List of products by brand Evan Williams Distillery

Evan Williams Distillery, the best-selling bourbon in the USA

Evan Williams is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky by the Heaven Hill company.

The product is aged for a minimum of four years (which is more than the two-year minimum to be called "pure" bourbon, but is the minimum requirement for a pure whiskey that does not carry an age statement on the label).

It has been ranked as one of the best-selling whiskey brands in the world.

Although bottled in Bardstown, the product is distilled at the Heaven Hill distillery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Evan Williams "standard issue" bourbon is sold as a mass-market "Black Label" variety.

The company also bottles several other varieties, including a "White Label" bottled in bond, an "Evan Williams 1783" bourbon produced in more limited quantities, and a 7-8 year old single barrel bourbon sold in vintage, sealed bottles with black sealing wax.

Occasionally available in some regions is a "Green Label" variety that is 80 proof and represents a younger, lighter-bodied version of the bourbon found in "Black Label" bottles at a more affordable price.

In 2010, Evan Williams was the second best-selling brand of Kentucky Straight bourbon (after market-leading brand Jim Beam) and had the fastest-growing market share among the largest-volume American whiskey brands (with sales growth by 12.4%). rate), according to a press release issued by the manufacturer citing A.C. data. Nielsen Scantrack 2010.

Evan Williams Black is 43% alc/vol (86 proof US), unlike some popular whiskeys which are bottled at the legal minimum of 40% alc/vol (80 proof).

Origin of the name

Historical marker for Evan Williams in downtown Louisville, Kentucky

Evan Williams, a Welsh immigrant to North America, was born in Dale, Pembrokeshire, and emigrated to the United States in the late 18th century. Williams settled in Kentucky and began distilling in 1783, in what is now Louisville, Kentucky.

A historical marker in Louisville marks the site as Kentucky's first commercial distillery. Williams was elected to serve as Louisville's first wharf captain in 1797.

The bottle label of the best-selling variant, the black label, underlines this heritage: it bears the inscriptions "Since 1783" and "Kentucky's 1st distiller".

However, the writings should not be interpreted as indicating that the brand has existed continuously since the time of the historic distillery.

The modern whiskey brand was introduced in 1957.

A bottle of Evan Williams.

Historian Michael Veach of the Filson Historical Society said that key details of historical claims about Williams appear to be false.

Veach said the claim that Williams was Kentucky's first distiller didn't appear until an 1892 publication by Reuben Durrett, more than a century after the fact.

He also said the dating is contradicted by a record of Williams traveling from London to Philadelphia in May 1794, showing that Williams could only have started his distillery substantially later. Veach indicated that the true identity of Kentucky's first distiller may never truly be known, since record keeping on such matters was poor, and there are others who seem more likely candidates for "first distiller," including Jacob Myers and brothers Joseph and Samuel Davis.

Records reportedly indicate that Myers and the Davis brothers both arrived in 1779.

The New York Times wrote that "famous brands like Elijah Craig and Evan Williams were actually created by marketing-savvy Jewish distillers." ; Max Shapira and other descendants own the company and continue to operate it.

The name Evan Williams was patented in the 1960s.