For well over 200 years, the Pepper House has perched on a hill overlooking a distillery. Originally built in 1812 by distiller Elijah Pepper, the Versailles, Kentucky homestead sat on the site of a small distillery on the banks of Glenn’s Creek. The house would go on to serve as home to generations of Peppers and has the distinction of being the oldest continuously inhabited log cabin in the history of Kentucky. But it has sat vacant for decades—that is, until now. It’s being put to use as the new home of Woodford Reserve’s Personal Selection private barrel program.
The Brief History of the Pepper House
After Elijah Pepper's death in 1831, his son, Oscar, transformed the distillery from a small, farm-distilling operation into a commercial entity, bringing on Scottish immigrant Dr. James Crow—colloquially known as Jim Crow—in the 1830s. It was here at the newly christened Oscar Pepper Distillery and under Crow’s tutelage that the sour mash process was perfected, and the Old Crow brand was born.
Following Oscar’s death in 1867, his wife Nancy took the distillery reins while waiting for son James E. Pepper to come of age; James took ownership of the distillery in 1872, and soon thereafter became an apprentice of Colonel Edmund Hayes Taylor, Jr. (of Buffalo Trace fame), who helped him expand the business. When James declared bankruptcy in 1877, Taylor took ownership of the Oscar Pepper Distillery; tough times befell Taylor not long after, however, and ownership was transferred to George T. Stagg, who ultimately sold it in 1878 to James Graham and Leopold Labrot, who renamed it the Labrot and Graham Distillery.
The distillery would go on to change hands three more times: It was purchased by current owner Brown-Forman in the early 1940s, then sold to a local farmer (who used it for storage) in 1973, and then repurchased by Brown-Forman in 1993. While Brown-Forman released Woodford Reserve bourbon to the world in 1996, it wasn’t until 2003 that the distillery’s name was changed from Labrot & Graham to Woodford Reserve.
Brown-Forman’s Restoration
The Pepper House was painstakingly restored by Brown-Forman over the past three years, with many of its original elements left intact, including the original limestone chimney. The home’s interior was repurposed into a two-story high tasting room, parlor with fireplace, and bar area, with access to catering operations. Outside, there’s a dining terrace and lushly landscaped gardens.
Now that it’s open, the Pepper House will serve as Woodford’s home base for all Personal Selection barrel picks, as well as VIP tastings. The Personal Selection program is Woodford’s version of private barrel bottling; while the distillery has never done single barrel whiskeys, the Personal Selection bottlings are as close as it gets, crafted from batching two barrels together. The renovated Pepper House also includes a new library, named in honor of master distiller emeritus Chris Morris.
In conjunction with the restoration, Brown-Forman has donated $25,000 to the Woodford County Library's Woodford County History Room, which catalogues historical documents.
