1 00:00:02,587 --> 00:00:03,547 (sensual techno music) 2 00:00:03,547 --> 00:00:04,590 [Narrator] Since the founding of the country, 3 00:00:04,590 --> 00:00:06,883 there’s been a battle for America’s soul, 4 00:00:08,093 --> 00:00:09,973 between giving people the freedom to indulge. 5 00:00:10,095 --> 00:00:13,305 I’ll make it worth your while. 6 00:00:13,431 --> 00:00:17,311 Whether it’s legal or illegal, people want to drink, 7 00:00:17,435 --> 00:00:19,145 people want to bet, people want screw. 8 00:00:19,271 --> 00:00:20,691 [Narrator] And protecting them from 9 00:00:20,772 --> 00:00:22,812 the chaos of debauchery. 10 00:00:23,775 --> 00:00:26,575 People see cities as Sodom’s and Gomorrah’s. 11 00:00:26,653 --> 00:00:28,863 They’re filled with alcohol and prostitution 12 00:00:28,947 --> 00:00:30,367 and all manner of vice. 13 00:00:30,448 --> 00:00:32,528 [Narrator] Before the turn of the 20th century, 14 00:00:32,617 --> 00:00:36,997 over 70% of Americans use some form of tobacco. 15 00:00:37,122 --> 00:00:41,162 Men, women, girls, boys, all ages use tobacco. 16 00:00:41,293 --> 00:00:43,173 [Narrator] And there’s no minimum drinking age. 17 00:00:43,295 --> 00:00:46,045 In New York, each adult person drank 18 00:00:46,131 --> 00:00:49,091 as much as 16 pints of beer in a week. 19 00:00:50,302 --> 00:00:51,172 [Narrator] And it’s not just 20 00:00:51,303 --> 00:00:53,013 the frontier west that’s wild. 21 00:00:53,138 --> 00:00:56,018 The cities grow, so does the shadowy underworld 22 00:00:56,141 --> 00:00:57,851 of gambling and sex. 23 00:00:57,976 --> 00:01:00,526 In the 1890s, one in six adult men 24 00:01:00,645 --> 00:01:02,855 went to a prostitute every day. 25 00:01:04,274 --> 00:01:06,824 [Narrator] Now over the course of nearly a century, 26 00:01:06,943 --> 00:01:09,533 politicians and reformers will try and forge 27 00:01:09,654 --> 00:01:11,864 a nation free from vice. 28 00:01:11,990 --> 00:01:14,410 This is about cracking down on vice 29 00:01:14,492 --> 00:01:17,032 and a whole host of other sins. 30 00:01:17,162 --> 00:01:19,492 This is about cleaning up the city. 31 00:01:20,582 --> 00:01:22,502 [Narrator] It’s a battle that’ll break laws. 32 00:01:22,626 --> 00:01:23,466 Keep it quiet. 33 00:01:23,543 --> 00:01:24,333 (thud) (man gasp) 34 00:01:24,461 --> 00:01:26,171 [Narrator] Sometimes change them. 35 00:01:26,296 --> 00:01:27,346 Are you threatening us? 36 00:01:27,464 --> 00:01:29,424 Don’t tempt me. 37 00:01:29,424 --> 00:01:30,887 [Narrator] It’ll give rise 38 00:01:31,009 --> 00:01:33,089 to some of the most iconic products in history, 39 00:01:33,178 --> 00:01:35,688 We call him the Marlboro Man. 40 00:01:35,805 --> 00:01:38,725 [Narrator] Generate some of thelargest fortunes ever known 41 00:01:38,850 --> 00:01:41,350 and change the fabric of the country, 42 00:01:41,436 --> 00:01:43,696 from bar rooms to bedrooms. 43 00:01:43,813 --> 00:01:47,023 To the building of America’s capital of sin. 44 00:01:47,150 --> 00:01:47,900 You’re Out. 45 00:01:48,026 --> 00:01:48,696 Damn it! 46 00:01:48,777 --> 00:01:50,237 We’re gonna shut them down. 47 00:01:50,362 --> 00:01:51,232 You can’t do this. 48 00:01:51,363 --> 00:01:53,743 (climactic rock music) 49 00:01:53,865 --> 00:01:55,205 Get out! 50 00:01:55,325 --> 00:01:57,625 ♪ ’Ey,’ey, I did it and ’ey, ’ey ♪ 51 00:01:57,702 --> 00:01:59,242 ♪ I proved it and ’ey, ’ey ♪ 52 00:01:59,371 --> 00:02:02,831 ♪ I finished, I came and I saw, I gave it my all ♪ 53 00:02:02,916 --> 00:02:04,756 ♪ I changed the game ♪ 54 00:02:04,876 --> 00:02:08,336 ♪ I made it a boss, yeah ♪ 55 00:02:16,388 --> 00:02:18,938 [Narrator] The United States is changing fast. 56 00:02:21,226 --> 00:02:24,186 Five new states have joined in the last decade. 57 00:02:25,271 --> 00:02:26,521 And for the first time, 58 00:02:28,858 --> 00:02:31,768 one in four Americans now live in cities. 59 00:02:32,904 --> 00:02:35,454 During this period of intense urbanization, 60 00:02:35,573 --> 00:02:37,613 cities are changing as they grow. 61 00:02:37,742 --> 00:02:41,282 So, people see this kind of need for order in society 62 00:02:41,413 --> 00:02:44,453 and they see that we should better organize what is becoming 63 00:02:44,582 --> 00:02:48,122 a really chaotic moment in American history. 64 00:02:48,253 --> 00:02:50,963 We had a lot less regulation because we simply had a lot 65 00:02:51,089 --> 00:02:53,959 less government because we had no income tax. 66 00:02:54,092 --> 00:02:56,932 There was no federal income tax until 1913. 