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Maryland Rye Whiskey Distilleries and
Merchants
Maryland Rye Whiskey distilleries and brands
are difficult to list neatly and concisely. There are no working whiskey
distilleries in Maryland, so all of these sites are "no longer there". But
especially in the Baltimore area, even knowing where "there" is can be a
difficult accomplishment. Some of the most famous of the old Maryland rye brands
were marketed by companies whose only address was an office on or near E. Pratt
Street in Baltimore. In some cases these merchants filled orders with product
from distilleries with whom they contracted. In others, the "distillery" may
have consisted of a mixing and blending room and a bottling machine. And even
when whiskey was actually distilled at the site, the building itself was often
of standard urban factory design. Several businesses may have used the site
since, each wiping out all traces of whichever one came before.
In the descriptions below, the brands are shown
in green
and the distilleries or merchants are shown as
links to the associated
pages. Since there's no way to know how a reader will encounter our pages,
please forgive some occasional repetitiveness. There are buttons at the bottom
of the pages that will take you back to this menu or to the Main Menu.
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Pikesville Maryland Rye,
now called Pikesville Supreme, was the last whiskey commercially
distilled in Maryland. It's been made in Kentucky for more than twenty years
now, but we visited the
Majestic Distillery,
which was it's home for nearly fifty years. Majestic is not a "ghost"; it is
still very active as a rectification and bottling center. The distillery was
known as
Monumental
before 1943, and it had some an interesting stories of its own.
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Mount Vernon Rye
was produced at Baltimore's
Hannis Distillery
before prohibition.
After repeal the brand became known worldwide as National Distilling
Corporation's select Maryland Rye whiskey. National moved production to their
distillery, which may have been the same Dundalk site as...
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Baltimore Pure Rye
was distilled in Dundalk
by William E. Kricker up until
1957. After his death the distillery was purchased by the
Seagram's
Corporation, who had another plant just up the
street that they'd acquired along with the
Frankfort Distilleries
Corporation collection of brands in the early '40s. They produced
Paul Jones and
Four Roses whiskey at both
distilleries, along with Spring Garden,
Montebello,
and others. Seagrams' main distillery in Baltimore was the old
Calvert
facility in the neighborhood known as Relay. We will have more about that plant
later.
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Sherwood Pure Rye,
produced in Cockeysville by the
Wight Distillery
and
Hyatt & Clark
before Prohibition, and by Louis Mann's
Sherwood Distilling Corporation
in Westminster afterward. The Cockeysville site is now the location of Procter &
Gamble's Hunt Valley facility (Noxell). We visit the Westminster site, the only
existing building of which is now an Italian restaurant, and eat dinner in the
shadow of the SHERWOOD smokestack.
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Also in Cockeysville, Frank L. Wight, of the
original Sherwood-producing family, produced
Sherbrook and
Ryebrook
whiskey after Prohibition ended. We visit the remains of the
Cockeysville Distilling Company
there.
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The
Melvale Distillery
was located in the Jones Falls section of Baltimore, on Cold Spring Road. We
found the site to be in use as a vinegar distillery today, with at least one of
the original buildings intact. Melvale Pure
Rye
was one of the most premium of the pre-prohibition Maryland Ryes.
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Braddock,
produced in Cumberland (Lavale) by the
James Clark Distilling Company.
We visit the original location, identifiable only by street names that linger
long after the last trace of the distillery has vanished... even from local
memory.
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Horsey Pure Rye
and Golden Gate,
produced in Burkittsville at
Needwood Farms,
by Outerbridge Horsey II. Needwood still exists in immaculate splendor, as do
the carefully restored buildings in the village of Burkittsville. But there is
no trace of the Horsey distillery to be found.
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King's, was
produced by the Luther G.
King Distillery near Clarksburg.
As late as 1906 it was a well-known landmark in Montgomery County. All that
remains today are some small piles of brick and copper peeking out through thick
forest growth, and a small marker erected by the regional hiking park within
whose boundaries it once stood.
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Melky Miller Rye Whiskey
was produced at the M. J.
Miller's Sons Distillery just
outside the village of Accident, until Prohibition. The ruins of the abandoned
distillery stood for decades until destroyed by fires in the 1970s and '90s. The
Garrett County Historical Society has marked its location with a sign.
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coming soon!
Other Baltimore distillers and merchants that we will be exploring include the
makers of Monticello,
Calvert,
Melrose, and
Maryland Pure Rye.
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