Motlow Distilling Company
The Motlow Distilling Company opened was opened by Lem Motlow 2431 Avenue B in Birmingham in 1902. Motlow, the nephew of Lynchburg, Tennessee's Jack Daniel, was forced to close when Jefferson County enacted local prohibition in 1907.
When it reopened in 1911, it operated as the Jack Daniel Distilling Company, which had been forced to move out of Tennessee when that state passed its own prohibition laws in 1910. At that time it bottled both Jack Daniel's No. 7 Lincoln County Whisky and Motlow's own corn whisky. The business relocated to St Louis, Missouri before Alabama's statewide prohibition law went into effect in 1915. National prohibition forced the company out of business in 1918. Motlow eventually re-opened his uncle's Lynchburg distillery, where the company has been able to produce, but not sell, its liquor ever since.
Bottles embossed with either name and "Birmingham, Ala." are avidly collected by connoisseurs of Jack Daniel's memorabilia. Lem's cousin Frank "Spoon" Motlow operated Motlow's Saloon in Birmingham. A painted advertisement for "Motlow's Corn and Jack Daniells' No. 7 Lincoln County Whiskies" can still be seen on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 24th Street.
References
- Atkins, Leah Rawls (1981) The Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama. Birmingham: Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society. ISBN 0897810317