67 00:02:57,053 --> 00:02:59,843 So the government just could not get big enough to, 68 00:02:59,931 --> 00:03:03,851 to impose itself in our lives the way it eventually would. 69 00:03:03,935 --> 00:03:05,985 [Narrator] On the frontier and in cities alike, 70 00:03:06,104 --> 00:03:09,154 there are saloons on every corner and at the time 71 00:03:09,274 --> 00:03:11,734 there’s no minimum legal drinking age, 72 00:03:11,818 --> 00:03:14,948 little to no government regulation and people guzzle 73 00:03:15,071 --> 00:03:18,071 nearly four times more liquor than we drink today. 74 00:03:18,158 --> 00:03:21,168 Some studies say the average American drank eight gallons 75 00:03:21,286 --> 00:03:23,496 of hard to alcohol per person per year. 76 00:03:23,621 --> 00:03:26,831 And people see cities as Sodom’s and Gomorrah’s, 77 00:03:26,958 --> 00:03:29,208 they’re filled with alcohol and prostitution 78 00:03:29,294 --> 00:03:30,834 and all manner of vice. 79 00:03:30,962 --> 00:03:32,922 [Narrator] Booze is one of the most heavily taxed 80 00:03:33,006 --> 00:03:34,506 products in the country. 81 00:03:34,632 --> 00:03:37,842 The result of a policy enacted to pay for the civil war. 82 00:03:37,969 --> 00:03:40,339 In 1862, Abraham Lincoln passed 83 00:03:40,472 --> 00:03:43,142 an emergency wartime revenue act. 84 00:03:43,266 --> 00:03:46,986 All of a sudden the price went from 25 cents a gallon, 85 00:03:47,103 --> 00:03:49,983 before the civil war, to $2.25 a gallon, 86 00:03:50,106 --> 00:03:53,526 after the civil war and a lot of people just said no 87 00:03:53,651 --> 00:03:56,991 and it was just kind of a recipe for people to cheat. 88 00:03:57,113 --> 00:03:58,573 [Narrator] Rather than paying the tax, 89 00:03:58,573 --> 00:04:00,536 many distillers turn to the black market, 90 00:04:00,658 --> 00:04:02,618 making moonshine in secret, 91 00:04:03,787 --> 00:04:05,587 then bootleggers sell it illegally 92 00:04:05,663 --> 00:04:07,293 to saloons and in the streets. 93 00:04:08,666 --> 00:04:09,876 There are some advantages, 94 00:04:10,001 --> 00:04:11,541 let’s face it, of running an illegal business. 95 00:04:11,669 --> 00:04:15,209 There are no taxes and there’s no regulation. 96 00:04:15,340 --> 00:04:18,090 And typically there’s a lot higher profit. 97 00:04:18,176 --> 00:04:21,726 (eerie suspenseful music) 98 00:04:25,183 --> 00:04:26,643 [Narrator] In rural Alabama, 99 00:04:29,145 --> 00:04:33,155 one bootlegger will turn himself into an American legend. 100 00:04:34,526 --> 00:04:35,366 Whoa! 101 00:04:39,197 --> 00:04:40,577 [Narrator] If he could stay out of jail 102 00:04:40,698 --> 00:04:41,738 long enough to do it. 103 00:04:44,702 --> 00:04:46,242 I can explain. 104 00:04:46,371 --> 00:04:48,161 Just, give a minute. 105 00:04:55,213 --> 00:04:56,253 [Cop] What’s this? 106 00:05:00,885 --> 00:05:04,845 That’s water from Eden Creek. 107 00:05:07,350 --> 00:05:09,520 Supposed to be the clearest in the county. 108 00:05:11,229 --> 00:05:13,599 (cop chokes) 109 00:05:15,233 --> 00:05:17,273 That water packs a hell of a punch. 110 00:05:18,736 --> 00:05:20,746 What’s your name, boy? 111 00:05:24,367 --> 00:05:26,127 [Narrator] His signature whiskey will one day sell 112 00:05:26,244 --> 00:05:28,374 over 10 million liters a year. 113 00:05:30,081 --> 00:05:31,371 My name’s Jack Daniel. 114 00:05:32,584 --> 00:05:34,254 [Narrator] And do over three billion dollars 115 00:05:34,377 --> 00:05:35,427 in annual sales. 116 00:05:37,255 --> 00:05:40,465 Tell you what, this one here, 117 00:05:40,592 --> 00:05:42,802 it’s all yours, my gift. 118 00:05:46,431 --> 00:05:48,551 You gonna have to do better than that. 119 00:05:50,435 --> 00:05:53,435 (thud) (Jack gasps) 120 00:06:00,445 --> 00:06:03,745 [Narrator] In the 1860s, moon shining can be deadly, 121 00:06:04,908 --> 00:06:07,578 both for Outlaws like Jack Daniel, 122 00:06:07,660 --> 00:06:09,830 and for the people who buy cut rate booze 123 00:06:09,954 --> 00:06:12,334 with no idea what’s in it. 124 00:06:12,457 --> 00:06:14,627 Moonshine is a very dangerous product 125 00:06:14,751 --> 00:06:17,541 when it gets right down to it because there are no controls. 126 00:06:17,629 --> 00:06:20,589 You can just add anything you want to, to give it to kick. 127 00:06:21,966 --> 00:06:25,056 This is before the FDA, there were no rules. 128 00:06:25,136 --> 00:06:28,396 You had folks who would put tobacco chew, 129 00:06:28,473 --> 00:06:29,973 or like tobacco spit, 130 00:06:30,099 --> 00:06:33,519 they’d put turpentine in it for coloring. 