I have a good friend who loves Larceny.
I think it's hilarious.........He's a cop.
The story how Larceny bourbon came to be named is quite funny.
It starts with Old Fitzgerald, the flagship wheated bourbon of Pappy van Winkle’s Stitzel-Weller distillery in Shively, KY. The marketing story, which Pappy had bought with the brand in the 1940s, told of an old-time distiller John Fitzgerald.
When Stitzel-Weller, which is to bourbon history what the pyramids are to Egyptian history, went under and the brands were sold in the 1990s, Old Fitzgerald and its story ended up with Heaven Hill in Louisville, makers of Evan Williams and Elijah Craig.
Then a descendant of Pappy, Sally Van Winkle Campbell, published a delightful biography of Pappy in which it was revealed that the whole Fitzgerald story was ox poop. John Fitzgerald was no distiller, but a corrupt revenue agent who had a knack for stealing the best whiskey.
Heaven Hill decided to roll with the punch, and created a premium bottling of the Old Fitzgerald recipe under the new name Larceny. If you look, you’ll still find Fitzgerald’s name on the bottle, and the key which, as a revenue agent, gave him access to the warehouses.
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