Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey

Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey
"The Old Chemist" trademark "Absolutely Pure & Unadulterated"
Creator(s)	Walter B. Duffy
Years sold	1884-1929
Vendors	Rochester Distilling Co.; Duffy Malt Whiskey Co.; Duffy's Laboratory, Ltd.

Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey was a malted barley whiskey, distilled by the Rochester Distilling Co. and Duffy Malt Whiskey Co. of Rochester, New York (and briefly Baltimore, Maryland), which was promoted not as flavourful intoxicant, but as "medicine for all mankind," promising to act as a curative agent for any number of maladies, including consumption, catarrh, pneumonia, malaria, bronchitis, croup, diphtheria, cholera, dyspepsia, as well as stomach and heart problems.

Composition

An analysis by the North Dakota Agricultural College found that Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey was 91 proof (45.8% alcohol), and described it as "nothing more than neutral spirits colored and flavored" with "syrup added to make it 'smooth' and give it flavor," further finding it was not aged in wood, and had a low fusel oil content.

Selected Publications

• Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey: Medicine for All Mankind, Being a Short Treatise On How to Acquire And Preserve Health, Together With Endorsements From Those Who Have Used This Marvelous Curative Agent, Rochester, N.Y.: Medical Department, Duffy Malt Whiskey Company, 1904, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100182479 

Advertising

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  1884.

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  1885.

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  As seen in the United States Official Postal Guide for Jan. 1886

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  "FOUR MILLION CURES IN FORTY YEARS - This unparalleled Record has been made by the only true medicine for all mankind - Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey." (1903)

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  "OLDEST LIVING MEN AND WOMEN SAY Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey PROLONGED THEIR LIVES And Has Kept Them Hale, Hearty and Vigorous Beyond the Century Mark" [with Endorsements by the likes of Stephen Joice.] (1904)

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  "America's Champion Heavy-Weight Wrestler. Tom Jenkins, for Years the Unconquered Heavy-Weight Wrestler of America, States that Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey Was the Only Medicine He Used During the Time He Held the Championship." (1905)

Endorsements

• Tom Jenkins, American Heavyweight Champion catch-as-catch-can wrestler
• Stephen Joice, super-centenarian
• Samuel G. Ginner, "Bishop and Primate" of the Church of America