131 00:06:33,645 --> 00:06:35,985 They’d put all sorts of junk in their whiskey 132 00:06:36,105 --> 00:06:39,195 to make it taste and look a certain way. 133 00:06:39,317 --> 00:06:40,697 People were getting sick. 134 00:06:40,818 --> 00:06:43,068 People were dying because the way these Moonshiners 135 00:06:43,154 --> 00:06:45,324 were manufacturing their goods. 136 00:06:45,448 --> 00:06:47,858 This is where the term "rotgut" comes from 137 00:06:47,992 --> 00:06:52,162 because people would be buying this whiskey from whomever 138 00:06:52,288 --> 00:06:54,578 and it would literally rot their stomachs 139 00:06:54,666 --> 00:06:55,836 from the inside out. 140 00:06:55,959 --> 00:06:57,539 (man retching) 141 00:06:57,669 --> 00:06:59,419 [Narrator] Even without dangerous additives, 142 00:06:59,504 --> 00:07:01,174 distilling is risky. 143 00:07:01,297 --> 00:07:03,057 If alcohol vapor ignites, 144 00:07:03,174 --> 00:07:05,054 stills can explode 145 00:07:05,176 --> 00:07:07,886 and distillation produces both ethanol, 146 00:07:08,012 --> 00:07:11,222 which is safe to drink and a nearly identical byproduct 147 00:07:11,349 --> 00:07:13,719 called methanol, which is poisonous. 148 00:07:13,851 --> 00:07:16,891 There’s a term, it’s called "blind drunk." 149 00:07:17,021 --> 00:07:20,101 And that term, unfortunately, goes back to some truth 150 00:07:20,191 --> 00:07:22,771 where people were getting some of the distillate 151 00:07:22,860 --> 00:07:24,230 that came off the stills 152 00:07:24,362 --> 00:07:26,072 and it actually could make you blind. 153 00:07:26,197 --> 00:07:28,407 They would actually, literally go, go blind. 154 00:07:32,704 --> 00:07:34,914 [Narrator] Jack Daniel works in a modest farmhouse 155 00:07:35,039 --> 00:07:38,499 distillery owned by a Lutheran minister named Dan Call. 156 00:07:40,378 --> 00:07:43,638 Jack was orphaned, so he went to go look for work 157 00:07:43,715 --> 00:07:46,095 as a farmhand, cuz he needed to live somewhere. 158 00:07:46,217 --> 00:07:48,807 And he was taken in by Dan Call. 159 00:07:49,887 --> 00:07:54,897 Jack was a small kid, so, you know, as a farmhand, 160 00:07:55,143 --> 00:07:57,063 he probably wasn’t that useful. 161 00:07:57,186 --> 00:07:59,446 I think Jack Daniel discovered distilling 162 00:07:59,564 --> 00:08:04,574 as a way to prove his worthiness. 163 00:08:04,652 --> 00:08:06,732 [Narrator] Jack Daniel begged Reverend Call 164 00:08:06,863 --> 00:08:08,743 to learn distilling and Call partnered him 165 00:08:08,865 --> 00:08:10,035 with his master distiller, 166 00:08:10,116 --> 00:08:14,286 a formerly enslaved person named Nathan "Nearest" Greene. 167 00:08:15,747 --> 00:08:17,797 Nearest Greene was considered one of the best 168 00:08:17,915 --> 00:08:19,965 master distillers in the area, 169 00:08:20,084 --> 00:08:22,294 but I don’t think there’s any factual documentation 170 00:08:22,420 --> 00:08:24,750 on where Nearest Greene actually came from. 171 00:08:24,881 --> 00:08:28,461 There’s not even an image of Nearest Greene on record. 172 00:08:28,593 --> 00:08:31,683 Dan Call specifically assigned Nearest Greene 173 00:08:31,763 --> 00:08:35,433 to help teach whiskey making, to Jack Daniel. 174 00:08:35,558 --> 00:08:37,968 And from there they worked hand in hand, 175 00:08:38,102 --> 00:08:40,392 they really did bond and have a great friendship. 176 00:08:43,483 --> 00:08:45,773 [Narrator] By day, Jack Daniel and Nearest Greene 177 00:08:45,902 --> 00:08:47,442 distill corn into liquor, 178 00:08:47,570 --> 00:08:50,990 it’s sold at a small general store for a tiny profit 179 00:08:51,115 --> 00:08:53,495 and it’s used to cure everything from shock 180 00:08:53,618 --> 00:08:55,838 to fainting to snakebites. 181 00:08:55,953 --> 00:08:56,993 Distilleries were allowed 182 00:08:57,121 --> 00:08:59,501 to be used for medicinal purposes. 183 00:08:59,624 --> 00:09:01,834 People would prescribe an ounce of, 184 00:09:01,959 --> 00:09:05,499 of this whiskey every few hours, which you know, 185 00:09:05,630 --> 00:09:08,630 the process involved in fermentation 186 00:09:08,758 --> 00:09:11,138 is the same with penicillin as it is with whiskey.. 187 00:09:12,637 --> 00:09:15,187 As a farmer, it was your right to distill your crops 188 00:09:15,306 --> 00:09:17,686 and to sell it as whiskey, as much as you know, 189 00:09:17,809 --> 00:09:19,679 making your fruit into jelly. 190 00:09:19,811 --> 00:09:22,391 Whiskey was just a part of, of running a farm. 191 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:23,690 Corn yield is up. 192 00:09:25,149 --> 00:09:28,729 I trust you’ll document and catalog every gallon. 