Glenmore, which only bottles spirits these days, dates back to 1872 when Richard Monarch, one of the three Monarch brothers who dominated the whiskey industry here in the 19th century, introduced two brands of whiskey – Kentucky Tavern and Glenmore – at his R. Monarch Distillery. The Glenmore brand became so popular that Monarch and E.P. Millet built a new distillery in 1881 and named it the Glenmore.
In 1895, Monarch told a reporter that the whiskey was named for a “noted racehorse” that was active in 1875. By the end of the century, Monarch had fallen on hard times and his distillery was sold to James A. Thompson of Louisville for $200,000 – worth about $6.7 million today — in May 1901. The distillery has changed hands many times through the years. In 2009, the New Orleans-based Sazerac Co. bought the distillery, which it says, “boasts one of the largest and most modern bottling facilities in the country.” Early in 2022, Sazerac completed more than $30 million worth of renovation to the distillery and added 125 jobs, making it the county’s fifth-largest employer.
