Originally established by Elijah Pepper, the distillery was passed on to his son and known as the Oscar Pepper Distillery when James C. Crow worked there in the mid-19th century. During this time Crow undertook a series of activities that improved and codified the understanding and quality of key bourbon-making processes such as sour mash fermentation, pot still distillation and barrel maturation. After Oscar Pepper died in 1867 the distillery was passed to his son James E. Pepper. The Pepper family sold the property to Leopold Labrot and James Graham in 1878, who owned and operated it (except during Prohibition) until it was sold to the Brown-Forman Corporation in 1941. Brown-Forman operated it until the late 1960s, then sold the property and its accompanying acreage to a local farmer. Brown-Forman re-purchased the property in 1993, refurbished it, and brought it back into operation. The Woodford Reserve brand was introduced to the market in 1996.