193 00:09:28,820 --> 00:09:30,280 [Narrator] By night, 194 00:09:31,823 --> 00:09:34,323 Jack Daniel and Nearest Greene run a secret operation. 195 00:09:34,408 --> 00:09:36,318 Come back in one piece. 196 00:09:36,452 --> 00:09:37,282 No promises. 197 00:09:38,788 --> 00:09:40,378 [Narrator] Selling moonshine to saloons 198 00:09:40,498 --> 00:09:41,958 in the nearby Alabama. 199 00:09:45,461 --> 00:09:46,881 Absolutely. 200 00:09:47,004 --> 00:09:49,254 [Narrator] Jack Daniel is walking a tight rope, 201 00:09:49,340 --> 00:09:51,130 legally distilling for Dan Call 202 00:09:51,217 --> 00:09:53,017 while bootlegging on the side. 203 00:09:53,094 --> 00:09:55,224 Jack Daniel made good whiskey. 204 00:09:55,346 --> 00:09:57,226 That’s all he ever wanted to do, it’s very clear. 205 00:09:57,348 --> 00:09:59,258 [Narrator] Hoping to scratch together enough money 206 00:09:59,350 --> 00:10:01,180 to open a distillery of his own. 207 00:10:01,310 --> 00:10:04,350 He was trying to expand, to get into more markets. 208 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:05,770 Remember, this is all Jack knows. 209 00:10:05,857 --> 00:10:09,077 So if he can’t make whiskey, what is he gonna do? 210 00:10:12,864 --> 00:10:14,534 [Narrator] Far from the ramshackle stills 211 00:10:14,657 --> 00:10:16,957 and seedy saloons of the Southeast, 212 00:10:17,034 --> 00:10:19,284 across the country, there’s an alcoholic drink 213 00:10:19,370 --> 00:10:20,910 more popular than water. 214 00:10:21,831 --> 00:10:23,081 Beer. 215 00:10:23,207 --> 00:10:25,087 People didn’t really trust water 216 00:10:25,209 --> 00:10:26,289 unless you knew the source. 217 00:10:26,377 --> 00:10:29,047 Everybody knew water could kill you. 218 00:10:29,172 --> 00:10:31,802 Rivers where everybody dumped everything. 219 00:10:31,883 --> 00:10:33,053 I mean, sure you got a river, 220 00:10:33,176 --> 00:10:36,226 but suppose a dead person is a half a mile up, you know, 221 00:10:36,304 --> 00:10:39,764 you’re not gonna see that and you’re gonna drink that water. 222 00:10:39,891 --> 00:10:41,261 No. (chuckles) 223 00:10:41,392 --> 00:10:44,142 [Narrator] At the time, drinking water was untreated 224 00:10:44,228 --> 00:10:46,308 and wells often draw from the same water 225 00:10:46,397 --> 00:10:48,607 where people dispose of their excrement, 226 00:10:49,901 --> 00:10:51,941 leading to outbreaks of deadly diseases 227 00:10:52,069 --> 00:10:55,109 like cholera, typhoid and dysentery. 228 00:10:55,239 --> 00:10:58,109 But beer is fermented and boiled, making it safe to drink. 229 00:10:58,242 --> 00:10:59,322 One of the reasons 230 00:10:59,410 --> 00:11:01,780 that the pilgrims stopped at Plymouth 231 00:11:01,913 --> 00:11:03,623 was because their beer was running low 232 00:11:03,748 --> 00:11:06,508 and they were looking to try to somehow restock 233 00:11:06,584 --> 00:11:08,794 those beer supplies. 234 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:10,460 It was much safer to drink. 235 00:11:10,588 --> 00:11:12,468 So it wasn’t a luxury for them 236 00:11:12,590 --> 00:11:15,010 as much as it was a necessity. 237 00:11:15,092 --> 00:11:18,262 [Narrator] In the late 1860s, beer is made locally 238 00:11:18,387 --> 00:11:20,977 and decades before widespread refrigeration. 239 00:11:21,098 --> 00:11:23,008 It’s only served within a few miles 240 00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:25,350 of the breweries that make it. 241 00:11:25,436 --> 00:11:28,276 And the idea of a national brand is completely unheard of. 242 00:11:28,397 --> 00:11:29,817 At one point, 243 00:11:29,941 --> 00:11:32,151 there were 1300 breweries in the United States, 244 00:11:32,276 --> 00:11:33,526 they were all local, 245 00:11:33,611 --> 00:11:36,611 they delivered the beer in horse-drawn wagons. 246 00:11:36,739 --> 00:11:38,899 People had an expression called "rushing the growler." 247 00:11:38,991 --> 00:11:42,491 You sent your kid to the saloon to fill up a pitcher. 248 00:11:42,620 --> 00:11:45,490 There’s some estimates that in New York, each adult person 249 00:11:45,623 --> 00:11:49,923 drank as much as 16 pints of beer in a week. 250 00:11:52,630 --> 00:11:54,000 [Narrator] One of the biggest brewing cities 251 00:11:54,131 --> 00:11:56,631 in the country is St. Louis, Missouri. 252 00:11:56,759 --> 00:11:59,179 An influx of German immigrants have brought beer making 253 00:11:59,303 --> 00:12:01,683 traditions that date back hundreds of years. 254 00:12:02,348 --> 00:12:05,228 By the late 19th century, nearly one third 255 00:12:05,309 --> 00:12:07,059 of local residents are German 256 00:12:07,144 --> 00:12:10,944 and there’s a brewery for every 600 people in the county. 