Medley Distilling History :Medley Distilling History The Medley Family has been tied to Owensboro and the Distillation industry there since the 1800’s. Their story is the prequel to today’s CMDK operations Left: The old still which sat in front of the Medley Distillery since the 1940’s. Right: Barrels await filling at the Distillery


Slide 2:The Medley’s have a long and proud distilling history. Shown here the Distillery crew, office force and drummers of the old Medley Distillery circa 1890. The gentleman third from the left in the top row is Thomas A. Medley, owner.


Slide 3:Bottling plant of the old R.N. Wathen Distillery, Rolling Fork was their lead label, Circa 1885. The Wathen’s later married into the Medley Family, combining these two great Kentucky Bourbon families.


Slide 4:The Daviess County Distillery circa 1873. It was purchased by the Medley’s from the Monarch’s, another Owensboro Distilling family, in 1901. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1911 and rebuilt. It remained in operation until Prohibition when it was sold and turned into a meat packing plant.


Slide 5:On August 24th, 1918 the Green River Distillery burned to the ground. With Prohibition looming, the plant was not immediately rebuilt. The site later become the location of today’s distillery


Slide 6:The News of the fire at the Green River Distillery fire knocked even World War I off the top of the page. The flames reached so high that they could be seen in Evansville, IN over 40 miles away.


Slide 7:None of the Medley owned distilleries survived Prohibition. The original Daviess County Distillery was turned into a meat packing plant and the Green River Distillery was used as a storage yard. After Prohibition was lifted the Medley’s began rebuilding their Distilling Empire


Slide 8:The Medley owned Daviess County Distillery, Owensboro. The plant was built after Prohibition ended. In 1940 it was sold by the Medley’s to the Fleishman Co. It was torn down in 1992. The barge on the Ohio River in the background carries a cargo of barrels of Medley whiskey.


Slide 9:The five Medley brothers, left to right, Edwin, John, Wathen, George and Ben. The man sitting was the gauger. The Medley Brothers created the Owensboro Distilling Co. later renamed to the Medley Distilling Co.


Slide 10:The Medley’s sold the Daviess County Distillery and in 1940 purchased the Kentucky Sour Mash Distillery next door which had been rebuilt on the site of the burned Green River Distillery. The Medley Distilling Company was the 4th Distillery Owned and Operated by the seven generations of Medley’s.


Slide 11:During World War II all distilleries in the Nation were converted to the production of Industrial Alcohol (190 Proof) for the War effort. The U.S. Army took over and ran operations at the Medley Distillery for the duration of the war. Industrial Alcohol was used in the manufacture of : rubber, antifreeze, tetraethyl lead (used in the production of aviation gasoline), rayon for parachutes and ether. 23 gallons of industrial alcohol were required in the manufacture of a Jeep. 1934 gallons were needed to produce one 16-inch naval shell. 1 gallon was needed in order to make 64 hand grenades or two 155mm Howitzer shells.


Slide 12:In World War II the Army built the Dryer House. It was used to dry the remains of distilling known as stillage and turn them into feed for cattle. The product called Distillers Dried Grains (DDG) was shipped to cattle feed lots throughout the country as part of the war effort.


Slide 13:During the war there were 3 month long “Distilling Holidays” in which the company could produce alcohol for consumption. Here is a barrel filled during one of these “holidays”


Slide 14:After the disastrous Green River fire engineers designed the warehouses with concrete pits to prevent a fire from spreading from one building to another. This concept was soon put to the test. On June 30th 1960 a lightning strike set Warehouse A (Then Warehouse D) on fire


Slide 15:A crowd soon gathered to watch the flames.


Slide 16:The U.S. Government lost over $8 Million in tax revenue as a result of the fire which destroyed 22,000 barrels of bourbon.


Slide 17:The warehouse was a total loss, but unlike past fires, it did not spread


Slide 18:A large pile of the Medley signature tiles and one wall is all that remain of the warehouse


Slide 19:The burned warehouse was rebuilt the following year using the same techniques and styles as the original. Here it is seen today after the latest renovation.


Slide 20:Renovations continue at the Charles Medley Distillers Kentucky location keeping all this history in mind. All aspect of the effort tries to restore the site to how it looked when production began here over 75 years ago.