Business: Whiskey Names

About 70% of the whiskey sold in the U. S. retails for around $1 a pint. Into this dollar market last week went two noteworthy whiskey names.

Kessler. An oldtime Prohibitionist will still bridle at the name of Julius Kessler. Mr. Kessler was head of the much-abused pre-War “Whiskey Trust.” More to the point, he enjoyed the reputation of having sold more whiskey than any other living man.

Born in Budapest, Julius Kessler was selling whiskey in Colorado when the silver boom started at Leadville in the late 1870’s By coaxing pack mules over the hills from Denver, he got his whiskey to Leadville, where it retailed at $2 for three fingers. Later, when he got his own distilleries, he beat out his rivals by selling direct to retailers. A tall, beaming sales man with a sleek, well-fed look, Julius Kessler managed to pump the hands of at least 40,000 U. S. liquor dealers. That gave him such a runaway advantage that Distillers Securities Corp. (“The Whiskey Trust”) put itself and its surplus stocks in his hands. Under President Kessler the “Whiskey Trust” had a brief period of profits before Prohibition reduced it to messing around with yeast, vinegar, denatured alcohol.

In 1921, at 65, Julius Kessler retired to Vienna with several million dollars and 38.000 cigars. In a lifetime of selling liquor Mr. Kessler had had to sample many a whiskey. He estimates that the droplets thus consumed add up to five gallons, his total consumption. To make up for such abstinence, he used to buy 10,000 cigars whenever he went to Havana for molasses.

Shortly after Repeal Julius Kessler returned to Manhattan with his bull terrier Roxy and his bullfinch Dickie, there passed his 80th birthday. Still sleek and jolly, he was observed stuffing pigs’ knuckles and sauerkraut, running down a street after a taxi, dancing until 5 a. m. on New Year’s Eve.

Last week Joseph E. Seagram & Sons gave a party in honor of the formation of Julius Kessler Distilling Co., Inc., a wholly-owned Seagram subsidiary. With Mr. Kessler as president and active head, Kessler Distilling Co. will manufacture and sell a line of whiskeys cheaper than Seagram’s Crown brands.

Wilken. Schenley Distillers Corp. already has a cheap, fas selling straight whiskey in Old Quaker. Seeking a companion blended whiskey to popularize, Schenley consulted Harry E. Wilken, chief distiller for Joseph S. Finch & Co., a Schenley subsidiary at Schenley, Pa. Distiller Wilken produced a formula for a blend of four-year-old whiskey, 16-month whiskey, and neutral spirits (alcohol and water). Last week it was launched as The Wilken Family Blended Whiskey, along with an advertising campaign designed to endear Distiller Wilken & family to the whiskey-drinking public.

First advertisement introduced Distiller Wilken, his two sons, Harry Jr. and William, his son-in-law, Thomas McConville. Subsequent advertisements will add to the family Mr. Wilken’s late, whiskeymaking father. They could bring in Mrs. Wilken, Daughters Mary and Adeline (Mrs. McConville), Grandson Billy McConviilc. The Wilken family is shown, usually in shirtsleeves, sitting on barrels in their warehouse, gazing reverently at a picture of Grandfather Wilken, fishing on a riverbank near Schenley.

Keynote of the campaign: One time, it must have been two years ago, when we were all sitting around after supper I said to myself and the boys: “You know, boys, I sort of have a feeling that people would sure love just to get a taste of our own family’s whiskey.” So we set about making it. And now you’ve got it. And I bet it tastes as good to you as it does to us!

Distiller Wilken was presented last week as “the man who has actually made more whiskey than any living person.” At 1 he was put in one of his father’s distilleries as manager. Few years later he was put out when his father sold the distillery. Thereafter Son Harry manufactured Bourbon for various companies, alcohol for the Government during the War, medicinal whiskey for Schenley during Prohibition. Stocky, round-faced, white-haired, he bustles around his plant with his hat pushed back on his head, continually begging the pardon of girl packers with whom he collides. The company baseball team knows that it is in for a stern reprimand from him if it ever loses a game. To keep fit he drinks a jigger of whiskey before every meal and at bedtime.

Wilken Family Whiskey is made by The Wilken Family, Inc. in the Schenley plant and Schenley owns a controlling interest. But by basing his campaign on his own family, Schenley’s Wilken has assured his descendants of jobs. Son Harry Jr. assists in the distilling, Son William manages the blending, while Son-in-Law Tom, an engineer, keeps the machinery in order.