257 00:12:12,483 --> 00:12:14,863 It was an important transportation stop 258 00:12:14,986 --> 00:12:17,036 at the convergence of two rivers. 259 00:12:17,154 --> 00:12:19,034 There were always people just passing through. 260 00:12:19,156 --> 00:12:23,166 So there was a solid market for many, many breweries. 261 00:12:23,953 --> 00:12:25,453 When the German brewers started, 262 00:12:25,538 --> 00:12:28,008 they had a built in audience. 263 00:12:28,124 --> 00:12:30,794 They knew that this was gonna be the flavor of home. 264 00:12:31,794 --> 00:12:33,544 [Narrator] In a sea of local competition, 265 00:12:33,671 --> 00:12:37,091 a successful soap manufacturer named Eberhard Anheuser 266 00:12:37,091 --> 00:12:39,884 is looking to unload his struggling side hustle. 267 00:12:41,012 --> 00:12:42,972 - Mr. Anheuser. - Come in, come in. 268 00:12:44,181 --> 00:12:45,721 [Narrator] By putting his failing brewery 269 00:12:45,850 --> 00:12:48,430 in the hands of his son-in-law. 270 00:12:48,519 --> 00:12:53,349 Eberhard Anheuser was very wealthy and the brewery was, 271 00:12:53,482 --> 00:12:55,062 you know, just a sideline for him. 272 00:12:55,192 --> 00:12:57,072 It’s not even clear he would’ve hung on to it 273 00:12:57,194 --> 00:12:59,744 had the son-in-law not showed up. 274 00:12:59,864 --> 00:13:01,994 You’re not going to be our supplier anymore. 275 00:13:03,868 --> 00:13:06,088 - Sir- - Because you are going to be 276 00:13:06,203 --> 00:13:07,993 the new head of this brewery. 277 00:13:13,836 --> 00:13:14,796 But, 278 00:13:15,963 --> 00:13:18,423 I don’t know the first thing about running a brewery. 279 00:13:21,510 --> 00:13:22,840 I don’t even like beer. 280 00:13:24,180 --> 00:13:27,600 Anheuser’s son-in-law is Adolphus Busch. 281 00:13:27,725 --> 00:13:30,605 He himself was not a trained brewer, but he was literate. 282 00:13:30,728 --> 00:13:33,238 He was very educated, multilingual. 283 00:13:33,356 --> 00:13:36,276 Just make sure the operation is running smoothly 284 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,650 and the shipments go out on time, can you do that? 285 00:13:39,737 --> 00:13:40,617 Yes, sir. 286 00:13:42,406 --> 00:13:43,206 Good. 287 00:13:47,203 --> 00:13:48,283 Congratulations. 288 00:13:49,372 --> 00:13:51,042 [Narrator] Now the new head of the brewery 289 00:13:51,123 --> 00:13:52,963 is left to sink or swim. 290 00:13:57,046 --> 00:13:59,966 The brewery was struggling because there were other 291 00:14:00,091 --> 00:14:02,301 better beers in St. Louis at the time. 292 00:14:02,426 --> 00:14:04,976 He just wasn’t moving the beer that he needed 293 00:14:05,096 --> 00:14:07,306 to keep that business going. 294 00:14:07,431 --> 00:14:08,971 He’s overmatched for now, 295 00:14:09,100 --> 00:14:11,220 but Busch’s innovation will eventually spawn 296 00:14:11,310 --> 00:14:15,140 the first national beer brand and his signature beer 297 00:14:15,272 --> 00:14:19,062 will go on to sell over eleven billion dollars a year. 298 00:14:20,444 --> 00:14:23,284 And he’s not the only one who changed the game. 299 00:14:28,619 --> 00:14:30,909 [Narrator] Drinking is rampant in the United States, 300 00:14:30,996 --> 00:14:32,706 but tobacco is the most popular 301 00:14:32,790 --> 00:14:34,160 agricultural product in human history. 302 00:14:36,460 --> 00:14:37,880 One that’s been used for everything 303 00:14:37,962 --> 00:14:40,672 from religious ceremonies to medicine. 304 00:14:40,798 --> 00:14:41,888 Over the centuries, 305 00:14:41,966 --> 00:14:44,386 it’s considered an appetite suppressant. 306 00:14:44,468 --> 00:14:47,298 It was used as a toothpaste in the 1600s. 307 00:14:48,639 --> 00:14:50,679 It was perceived in the beginning to be quite helpful. 308 00:14:50,808 --> 00:14:53,318 You hung it in the house to ward off diseases. 309 00:14:53,436 --> 00:14:54,686 You took it as a medicine. 310 00:14:54,812 --> 00:14:56,642 Native Americans used it in rituals 311 00:14:56,772 --> 00:14:59,192 and we have the whole famous story of Pocahontas. 312 00:14:59,316 --> 00:15:01,696 She was actually an ambassador for tobacco. 313 00:15:01,819 --> 00:15:04,529 She went to England to help describe 314 00:15:04,655 --> 00:15:06,115 how wonderful tobacco was. 315 00:15:07,533 --> 00:15:10,703 [Narrator] In the 1870s more than 70% of Americans 316 00:15:10,828 --> 00:15:14,378 over 12 years old used some form of tobacco. 