Charles Medley

“The Medley Family Legacy”

The Medley family legacy dates back to 1800 when John Medley IV moved his family from Maryland to Washington, Kentucky, and began distilling whiskey. John found the distillery trade to be successful, and when he passed away in 1814, a portion of the inventory of his estate included two stills and 40 mash tubs.  Decades later, George Medley, the great-grandson of John Medley IV, decided to carry on the family distillery business and, in 1901, moved the Medley Distillery from Washington, Kentucky, to Owensboro, Kentucky, to gain access for shipping his aged bourbon barrels on the “Interstate Highway” of the day, the Ohio River. Once settled in Owensboro, George and his brother, Thomas Aquinas Medley, purchased the Daviess (pronounced “Davis”) County Distillery from the Monarch family of Owensboro, and for the following 19 years, Medley Distillery gained prominence and produced some high-quality bourbon whiskeys. When Prohibition came to Kentucky, the Daviess County Distillery was forced to shut down for 13 years.  Once Prohibition had ended, however, the Medleys began production once again. In 1940, the Fleischmann’s Distillery of Cincinnati, Ohio, purchased the Daviess County Distillery from the Medleys. With the profits received from the sale of the Daviess County Distillery, the five Medley brothers, the sons of Thomas Aquinas Medley, who now controlled their father’s estate, purchased the newly renovated Green River Distillery in Owensboro in 1940. That same year, the Medley Distilling Company was founded.  The Medley Distilling Company continued to thrive through the 1950s and 60s, and even survived the “Bourbon Depression” of the 1970s into the mid-1990s. The five brothers’ names were: Ben, John, Edwin, Tom, and Wathen Medley. During this tenure, several high-quality bourbon whiskeys were distilled and produced, including Wathen’s (single barrel), Medley Brothers, Old Medley (10- and 12-year), and Five Brothers.

In 1941, Wathan and his wife Ida Medley bore a son named Charles. Charles grew up in the Medley Distilling Company, absorbing all he could about the distilling methods and processes. He graduated from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1962 and came back to Medley Distillery to work for his dad and his uncles. By then, the Medley Distillery had been sold to Renfield Importers, but the Medleys continued to run the distillery and retained the name. Charles carried on his hands-on education and the honing of his craft as a distiller throughout the 1960s.  In 1969, Charles was named Master Distiller at Medley Distilling Company.  

In 1978, Renfield Importers sold Medley Distillery to an individual investor named Abraham Schecter. The distillery fell on hard times during the white liquor craze, and abruptly closed in 1987, but was sold again to Glenmore Distillery in 1988 and reopened under the Glenmore name. Glenmore was then purchased by United Distillers 3 years later. All the while, Charles Medley was retained as Master Distiller.   United Distillers only operated the Medley/Glenmore distillery for less than a year and closed it again in 1992.

Charles Medley purchased his great-grandfather’s old distillery, his home, in 1995 along with existing whiskey stocks and renamed the Charles Medley Distillery. Charles then operated the distillery for the very first time as he saw fit, with no corporate overlords or family obligations, and he was able to do so for the next 12 years.

In 2007, Charles, by now in his late 60s, sold his distillery facility to Angostura (the company that makes bitters).  As part of the sale agreement with Angostura, Charles was able to negotiate the retention of the Medley family's Kentucky bourbon recipes, which enabled him to continue with the production of his quality Kentucky bourbons through a sourcing arrangement.  Charles’ son, Samuel (“Sam”) Medley, how now taken over as President of the Medley operation, and is now co-owner and is responsible for marketing and sourcing (reportedly from Heaven Hill) of the Medley brand.

Unfortunately, shortly after the sale of the Medley Distillery facility to Angostura, it has remained closed. is now abandoned and, as of this writing, is actively for sale.

Charles, now 84 years young, still enjoys retirement and a Medley Brothers bottled-in-bond on the rocks. He was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2019.

Contributor’s note: I was fortunate to have lunch with Charles a few years ago in Owensboro. We had become friends many years ago due to my dog, “Corey”, occasionally getting loose from our yard and almost always making his way up to Charles’ home to play with his dog, “Ezra”. Charles stressed to me that the key to making incredible and enjoyable bourbon whiskey is the time, effort, and added expenses associated with the purification of the water that goes into the whiskey’s cooking, distillation, and bottling. Charles emphasized to me that there is no substitute for the efforts to use pure water.  He said they always found a Level #4 Char to work best. The Medleys chosen mashbill has always been 77% Corn, 10% Rye, and 13% Malted Barley. Charles’ “every day sipper” is Medley Brothers, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. This bourbon whiskey is 102-proof (51% ABV) and is part of the Medleys Heritage Collection.

Contributed by Todd Rust, Durham, North Carolina