Colonel E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash El Cerrito Liquor

A few years ago at a gathering of Distillery retirees, a method was recounted for making “Old Fashioned Sour Mash” whiskey. Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., also known as E.H.Taylor Jr., was known to use this technique in the late 1800s. Taylor’s technique involved allowing the mash to sour naturally for days before distillation. Distilled in 2002, this bourbon is a modern replication of this old-fashioned method. Using Taylor’s original souring process, the result is a bourbon of character and body like none other today. 

E.H. Taylor, Jr. was a visionary in the whiskey world with a mind for distilling that was years ahead of its time. He founded a world class Distillery, made advancements to the industry, and fought for the purity and legitimacy of bourbon gaining him the title of the “Father of the Modern Bourbon Industry.”

Taylor is celebrated for the countless innovations he contributed to the bourbon industry in his time. His first involvement in the industry came as a banker, aiding in the organization and financing of several distilleries. Through his experience as a banker, Taylor became personally acquainted with several prominent whiskey makers. Taylor’s 1869 purchase of a small Leestown distillery that he christened O.F.C. was his first foray into distilling, making an immediate mark on the industry by modernizing, expanding and upgrading the plant. Among his innovations were copper fermentation tanks, state-of-the-art grain equipment, column stills, modernized buildings, a more efficient sour mash technique and a first-of-its-kind steam heating system still used in the barrel warehouses today.