Schenley Industries was a liquor company based in New York City with headquarters in the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

and a distillery in

Lawrenceburg, Indiana Lawrenceburg is a city in Dearborn County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,042 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat and largest city of Dearborn County. Lawrenceburg is in southeast Indiana, on the Ohio River west of Cinci ...

. It owned several brands of

Bourbon whiskey Bourbon () is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbo ...

, including Schenley, The Old Quaker Company, Cream of Kentucky, Golden Wedding Rye, I.W. Harper, and

James E. Pepper James E. Pepper is an American whiskey brand. The brand is named after a historic American whiskey maker with that name who built and operated a distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, and marketed his whiskey under his family's brand name "Old Peppe ...

. Schenley Industries was also the owner of the producer of

Cruzan Rum Cruzan Rum ( ) is a rum producer in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands owned by Beam Suntory. Founded in 1760, it claims the distinction of being "the most honored rum distillery in the world." For eight generations, and through various changes in ...

. It also owned a controlling interest in Blatz beer and made a Canadian whisky called Schenley Reserve, also called Schenley Black Label. It was the only liquor available to

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

officers at Midway in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where it was held in low regard and known as "Schenley's Black Death". It also imported Dewar's White Label Scotch.

History

Schenley Products Company was organized in the 1920s by

Lewis Rosenstiel Lewis Solon Rosenstiel (July 21, 1891 – January 21, 1976) was the founder of Schenley Industries, an American liquor company, and a philanthropist. The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award is named after him and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmos ...

. The company bought numerous distillers, including one in

Schenley, Pennsylvania Schenley is an unincorporated community in Gilpin Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States. Pennsylvania Route 2062 is the main and only highway into the community. Schenley is bordered by the Allegheny River and the Kiskiminet ...

, and acquired a license to produce medicinal whisky. (The United States government had authorized six companies to produce medicinal spirits. The others were: Brown-Forman, Frankfort Distilleries, the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, the

American Medicinal Spirits Company American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, and James Thompson and Brother.) In 1933, when

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

ended, Schenley Distillers Company was formed as a publicly owned company. It was the largest liquor company in the United States during 1934–1937. The name was changed to Schenley Industries in 1949. It was one of the "Big Four", which dominated liquor sales, and included

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

, National Distillers and

Hiram Walker Hiram Walker (July 4, 1816 – January 12, 1899) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. distillery in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Walker was born in East Douglas, Massachusetts, and moved to Detroit in 1838. He p ...

. Schenley was acquired by the financier Meshulam Riklis in 1968. He sold the company to

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

in 1987. Schenley had formerly imported Guinness into the United States. The company sponsored the

Schenley Award The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

from its establishment in 1953 until 1988. The trophy is still awarded for outstanding play, despite the fact the company stopped its sponsorship in 1988 and has not been sponsored since.

References

External links

Schenley Distillery Architectural Drawings
Digital Media Repository, Ball State University Libraries
Schenley Distillery Architectural Plans
Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries (PDF)
Schenley Indstries Distiller and Blender
Schenley Indstries at scotchwhisky.com Bourbon whiskey Food production companies based in New York City {{Beverage-stub