George Augustus Dickel Photographed by Carl Giers, provided by Wikipedia website

“The Great Whiskey Dealer”

George Augustus Dickel (February 2, 1818 – June 11, 1894) was a German American who owned a number of businesses in Nashville, Tennessee.  One of his businesses was a liquor wholesaler, which was a non-distiller producer of the Cascade brand Whiskey he originally sold and distributed.  During the late 19th to 20th centuries his name would appear on its labels and when the Cascade Hollow distillery was reopened in the 1950’s.

George A Dickel was born to Elisabeth Dickel in Grunberg, Germany and believed to be the son of Anton Fischer.  Named for his godfather and likely uncle George Adam Fischer. Adam Fischer, Master Cooper, who specialized in wine casks was the father of Anton Fischer.

When 26, George A Dickel immigrated to the United States in 1844 and then made the move to Nashville in 1847. Dickel was a cobbler making boots and shoes in Nashville in the 1850’s through 1860 and married Augusta Banzer during this time.  Finally he opened his liquor wholesaling business in 1861.

Despite a lack of evidence of Dickel being involved in Civil War smuggling in Nashville during Union occupation in 1862, the Schwabs that Dickel was involved with were very involved in whiskey smuggling trade in Nashville. Meier Salzkotter who worked with Dickel since 1859 and son-in-law of Abram Schwab was apprehended by the Union with contraband liquor. Salzkotter defended himself by claiming his in-laws forced the whiskey on him, but was jailed anyway. Upon release he divorced his wife Cecilia Schwab.

Following the Civil War in 1865 on South College Street in Nashville, Dickel opened his liquor store and then moved it to South Market Street the next year. Salzkotter was hired as a superintendent and Victor Emmanuel Shwab was his bookkeeper who had removed the ‘c’ from his surname. He married Emma Banzer one of Augusta Dickel’s sisters.

Dickel was arrested and charged for illegally rectifying liquor without a license, but his business continued to thrive. In 1870 he established George A. Dickel and Company headquartered at 2 North Market Street. As a liquor wholesaler, whiskey was purchased from various distillers around the region and sold it by the barrel, bottles and jugs.  George A. Dickel and Company also bought and sold beer from Stifle and Pheiffer of South Nashville as well as wines and brandy.  His company was also first to import Scotch and Irish Whiskey, Champagne, and Dutch Gin.  According the 1875 advertisements the company sold and shipped these liquors nationwide.

A March 17, 1874 fire destroyed the Dickel and Company headquarters and just missed their large warehouse filled with whiskey. The warehouse in May 1881 was destroyed by another fire. Newspapers at the time reported Dickel to be “the great whiskey dealer.” Later in 1882 Dickel and Company constructed a new five story headquarters building located on Market Street in Nashville.

There is a story of Dickel establishing the Cascade Hollow distillery near Tullahoma in 1870 during a trip to the area, but no proof of this story exists. It’s unclear when Dickel and Company began distribution of whiskey produced by the Cascade Hollow distillery. F.E. Cunningham along with John F. Brown operated a distillery in the Hollow in 1879 when Brown sold to Matthew Sims.  Then in 1883 McLin Davis was appointed the distiller and was able to institute innovations that improved the whiskey greatly. Davis is also credited with the recipe for the whiskey. Victor Shawb, George Dickel’s brother in law, who was made a full partner in Dickel and Company in 1881, bought out Sims in 1888 and held 2/3 ownership of the distillery.  At this time Dickel and Company were then Cascade Hollow’s exclusive marketer and distributor calling it George A Dickel’s Cascade Tennessee Whiskey; the whiskey that is Mellow as Moonlight based on the method of cooling the mash at night began by Davis.

George A. Dickel was also a volunteer firefighter with the Deluge Company No. 3 in Nashville and lived in a home on Dickerson Pick which also had a large pear orchard. In 1852 he was made a Master Mason and also a Knights Templar member.  He supported fellow German-American photographer Carl Giers for state legislature in 1874.

Dickel was injured after a horse riding accident in 1886 and his health declined rapidly during his last couple years of life afterwards.  On June 11, 1894 he passed away and was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.

Shwab took over Dickel and Company operations as Dickel’s health was declining. Dickel left his stake in the company to Augusta and asked her to sell when she was able to. She decided instead to keep the company instead though was not active in the operations.  She split her time between Nashville, Charlevoix, Michigan and took yearly trips to Europe.

By 1904 the distillery expanded as the demand for Cascade continued to grow. Prohibition came to Tennessee in 1910 and distilleries were given 12 months to move. Victor Shwab formed an agreement with Arthur Philip Stitzel to continue production of Cascade whiskey and paid for charcoal mellowing, part of the Lincoln County process at the Stitzel distillery.

When Augusta died in 1916, Shwab received her share of the company.

Schenley Industries bought the Cascade brand from the Shwab family in 1937 and then later reconstructed the Cascade Hollow distillery located in Tullahoma and used the brand George Dickel in the 1950’s. At the general store and visitors center at the Cascade Hollow distillery there is a bust along with a monument to George Dickel.

The Dickel and Company former headquarters building is still located at 201-203 Second Avenue in Nashville which was constructed in 1882.

Contributed by Daniel Snyder, Whiskey Founders Committee Chair, Champaign, Illinois

George Dickel Historical Bottles

George Dickel’s Cascade Whiskey

George A. Dickel & Co. Cascade Tennessee Whiskey

George Dickel’s “Cascade Whiskey” produced in Kentucky

Contributed by Daniel Snyder, Whiskey Founders Committee Chair, Champaign, Illinois