Pikesville Straight Rye!

• History of distillery
  • 1890’s in scotts level, distillery owned by L. winand and bro. Produced pikeville whiskey. Pikeville was the next town over, not sure why they didnt name it scotts level rye.
    • He owned it up to prohibition, and there is an elementary school and a tea kwan do facility named after him there.  His story ends hrer
  • 1936, Andrew W Merle acquires the brand and the recipe
    • Andrew was not a distiller, but a business man who now owned a well known brand. But he found a distiller and sarted producing Pikesville Maryland Rye
    • He formed “standard distillers Products” (SDP), which was also associated with….. The most corporate nonsense name ever seen….”The Corporation Trust Corporation” (CTC)
    • CTC owned Monumental distilling, which was where pikesville was made, in Lansdowne, Maryland.
  • Majestic distilling corporation
    • In 1942, there was some accident at the distillery, the details and little known, but there was an explosion and smoke stacks fell.  pretty much right after this happened, Monumental distilling no longer existed, and it became majestic distilling. Owned by Zellic Cohen.
    • It continued to be the distillery so whatever damage happened it was repairable.  And there are a few pictures that seem to be relatively minor in damage.
  • 1972
    • Majestic may be owned by Cohen, but the Merle family still owns pikesville brand.
    • 1972 is the last year they distill anything, and the branding changes to Maryland-STYLE Rye
    • Preculation is out on where they got the juice.  Pikesville is the last maryland distiller at this time, so whatever the juice, its not coming from maryland. Most likely its pennsylvania  
      • Could be publicker, AKA continental distillers
        • The were the original distillers of rittenhouse, so its possible its them and that would be the conection to heaven hill later (spoiler)
      • Michters also could have produced it.
  • 1982
    • Andrew Merle Jr. sells pikesville to Heaven hill.  Sales were low, and cost was high. It was time to get out.
  • Note on monumental
    • Monumental is still around today as a brewery. It was located near baltimore and has become a destination brewery to visit.
• Maryland style rye?
  • Maryland style has a lot of corn. Usually 60-70% rye, 20-30% corn, the rest malted barley 
• Sources
  • http://www.ellenjaye.com/majestic.htm 
  • https://www.baltimoreorless.com/2011/01/pikesville-maryland-rye/ 
  • https://marylandspirits.org/what-is-maryland-rye/ 
  • https://distiller.com/articles/rye-whiskey-styles 

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