Motlow Distilling Company

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Photograph taken March 2006 by Wally Argus

The Motlow Distilling Company was opened as the Motlow Brothers Distilling Company by a John F. Motlow and Jesse B. Motlow at 1215 Avenue B in Birmingham in 1904 and was operated at various times under various names until Alabama enacted statewide prohibition in 1915.

A Thomas Motlow, distiller, was boarding at 2212 3rd Avenue North in 1902, but at the time the only distillery operating in the city was the Birmingham Distilling Company at 1300 7th Avenue North. If this was Thomas Gregory Motlow (1877–1969), then he was a son of Felix "Stump" Motlow who had married Finetta Daniel, the sister of Jack Daniel of Lincoln County, Tennessee. Thomas was not known to have pursued distilling, and made his fame as a banker in Lynchburg.

Jesse Butler Motlow was another of Felix's sons, and, if "John F." was his brother, then it is likely he was actually Jasper Franklin Motlow, better known as "Spoon", who had operated a saloon in Gadsden since 1890. In 1903 he sold 1/3 of the business to another brother, Lem Motlow and another 1/3 to a W. S. Boyd, forming the Gadsden Distilling Company which began to distill Coosa County Corn Whisky with water from Standifer Springs. Etowah County enacted their own prohibition law in 1908, putting the Gadsden Distillery out of business.

Meanwhile, Jesse and John both resided in Birmingham in 1904, sharing a house at 906 14th Avenue South with their wives, Alice and Bessie. Their distillery occupied the lots from 1215-25 Avenue B, opposite the Birmingham Rolling Mills. By 1905 the name of the company had changed to the Motlow Distilling Company and J. F. Motlow was president. His brother had returned to Lynchburg.

In the 1907 City Directory, the Motlow Distilling Company remained at the same address, but was classified as a saloon, while the Birmingham Distilling Company held the lone entry under the heading of "Distilleries". John F. was no longer shown as an officer of the company, and a Thomas B. Motlow of Lynchburg was listed as co-owner. That business closed in the wake of Jefferson County's local prohibition, which went into effect on January 1, 1908.

After Jefferson County's prohibition law was repealed in 1911, the company returned to business as the Jack Daniel Distilling Company, owned by Lem Motlow, which produced the famous "No. 7 Lincoln County Whisky" from Birmingham during the period that Tennessee had enacted statewide prohibition. The plant also produced Lem's corn whisky, and likely his famed peach brandy as well. In the 1915 City Directory, there was also a Jack Daniel Distributing Company, with the same owner, located at 2431 2nd Avenue North.

Around the time the family also opened another distillery in St Louis, Missouri, which took over for the Birmingham plant when Alabama's statewide prohibition law took effect in 1915. National prohibition forced the company out of business entirely in 1918. Motlow eventually re-opened his uncle's old Lynchburg distillery, where the company has been able to produce, but not sell, its liquor ever since.

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, near their former distribution warehouse.

References

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