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| Type | Tennessee whiskey |
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| Manufacturer | Diageo PLC |
| Country of origin | Tennessee, United States |
| Introduced | 1877 |
| Alcohol by volume | 45.00% |
| Proof | 90 |
| Related products | Diageo PLC |
George Dickel is the name of a brand of Tennessee whisky distilled and aged in Cascade Hollow, Tennessee, near Tullahoma and bottled in Stamford, Connecticut and Canada. The brand is now owned by Diageo PLC. Four whiskies are produced at the George Dickel Distillery: George Dickel Cascade Hollow, Old No. 8 Brand, Superior No. 12 Brand, and Barrel Select Tennessee whiskies. The Old No. 8 Brand, with the black label, is an 80 proof whisky and sells for an average price of US$17 for a 750ml bottle; Superior No. 12 Brand, with the ivory label, is 90 proof, and sells for an average price of US$19 for 750ml. The Barrel Select is 86 proof, and prices vary dramatically depending on market.
George Dickel's Tennessee Whisky uses the traditional Scottish spelling of whisky (as opposed to whiskey). Reportedly, this is because Dickel believed his product to be as smooth and high in quality as the best Scotch whiskies. The distillery is part of the American Whiskey Trail and offers tours to the public.
History
George Dickel was born in 1818. He founded a retail business in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1850s. Cascade Tennessee Whisky was first produced in 1870.[1] The Cascade Hollow distillery was founded in 1877 by John F. Brown and F. E. Cunningham.[2] George Dickel bought a controlling interest in the distillery in 1884. He also bought the exclusive rights to bottle and sell the whisky. Dickel withdrew from daily operations of the distillery in 1888 and died in 1894.
After Dickel's death, his share in the company was willed to his wife Augusta, along with the advice to sell out. Augusta opted instead to retain her share of the company until the time of her death in 1916, when George's brother-in-law and long-time business partner V. E. Shwab took over full control of the distillery. Tennessee prohibition forced distilling operations to move to Kentucky in 1910. National Prohibition forced them to shut down altogether.
In 1933, national prohibition was repealed. Shwab had died in 1924, and in 1937 his family sold the Cascade trademark to the Schenley Distilling Company. In the 1940s and 1950s, Schenley's product, produced at the OFC Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, was marketed as Geo. A. Dickel's Cascade Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky.[3]
In 1931, Schenley attempted to buy the Jack Daniel's brand.[4] After its offer was refused, Schenley decided instead to return one of their own brands to its roots and compete against Daniel's. In 1958, after passage of enabling legislation and a referendum, Schenley's Ralph Dupps reconstructed the Cascade Hollow distillery and the original recipe, and George Dickel Tennessee Whisky was first bottled in 1964. Schenley opted to use George Dickel's name as the trademark because of the Cascade brand's reputation for value. Schenley shut down the Tennessee bottling operation in the 1980s, and the whisky has since been hauled in tanker trucks for bottling elsewhere. Various mergers and buyouts have resulted in Diageo PLC owning the Dickel brand.
Increased production of George Dickel in the 1990s caused supply to exceed demand. In response, the distillery closed to allow the whisky's value to rebound. It reopened in 2003, almost too late to prevent a shortage of Old No. 8 in the market by 2007. Diageo floated a younger, three-year-old expression branded Old-Fashioned Cascade Hollow Batch Recipe to meet demand. The Cascade Distillery currently operates under the supervision of Master Distiller John Lunn.
References
External links
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