317 00:15:14,498 --> 00:15:17,918 The tax dollars from tobacco counted for 30% 318 00:15:18,002 --> 00:15:21,672 of all the US tax dollars at the time. 319 00:15:21,797 --> 00:15:23,887 It’s a big number, I mean, think about that. 320 00:15:24,008 --> 00:15:26,058 Until the mid 20th century, 321 00:15:26,177 --> 00:15:28,517 tobacco was not assumed to be harmful. 322 00:15:28,637 --> 00:15:31,727 Everybody smoked or chewed tobacco. 323 00:15:31,849 --> 00:15:33,219 Today we’re so knowledgeable 324 00:15:33,350 --> 00:15:35,430 about the ill effects of tobacco. 325 00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:37,229 In that period, tobacco was seen 326 00:15:37,354 --> 00:15:40,734 as an item for mass consumption, which brought people joy. 327 00:15:40,858 --> 00:15:42,368 It was something that the elite used. 328 00:15:42,485 --> 00:15:46,365 It was something that everyday ordinary people used. 329 00:15:46,489 --> 00:15:48,109 Tobacco use was quite widespread, 330 00:15:48,199 --> 00:15:50,069 but not in the ways that people think. 331 00:15:50,201 --> 00:15:52,701 We picture people smoking cigarettes. 332 00:15:52,828 --> 00:15:53,948 Well, not at all. 333 00:15:54,038 --> 00:15:55,548 For the most part, you filled the pipe, 334 00:15:55,664 --> 00:15:58,374 you took a little snuff, you did some chewing tobacco. 335 00:15:58,501 --> 00:16:00,541 [Narrator] Today, cigarettes are the dominant form 336 00:16:00,669 --> 00:16:05,249 of tobacco with nearly 5 1/2 trillion sold each year. 337 00:16:05,382 --> 00:16:08,722 But in the 1870s, they’re considered an obscure oddity, 338 00:16:09,428 --> 00:16:12,588 often made with leftover tobacco clippings and hand rolled 339 00:16:12,723 --> 00:16:15,603 and they account for less than 1% of tobacco sold 340 00:16:15,726 --> 00:16:17,226 in the United States. 341 00:16:17,353 --> 00:16:19,103 Most public spaces were 342 00:16:19,230 --> 00:16:23,860 covered in sawdust to absorb the spit from tobacco spittle. 343 00:16:25,277 --> 00:16:29,287 The floors must have been sludgy with the tobacco mess 344 00:16:29,406 --> 00:16:31,956 and the sawdust that collected it. 345 00:16:32,076 --> 00:16:34,786 And the highest paid contractor in the state 346 00:16:34,912 --> 00:16:38,292 of North Carolina was the man who was paid to clean up 347 00:16:38,415 --> 00:16:41,965 the tobacco mess from the floor of the courthouse. 348 00:16:42,086 --> 00:16:43,676 [Narrator] Cigars, pipe tobacco, 349 00:16:43,754 --> 00:16:45,174 chewing plugs and twists 350 00:16:45,256 --> 00:16:48,346 are available in every city and town in the country. 351 00:16:48,425 --> 00:16:52,305 But each store packages its own products with no oversight, 352 00:16:52,429 --> 00:16:55,639 no quality control and the idea of consistent 353 00:16:55,766 --> 00:16:57,816 national brands doesn’t exist. 354 00:16:59,270 --> 00:17:02,980 At the time, essentially farmers sold their tobacco 355 00:17:03,107 --> 00:17:06,327 to tobacco brokers at auctions. 356 00:17:06,443 --> 00:17:08,693 And in turn, those tobacco brokers 357 00:17:08,779 --> 00:17:11,699 sold the leaf to grocers, 358 00:17:11,699 --> 00:17:13,612 druggists, at a markup. 359 00:17:14,451 --> 00:17:17,491 A person buying tobacco in 1870 would typically buy it 360 00:17:17,621 --> 00:17:20,661 at a general store in their community. 361 00:17:20,791 --> 00:17:23,171 You have a lot of local brands for local markets. 362 00:17:24,587 --> 00:17:27,257 It was a product that was not nationally distributed. 363 00:17:30,968 --> 00:17:33,688 [Narrator] In Chicago, a traveling tobacco leaf salesman 364 00:17:33,804 --> 00:17:36,354 named James Buchanan "Buck" Duke 365 00:17:36,473 --> 00:17:38,603 is looking for new customers. 366 00:17:38,684 --> 00:17:42,684 Buck Duke is very much the competitive go getter salesman. 367 00:17:42,813 --> 00:17:45,693 He’s happy to go out on the road and drum up business. 368 00:17:47,818 --> 00:17:49,148 Couple ales, please. 369 00:17:49,278 --> 00:17:52,368 [Sarah] Essentially, Duke was committed to growth. 370 00:17:52,489 --> 00:17:54,779 [Narrator] His father and older brother run a tobacco shop 371 00:17:54,867 --> 00:17:59,547 in North Carolina called Pro Bono Publico. 372 00:17:59,663 --> 00:18:02,703 Pro Bono Publico means "for the greater good," 373 00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:06,043 well, that’s rather ironic when we think about tobacco. 374 00:18:06,170 --> 00:18:09,210 So how are sales, any new accounts? 375 00:18:09,340 --> 00:18:11,380 I’m close, dad, very close. 376 00:18:12,343 --> 00:18:14,053 Saloons, 377 00:18:14,178 --> 00:18:15,308 steakhouses, 378 00:18:16,347 --> 00:18:17,227 hotels. 