Monday, June 8, 2009
Tooled top fifths
Not all valuable whiskies wear an applied top. There are a few "toolies" that appeal to "advanced collectors", as J.T. liked to call some hunter/gatherers of our particular bent. The "picture" theme continued to advance as the years wore on, with various subjects in evidence. A Sacramento dealer, George E. Dierssen, advertised himself as "sole agent" for Buffalo Old Bourbon whiskey, along with promoting other wines and liquors. To date, I have not found a Kentucky distillery in Bourbon County that made this product. Was it merely a takeoff on the immensely popular beers brewed by another local concern, Buffalo Brewing Co's New Brew and Bohemian Lagers? The bottles did have a very similar Buffalo embossed on them. Oh well, that was way back in them days, so "takeoffs" were often tolerated, especially when they contained dissimilar beverages. Some of us are thankful for that. I have been fortunate to have dug several amber Buffalos and a dozen plus clear, applied and tooled ones. Thanks to another "advanced collector" also have the only piece of advertising known to have survived from Dierssen's enterprises.
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OldCutters,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you posted on George Dierssen. A few weeks ago a fellow & his family were in my wife's antique store looking at some of the bottles for sale. He was looking for a Buffalo Bourbon. Turns out he was George Dierssen the third, great grandson of George Dierssen. He told me that his family had destroyed all of the remains of George's liquor related artifacts. George the 3rd was trying to put together a collection of what his family had earlier destroyed. He claimed to have known you. What do you make of this?
g.0.
old bourbon does not relate to whiskey but to old bourbon county ky. now 12 or so countys, 1 named
ReplyDeletebourbon now. whiskey got the nick name old bourbon
if it shiped from the port in that district of ky.
district named for king louie of france, house of
bourbon. just google ky whiskye history
mole man
TRUE Bourbon comes only from Kentucky, a fact that is well known among whiskey afficianados. Bourbon County is the "heart" of this district. Google is not always the correct way to research.
ReplyDeleteG.O., I am well familiar with the Dierssen family record and do know old George. He is a fellow delta farm and land owner and we have had dealings with him on occasion. It is true some of the family went out of their way to seek out and destroy any evidence of them being in the liquor business. There was no way for them to find the hundreds of buried bottles, though. The reverse glass sign hung in an Oak park saloon called "Steen's", and is evidently the only piece not destroyed in the "Dierssen purge".
The Dierssens also had a market in Sacramento called "The Pacific" that was quite successful itself.
the old bourbon district is only in kentucky and about one forth of the state .port on the ohio river it shiped from was maysville, now mason co.
ReplyDeletethis district was once bourbon co virginia before
ky statehood.
see how bourbon whiskey really got its name at straight bourbon.com
moleman
Hey Guys (G.O. and Old Cutters),
ReplyDeleteJust did a search and found your posts. G.O. - that was me that stopped by your antique shop. It's great to see some of my family's history, what a great hobby you have. I would like to think one day I will have time to participate.
George E. Dierssen IV
IndustryUptime, Inc.
941 Grant St. Ste. A
Benicia, CA 94510
(707) 748 – 5681