Elijah Pepper

Pepper is a whiskey brand that was first distilled just after the American Revolution, initially in Virginia and then continuously into the 1960s in Kentucky. The iconic Pepper name and distilling legacy owe its narrative to its founder, Elijah Pepper, though several of Elijah’s namesake distillers followed him in succession.

Elijah Pepper was born in 1760 in Culpeper, Virginia, and started the generational distilling tradition of the Pepper family around 1780. In 1786, Elijah married 16-year-old Sarah Neville O’Bannon. His whiskey business grew with his young family, so Pepper took on his new brother-in-law, John O’Bannon, as an assistant. Around 1790, the Pepper clan along with John, traveled to Kentucky, ultimately settling around the area known today as Versailles. 

After establishing their roots in Kentucky, Elijah and John quickly located a reliable limestone water source, built a still, and began producing Kentucky whiskey. Success followed, and in 1812 the duo opened another distillery on the Grassy Spring Branch at Glenn’s Creek near Versailles. On the Glenn’s Creek land, Elijah also constructed a log cabin to move his family into. Elijah Pepper ran the distillery operations for 20 years. Elijah and Sarah Pepper produced five girls and three boys; however, none of them showed much interest in distilling except the second-oldest son, Oscar, who helped John and Elijah as he could around the distillery. Naturally then, Oscar began to run the operation upon Elijah’s death in 1831. When Oscar died in 1865, Oscar’s oldest son James Pepper took over the distillery. The legendary Colonel Edmund Hayes Taylor, Jr.. was a good friend of the Pepper family and became the young James’ guardian upon his father’s death. Taylor proceeded to assist James with distilling a high-quality product that was very popular, though Taylor severely hindered the operation’s financial health and by 1877 the Pepper distillery was bankrupt.

Following the insolvency, the Old Pepper marque was thereafter bought and sold by a handful of companies, most notably Labrot & Graham. During Prohibition, Old Pepper was not granted a “medicinal use” license to produce alcohol, but it was allowed to warehouse and bottle some of its products. This is likely because, even before the Prohibition days, the brand had boasted of its “medicinal uses” so that the brand resonated with consumers based on health. This helped Pepper to remain relevant for the time being, while many other brands were forever relegated to history.

From the time Prohibition ended until the 1960s, the Old Pepper brand was again purchased then resold in succession by several companies but it had remained, for the most part, a profitable and respected marque. Unfortunately, in 1967, the bourbon industry as a whole had again hit hard times, and, like many of its contemporaries, both the Pepper brand as well as its two working distilleries were abruptly closed and abandoned for 40-odd years. However, In 2008 the Pepper brand was relaunched by whiskey entrepreneur Amir Peay. Ultimately, in December 2017, the James E. Pepper distillery in Lexington was opened and began distilling whiskey using the historic Pepper recipe made famous by Elijah Pepper.

It is noteworthy that the Glenn’s Creek site where Elijah first chose to set up his distillery is still in operation and remains the current home of Woodford Reserve to this day.

Reference: Sipping History, 2022

Contributed by: Tracy McLemore, Dickson, Tennessee