379 00:18:19,516 --> 00:18:21,526 Ever, uh, do any actual work? 380 00:18:23,687 --> 00:18:24,777 Just cash me out. 381 00:18:26,065 --> 00:18:30,075 Washington Duke was a small scale farmer, a storekeeper, 382 00:18:30,194 --> 00:18:32,034 someone who might sell locally. 383 00:18:32,154 --> 00:18:36,364 He had two sons and Buck was actually his second son. 384 00:18:36,492 --> 00:18:38,872 Ben Duke, he stays home in North Carolina, 385 00:18:38,994 --> 00:18:42,744 while Buck was focusing on selling into new regions. 386 00:18:42,873 --> 00:18:45,213 I’m not trying to land one account. 387 00:18:46,543 --> 00:18:49,173 I’m trying to turn this company into a real competitor. 388 00:18:50,381 --> 00:18:52,881 Kinda thing you can’t do sitting behind a desk. 389 00:18:57,054 --> 00:18:58,224 Cash your brother out. 390 00:19:01,517 --> 00:19:03,277 But you better be right about this. 391 00:19:07,564 --> 00:19:08,904 [Narrator] Ben Duke is content 392 00:19:09,024 --> 00:19:11,614 with their little storefront, but Buck’s got ambitions 393 00:19:11,735 --> 00:19:13,445 to expand into new markets 394 00:19:13,570 --> 00:19:16,200 and he’s lined up a meeting with a potential buyer. 395 00:19:24,873 --> 00:19:26,293 Mr. Gilworth. 396 00:19:27,584 --> 00:19:29,174 Thanks for coming, uh, you know, I was hoping that we could- 397 00:19:29,253 --> 00:19:30,963 Save it. 398 00:19:32,923 --> 00:19:34,963 Buck Duke, he was a very good salesman. 399 00:19:35,092 --> 00:19:36,512 He traveled to the big cities 400 00:19:36,593 --> 00:19:38,263 peddling their family’s product. 401 00:19:39,430 --> 00:19:41,970 I obviously don’t need a new supplier. 402 00:19:43,392 --> 00:19:46,562 And he was running into more successful competitors. 403 00:19:47,938 --> 00:19:51,898 I just came for the free drink, appreciate it. 404 00:19:54,987 --> 00:19:56,247 [Buck] Don’t mention it. 405 00:19:59,450 --> 00:20:00,450 [Narrator] Someday 406 00:20:02,786 --> 00:20:05,836 Buck Duke will transform the industry from an antiquated 407 00:20:05,956 --> 00:20:07,836 patchwork of small farms of shops 408 00:20:09,626 --> 00:20:13,596 into a $760 billion global powerhouse. 409 00:20:15,132 --> 00:20:18,632 Making him the third richest man on the face of the planet. 410 00:20:18,761 --> 00:20:22,841 The problem is, in 1871, he hasn’t even found 411 00:20:22,973 --> 00:20:25,513 a signature product that’ll make it all possible 412 00:20:26,727 --> 00:20:29,607 While Duke searches for a way to change the game, 413 00:20:29,688 --> 00:20:33,188 (train engines squealing) 414 00:20:40,991 --> 00:20:43,821 Adolphus Busch needs a way to pull his father-in-law’s 415 00:20:43,952 --> 00:20:46,452 struggling brewing company out of the red, 416 00:20:46,538 --> 00:20:50,208 but rather than competing with more than 50 local breweries, 417 00:20:50,334 --> 00:20:53,174 he sees a way to make beer in St. Louis 418 00:20:53,295 --> 00:20:55,795 and sell it where there’s no competition at. 419 00:20:57,674 --> 00:21:00,724 In the 1870s, you do have the emergence of, kind of, 420 00:21:00,844 --> 00:21:02,724 the second industrial revolution. 421 00:21:02,846 --> 00:21:04,726 Through the transcontinental railroad, 422 00:21:04,848 --> 00:21:07,388 you have the integration of America, you know, 423 00:21:07,518 --> 00:21:09,738 north and south and and west 424 00:21:09,853 --> 00:21:12,523 are coming together around commerce. 425 00:21:12,648 --> 00:21:14,908 [Narrator] Just three years ago, the Eads Bridge 426 00:21:15,025 --> 00:21:17,735 was finished linking the two sides of St. Louis 427 00:21:17,861 --> 00:21:19,821 across the Mississippi river, 428 00:21:19,905 --> 00:21:22,285 turning the city into a railroad hub that connects 429 00:21:22,366 --> 00:21:25,076 the east and west coast. 430 00:21:25,202 --> 00:21:27,452 In the coming years, nearly a dozen new states 431 00:21:27,538 --> 00:21:28,708 will join the union. 432 00:21:28,831 --> 00:21:31,251 All of the west of the Mississippi. 433 00:21:31,375 --> 00:21:33,545 These states have not necessarily 434 00:21:33,627 --> 00:21:35,257 set up enough breweries 435 00:21:35,379 --> 00:21:37,789 to supply their own people. 436 00:21:37,881 --> 00:21:41,471 St. Louis was centrally located and able to ship 437 00:21:41,552 --> 00:21:44,222 by both rail and by steamboat. 438 00:21:45,722 --> 00:21:49,472 Okay, so if we look at the schematic for the train car, 439 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,220 we have six barrels. 440 00:21:51,353 --> 00:21:52,813 Right. 