Bourbon Justice by Brian F. Haara

Author:Brian F. Haara
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS036000 History / United States / General, LAW060000 Law / Legal History
Publisher: Potomac Books

Fig. 19. Smith, Emery & Co., laboratory analysis of Fine Old Kentucky Taylor, March 31, 1913. E. H. Taylor, Jr. & Sons Co. v. Marion E. Taylor, 1897. Kentucky State Archives.

E. H. Taylor appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and the court ruled partially in his favor by granting an injunction that required Marion Taylor to specify in advertising that Old Kentucky Taylor was a blended whiskey.54 However, Marion Taylor did not have to pay any damages, and he was still allowed to use his brand name.55

While the court’s ultimate ruling might seem like only a slap on the wrist, the court was more critical of Marion Taylor in explaining the basis for its ruling. First, the court noted the difference between blended whiskey and straight bourbon: “Rectified or blended whisky is known to the trade as ‘single-stamp whisky,’ while bonded whisky is known as ‘double-stamp goods.’ The proof shows that the rectifiers or blenders take a barrel of whisky, and draw off a large part of it, filling it up with water, and then adding spirits or other chemicals to make it proof, and give it age, bead, etc. The proof also shows that from 50 to 75 percent of the whisky sold in the United States now is blended whisky, and that a large part of the trade prefer it to the straight goods. It is a cheaper article, and there is therefore a temptation to simulate the more expensive whisky.”56

To begin its analysis, the court compared the labels and advertisements used by E. H. Taylor and Marion Taylor (figs. 20 and 21). Additionally, Marion Taylor also used a phrase in its print advertisement that touted the slogan “Drink only the Purest Whisky” (fig. 22).57 After establishing this distinction and comparing the advertisements used by E. H. Taylor and Marion Taylor, the court concluded that consumers who were unfamiliar with the whiskey trade would think that Marion’s Old Kentucky Taylor was a straight whiskey.58 The court further concluded that Marion Taylor had intentionally misled consumers through his advertising by trying to pass off his blended product as E. H. Taylor’s straight bourbon, “which had attained a very high reputation as a pure Kentucky distilled whisky.”59

Marion Taylor’s blended whiskey “was a cheaper article, and could be sold at prices at which [E. H. Taylor] could not afford to sell his whisky,” and because his deceptive advertising could confuse consumers, the court ruled that Marion Taylor had to be truthful in his advertising: “[Marion Taylor] may properly sell his brand of ‘Old Kentucky Taylor,’ provided he so frames his advertisements as to show that it is a blended whisky, but he cannot be allowed to impose upon the public a cheaper article, and thus deprive [E. H. Taylor] of the fruits of its energy and expenditures by selling his blended whisky under labels or advertisements which conceal the true character of the article, for this would destroy the value of the [E. H. Taylor’s] trade.”60

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