James E. Pepper (May 10, 1850 – 1906), Master Distiller and Kentucky Colonel, was a bourbon industrialist and flamboyant promoter of his family brand.

[3] An avid and noted horseman, Pepper operated one of the most regarded stables in Kentucky and paid at the time the highest amount ever per acre for a bluegrass horse farm.

During his visits to New York, often at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Pepper frequently socialized with various American captains of industry, including John Jacob Astor, Francis G. du Pont, Thomas Eckert, Pierre Lorillard IV, Levi P. Morton, Fred Pabst, Charles A. Pillsbury, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, William Steinway, Charles L. Tiffany, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

It became a large commercial distillery at a time when long-distance transportation of goods by steamship and railroad networks had become practical and the Internal Revenue Act of 1862, passed to raise funds for the Civil War, had imposed an excise tax on alcohol production that forced many smaller producers out of the business.

[2] Although a number of other producers were then driven out of the business by competition, overproduction, and a reduction in demand brought about by the temperance movement, the distillery continued operating until around 1917 when austerity measures related to World War I shut down production and were followed by the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Volstead Act, which brought about the era of Prohibition in the United States.

In 1923, the James E. Pepper brand was being marketed to pharmacists, and was endorsed by more than 40,000 physicians, commanding a price six times higher than before Prohibition began.

In October 1929, as warehoused inventory dwindled, some distilling was allowed to resume at the Stitzel-Weller distillery and was used as a source for the brand's bottling operation.

The approaching end of Prohibition brought about a period of heavy investment in large production facilities, and the distillery was purchased around 1934 by Schenley Industries, just as large-scale operation was able to resume.

[1][2] After the European Union placed tariffs on American whiskey in 2018, James E. Pepper lost three-quarters of its foreign business, as its prices became too high for most consumers.

[7] James E. Pepper is credited with popularizing the drink known as the Old Fashioned cocktail, which was said to have been invented by a bartender at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky.