Old Pogue
Old Pogue is a premium brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It is bottled a 45.5% abv (91 U.S. proof), with nine-year aging. The brand name is privately owned by members of the Pogue family.
History
The Pogue brand has a history dating back to around 1869.[1][2] Its original distillery was Kentucky registered distillery number 3, in Maysville, Kentucky.[1] However, the brand's distillery was shut down by Prohibition. It was revived after 18 years and then shut down again during World War II. The brand was then off the market for about 60 years. The brand name was revived around 2005 by descendants of the Pogue family, who re-launched the brand using whiskey purchased from another company before opening their own new distillery.
The family established a new distillery in Maysville around 2012. In 2012, the company joined the Kentucky Distillers Association and the distillery became part of the newly launched "Craft Tour" of its Kentucky Bourbon Trail tourism marketing program.[3][4]
Although the company has established a new distillery, it has not yet been in operation long enough to produce bourbon aged as long as what is used for the brand. The actual production of the brand has been contracted out to Kentucky Bourbon Distillers of Bardstown, Kentucky, which has used spirits distilled at the nearby Heaven Hill distillery for the product.[2][5] Thus, the bottles for the modern (post-2010) brand identify Bardstown rather than Maysville on the label as the origin of the product.
One expression of the brand is a "Master's Select" bottling.
References
- History page on official web site.
- Charles K. Cowdery, Non-Distiller Producers; Make The Brands, But Buy The Whiskey Archived 2012-10-29 at the Wayback Machine, American Distiller #89, Reprinted with permission from The Bourbon Country Reader, Volume 10 Number 5 (September 2007). (Access date December 13, 2010.)
- Bourbon Trail launches new tour of artisan distilleries, Lexington Herald-Leader, October 12, 2012.
- Craft distilleries across the state added to Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience, The Lane Report, October 12, 2012.
- Charles K. Cowdery, Who Made That Whiskey?, The Chuck Cowdery Blog: American Whiskey & Other Stuff, February 19, 2008. (Access date December 13, 2010.)