913

The bottle below was recently sold at auction and is is analogous to ours. Occassionally, some of the pre-Prohibition Bottles show up that are still sealed with the contents intact. They were hidden away and then forgotten.

Although the square bottle continued to be marketed after prohibition, by 1920 most glass companies were making machine made bottles. Once liquor sales resumed in December 1933, the National Distillers used machine made bottles for their products. Our bottle is part of the last 30 years of pre-Prohibition rye whiskey production and dates to the period 1889 through at least 1917. Its location in the cellar of the Swann House in the chimney rubble supports the date of the early 1920s for the demolition of the Swann House as it and the other bottle fragments in the rubble date to the same time period.

1937 Advertisement for Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey
The bottle shape is the same as pre-Prohibition
but the post Prohibition manufacture process for the bottle is different.

Maryland Independent, 15 December 1899, page 3

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[1] Obituary of Edwin A. Clabaugh, Sharpsburg Enterprise, 2 December 1881.

[2] Advertisements for Old Rye Whiskey by Clabaugh and Graff, The Sun, 29 August 1860, page 2 and 4 June 1860, page 2.

[3] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, Ending 1860. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 479.

[4] E.M. Cross & Co.’s Baltimore City Business Directory 1863-1864. E.M. Cross & Co. Publishers, Baltimore. Page 89.

[5] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1865-’66. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Pages 82 and 535. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1867-’68. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Pages 100 and 657. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1868-’69. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Pages 98 and 704. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1870. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Pages 112 and 794. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1871. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Pages 9 and 108.

[6] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1871. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 820.

[7] Announcement of Hannis Distilling Company stock holder’s meeting, The Sun, 24 February 1873, page 2.

[8] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1874. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 790. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1875. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 801. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1876. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 829. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1877. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 865. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1878. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 892.

[9] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1877. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page n11. Obituary of Edwin A. Clabaugh, Sharpsburg Enterprise, 2 December 1881.

[10] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1872. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 820.

[11] Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1874. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 790. Woods’ Baltimore City Directory, 1875. John W. Woods, Baltimore. Page 801.

[12] Anon. George Carragan, the Money Man Behind Cook & Bernheimer. Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men! 7 November 2016. Electronic Document. https://whiskey975.rssing.com/chan-54971243/all_p7.html#c54971243a122?zx=813 Accessed 29 August 2023. Sullivan, Jack. Henry S. Hannis: The Millionaire Goes Mad. Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men! 3 February 2012. Electronic Document. http://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2012/02/henry-s-hannis-millionaire-goes-mad.htmlAccessed 29 August 2023. Veach, Michael R. Brand History - Mount Vernon Rye. Bourbon History. 24 August 2020. Electronic document, https://bourbonveach.com/2020/08/24/brand-history-mount-vernon-rye/ Accessed 29 August 2023.

[13] Advertisement for Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey, The Sun, 6 June 1890, page 1. Michigan State University. Take Two Shots of Whiskey Every 6 Hours: Medicinal Alcohol During Prohibition Era. MSU Campus Archaeology Program. 20 February 2018. Electronic Document. https://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=5897 Accessed 29 August 2023.

[14] Advertisement of National Distillers, The Sun, 15 November 1933, page 10. Veach 2020.

[15] BLM/SHA. Part II Types or Styles of Finishes - Page 1. Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website. Electronic Document. https://sha.org/bottle/finishstyles.htm#Double%20Ring Accessed 29 August 2023.

[16] Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey Advertisement, New York Metropolitan Opera House program for the Wagner opera Siegfried, 16 December 1898. Advertisements for Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey: The Boston Globe, 13 December 1907, page 7 and The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.), 3 March 1913, part 1. Anon 2016. Sullivan 2012. Veach 2020.