The Chicken Cock Whiskey brand, leading up to prohibition in 1920, had experienced its fair share of turmoil to overcome in the prior decades. The original founder, James A. Miller, had passed away suddenly in 1860; just 4 years after starting the business. Financial panic occurred in the early 1880s, straining the spirits industry, and leading Chicken Cock to be the only operating distillery in Bourbon County for a brief time. A lawsuit in 1890 had to be filed against Miller’s Gamecock for aiming to capitalize off Chicken Cock’s stature and success. Multiple distillery fires had plagued the new owners throughout the late 1890’s, and into the turn of the century. With the Temperance Movement sweeping across the nation and slowing liquor sales, along with a brand new 3-story still house in Paris, KY that was reduced to rubble just years prior, the proverbial “nail in the coffin” for most brands at that point would have been prohibition being enacted in 1920. In fact, for thousands of brands, that was sadly the case; they’d gone bankrupt, were bought out, or dissolved. Chicken Cock’s rich past is not just its 60+ years of history preceding prohibition, but the ways in which it thrived during this storied time in American history. The most fascinating fact is that it was made in 2 different forms during prohibition, during a time when most brands weren’t made at all.
Five dollars. That’s all Sam Bronfman was rumored to have to pay National Distillers after 1933, settling the legal dispute of his making and using the US-trademarked Chicken Cock Whiskey brand name while operating Distillers Corporation Ltd. in Montreal during prohibition in the United States. This infringement by Bronfman during the 1920’s and 30’s, which had undoubtedly further enriched him and his business empire, catapulted Chicken Cock Whiskey into “lore status” within the speakeasies popping up across the nation. A lesser-known fact is that prior to prohibition being enacted in the United States in 1920, Canada had actually gone through its own form of prohibition. By 1917, every province had outlawed liquor sales, except for the province of Quebec. Seizing on the massive opportunity to feed the bootlegging pipeline to America, in 1924 Sam Bronfman opened Distillers Corporation Ltd. (“DCL”) in Montreal, QC, thus skirting the law by opening up shop in the one place it wasn’t enacted.
DCL made a variety of whiskeys during U.S. prohibition. Brands like Golden Wedding and Old Log Cabin Bourbon were marketed to American consumers, decades before bourbon was legally required to be made in the U.S. DCL also made whiskeys that were specially packaged in sealed tin cans, including Double Eagle and Chickencock Pure Rye whiskeys. Before you ask, that’s not a misspelling on my end; Bronfman, maybe even cleverly, had advertised Chicken Cock as one word. These tin-canned whiskeys came in both pint and quart sizes, and included a metal key on the top to cut around the top rim to retrieve the bottle inside; similar to sardines, cigars, or cigarettes during that time frame. Maybe this was designed to enhance the packaging, maybe it was to keep the whiskey “fresh”, but it can’t be disregarded that this was also useful to ensure your bootleggers didn’t consume the whiskey inside before it made it to the final destination. Having a good time on your own supply was a common issue for the bootlegging industry, and many times would even lead to empty bottles being refilled with shoe polish and tobacco spit. Some may see the roaring 20’s as a nonstop party, but it was truly life-risking drinking spirits in some instances due to these practices.
Friendly with the likes of famous bootleggers like Al Capone, Bronfman had outlined smuggling routes to get Chickencock Rye and other spirits over the U.S. border. The first stop was usually to an island off the coast of Newfoundland, where the liquor would get re-boarded onto a ship destined for the eastern seaboard of the U.S. There it’d be met with the various network of bootleggers waiting on the other side to distribute it to speakeasies across the nation. It was estimated that at one point, Bronfman was responsible for half of the supply of liquor in the U.S. during prohibition. Tin cans of Chickencock were smuggled by rum-runners, mistaken for cans of sardines in the trunks, and revered by any who could get their hands on it.
Speakeasies had been popping up across the country since 1920, and one of the most famous of them all was The Cotton Club in Harlem, NY. Performing inside this illustrious jazz club were the largest performing African American artists and acts of their time; Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and others. Duke recalls in his memories Music is My Mistress that Chickencock, The Famous Old Brand, was served out of a tin can, and that it was rumored to cost up to $14 a pint (over $200 in today’s money). Chickencock was a ceremonious ordeal at The Cotton Club, where if you tipped the door man an extra few bucks he might be inclined to sit you near the band stage and set down a prominent bottle of Chickencock on the table for you to enjoy.
You may have noticed that we have paid tribute to this era of Chicken Cock’s rich past, including tin can limited releases, but most prominently our bottle design that is used on a variety of our bottlings. The chicken wire embossed design you see on our bottles today, along with the crowing rooster on the back, is exactly how Chicken Cock was packaged during its tin can era. When you go to reach for a bottle next time, you’re holding not just great whiskey; you’re holding history.
Prohibition proved to be ineffective, ramping up illegal operations across the country more than ever. The bootlegging industry was reported to be worth $3 billion by 1927. The only legal way to produce, sell, or consume whiskey legally was through the medicinal process. Thegovernment gave the power of medicinal whiskey production to just a handful of prominent producers, one of which being American Medicinal Spirits Company. AMS had consolidated and re-formed out of what was formerly the Whiskey Trust, a monopoly that had formed prior to the turn of the century that dominated the whiskey industry.
As a producer of medicinal whiskey, AMS began bottling Chicken Cock as a Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon, the age of which was usually 10-16 years. If you were smart during prohibition, you’d have a cough every day of the week, just to get your hands on this rare and well-aged whiskey. Chicken Cock during this time was packaged in pints that came in boxes labeled “Spritus Frumenti” (the designation for medicinal alcohol), as well as 750ml glass bottles with an iconic embossed sunburst glass which included a metal cap on top. You may notice that we also pay tribute to this exact style of packaging with more of our limited items and single barrels, which still come with the cap on top. While most may use it for a vessel to enjoy a pour of Chicken Cock from today, that was used to measure your daily medicine during prohibition. Similar to mouthwash, cough medicine, or other items we regularly use, it was, and still is, for ease of use.
The crossover between being a smuggled brand out of Canada, as well as a medicinally made U.S. bourbon, made Chicken Cock iconic during this time. From Montreal and rum-running, to iconic jazz and speakeasies; from tin cans and bottle caps, to curing coughs and keeping spirits high. Chicken Cock didn’t just endure Prohibition, it defined it, continuing its resilience as The Famous Old Brand.