E. W. Ripy Jr

Ernest Whitney (E.W.) Ripy, Jr. was born on February 2, 1913 in Anderson County Kentucky to parents Ernest and Madeline Johnson Ripy. The Ripy family hailed from Northern Ireland. His Great Grandfather, James P Ripy, was in the distilling business in Northern Ireland when he moved the family to Kentucky. James was followed by E.W. Jr’s father, Ernest Sr in the distilling business as well.

The T. B. Ripy Distillery was folded into the Kentucky Distillers and Warehouse Co. in 1902 and the next generation of Ripys entered the business as this was happening. T. B. Ripy’s sons Ernest Ripy, Forest Ripy and Ezra Ripy opened the Ripy Brothers Distillery. In 1905 Forest and his brother James C. acquired the Old Hickory Springs Distillery. The Ripy family had ties to many distilleries throughout Anderson County, but then in 1920 Prohibition closed them all down.

Following graduating from Purdue University in 1935, E.W. Jr began his career in the family business in 1936. When Prohibition ended the Ripy Brothers Distillery re-opened in 1937. But the Great Depression would his soon after that and the distillery struggled. In 1939 World War II started and the distillery was sold to Alvin and Bob Gould of Cincinnati who made it a J.T.S. Brown Distillery. E. W. worked at this distillery that his father helped start following the conclusion of Prohibition. He stayed there and served for a total of 42 years in the bourbon business.

Just after World War II ended the owners of Austin Nichols, a New York liquor distributor, started purchasing whiskey from this distillery that they called Wild Turkey. During the 1960s, the Ripy brothers created the brand of Bourbon called Ezra Brooks. They packaged it in a square bottle with a black label and even stated on the label that it was “Charcoal Filtered” so they could claim some market share from the very popular Tennessee Whiskey Jack Daniels. The Ripys sold that brand in the early 1970s to the Medley Distilling Co. In 1972, Austin Nichols purchased the J. T. S. Brown distillery from the Goulds. The distillery changed hands and changed names several times over the years and by the time he retired as Master Distiller, the distillery was known as the Austin Nichols Distilling Co. and today produces Wild Turkey.

E.W. Jr. also served the U.S. Army with the 45th Field Artillery Battalion in the 8th Infantry from 1941-1945. He was awarded a Bronze and 2 Silver Stars for his service during World War II in Germany. Col. Ripy Jr served in the United States Army Reserve all the way up to 1973.

E.W. passed away on March 25, 2002 in Lexington, KY at the age of 89. He was survived by his wife, 4 daughters, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Contributed By: M. J. Jacobs, Knoxville, Tennessee

with support from Daniel Snyder, Whiskey Founders Sub Committee Chair, Champaign, Illinois

Sources cited: findagrave.com, peoplelegacy.com