Michters No.1 Bourbon

Michters No.1 Bourbon is very rich and fruity on the nose, with sumptuous notes of dried fruit, raisins and barley sugar, countered by brioche and fennel. Easy drinking and smooth mouthfeel, with a generous helping of sweet spice cinnamon and nutmeg along with refreshingly juicy fruit. On the finish the richness remains, but theres freshness in the form of black pepper that delivers a kick of spicy zing.

Originally known as Shenks and later as Bombergers, the whiskey company which ultimately became known as Michters was founded by John Shenk, a Swiss Mennonite farmer, in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania in 1753. In its earliest days, Shenks produced whiskey from rye grain, a favourite local crop in the Pennsylvania Blue Mountain Valley where the distillery was located.

According to Pennsylvania historical lore, commemorated by the Lebanon Valley Coin Club in 1978, this particular rye whiskey was so valued that when the Revolutionary War broke out, General George Washington visited the distillery and purchased whiskey to fortify his men as they hunkered down in their camp through the long, brutal winter at Valley Forge. Over 200 years later the Michters Pennsylvania management would say Michter’s was the whiskey that warmed the American Revolution.

In the mid-1800s, Pennsylvania Dutchman Abraham Bomberger purchased the distillery from the Shenk family, and the distillery became known for many decades as Bombergers.

The passage of Prohibition in 1919 forced the distillery, along with other American spirits producers, to shut its doors to the public. Although the distillery did reopen after the repeal of Prohibition, it changed hands many times over the next few decades and frequently occupied a precarious financial position. During the 1950s, Lou Forman, one of the distillerys then-owners, created the modern Michters brand name by combining portions of his sons names Michael and Peter.

In 1989, with the entire American whiskey industry suffering a prolonged downturn, Michters then-owners declared bankruptcy and abandoned the premises, leaving its Pennsylvania operations in disrepair and the Michters name seemingly lost to history were it not for a fortuitous connection to two whiskey lovers with an abiding admiration for the old Michters legacy and quality.

In the 1990s, Joseph J. Magliocco and his consultant and mentor Richard Dick Newman teamed up to resurrect Michters. Magliocco, who entered the wine and spirits industry after attending Yale College and graduating from Harvard Law School, was intimately familiar with Michters through his college days of imbibing and bartending and later through his work selling Michter’s in New York.

Newman meanwhile, had followed up his service in the US Marine Corps (for which he earned a Purple Heart) with an illustrious career in the whiskey business, eventually running Old Grand-Dad, Old Crow, and Old Taylor for National Distillers before becoming President and CEO of Austin Nichols, the distiller of Wild Turkey.

Magliocco and Newman began with a simple strategy to honor the Michters legacy by producing the best whiskey possible, cost be damned! After filing for the unused and abandoned Michter’s trademark, they made their first major strategic decision: to resurrect Michters in Kentucky, in the heart of the modern American whiskey industry, to ensure access to the best whiskey talent and resources available.

Michters No.1 Bourbon