441 00:21:52,813 --> 00:21:55,316 [Narrator] Busch realizes that if he can ship his beer 442 00:21:55,316 --> 00:21:58,769 to the Western frontier, he’ll be the only game in town. 443 00:21:59,862 --> 00:22:02,782 There were a number of obstacles to growing beyond 444 00:22:02,906 --> 00:22:05,786 your local community for a brewer. 445 00:22:05,909 --> 00:22:09,619 We’re talking about before the refrigeration technology 446 00:22:09,746 --> 00:22:14,086 and beer was a fresh product, which eventually spoiled. 447 00:22:14,209 --> 00:22:18,209 Things were like super hyper localized at that time. 448 00:22:18,297 --> 00:22:20,807 So could you get it there, first of all. 449 00:22:20,924 --> 00:22:22,634 Why is this second drainage point necessary? 450 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:26,179 We wanna keep the outflow even, 451 00:22:26,263 --> 00:22:28,013 otherwise it will stress the system. 452 00:22:28,098 --> 00:22:31,848 To try and ship their beer to warmer locations, 453 00:22:31,935 --> 00:22:35,145 whether it be New Orleans, Texas or California, 454 00:22:35,272 --> 00:22:37,652 the beer is going to be exposed to much more heat 455 00:22:37,774 --> 00:22:38,984 while it’s in transit. 456 00:22:39,109 --> 00:22:42,689 And a saloon owner that ends up with a batch of spoiled beer 457 00:22:42,779 --> 00:22:45,489 from Busch is not going to be a repeat customer. 458 00:22:45,616 --> 00:22:47,496 [Narrator] Today we use refrigerated freight 459 00:22:47,618 --> 00:22:49,458 to ship everything from ice cream, 460 00:22:49,578 --> 00:22:52,708 frozen dinners and live seafood to medical supplies 461 00:22:52,789 --> 00:22:55,829 and human organs all across the country. 462 00:22:56,710 --> 00:22:59,290 But in the 1870s, there’s no such thing 463 00:22:59,421 --> 00:23:02,381 until Adolphus Busch pioneers it. 464 00:23:02,466 --> 00:23:05,016 So how long does one load of ice keep things cold? 465 00:23:05,135 --> 00:23:07,765 Will it be long enough to keep the beer fresh. 466 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:14,470 Sir, nothing like this exists. 467 00:23:14,603 --> 00:23:17,063 We’re not gonna know exactly how it works 468 00:23:17,147 --> 00:23:18,697 until after we build it. 469 00:23:19,983 --> 00:23:22,193 Busch kind of hit the ground with this idea 470 00:23:22,319 --> 00:23:25,529 of making their own refrigerated cars. 471 00:23:25,656 --> 00:23:29,116 And what they would do is they would pack in ice 472 00:23:29,201 --> 00:23:32,201 and they would have to stop every 250 miles or so, 473 00:23:32,329 --> 00:23:35,289 change out the ice and then keep going 474 00:23:35,374 --> 00:23:37,834 and they would ship it all over the west 475 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,830 and all of the developing areas of the United States, 476 00:23:40,963 --> 00:23:45,213 this idea really took people by surprise. 477 00:23:45,342 --> 00:23:46,212 Okay. 478 00:23:47,844 --> 00:23:49,894 Walk me through it again. 479 00:23:50,013 --> 00:23:52,223 I think it’s incredibly important to try to find 480 00:23:52,349 --> 00:23:56,389 a technology that’s going to give you a competitive edge. 481 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,560 And on the flip side of that, if you don’t do it, 482 00:23:59,690 --> 00:24:02,900 you can be really left behind in the dust. 483 00:24:04,194 --> 00:24:05,694 [Narrator] Even though the company is already 484 00:24:05,821 --> 00:24:09,031 bleeding money, nearly a decade before refrigeration 485 00:24:09,157 --> 00:24:11,417 will transform the meat packing industry, 486 00:24:11,535 --> 00:24:13,915 Adolphus Busch takes out the modern equivalent 487 00:24:14,037 --> 00:24:16,797 of more than a million dollars in loans 488 00:24:16,873 --> 00:24:20,923 to pioneer a totally new refrigerated rail system. 489 00:24:21,044 --> 00:24:23,844 And he has no idea if it’ll pay off. 490 00:24:26,883 --> 00:24:29,223 In all 37 states across the country, 491 00:24:29,344 --> 00:24:31,844 the population is surging. 492 00:24:31,930 --> 00:24:35,930 Over the 1870s, it’ll increase by nearly 12 million people, 493 00:24:36,059 --> 00:24:38,429 almost double the previous decade 494 00:24:38,562 --> 00:24:40,692 and demand for booze is soaring. 495 00:24:41,898 --> 00:24:43,768 The growth of the city’s definitely went hand in hand 496 00:24:43,900 --> 00:24:47,780 with the growth of vice because you have a congregation 497 00:24:47,904 --> 00:24:50,994 of people and there’s money and there’s accessibility. 498 00:24:51,074 --> 00:24:52,614 So, you could have a brothel district, 499 00:24:52,743 --> 00:24:54,913 saloons that refuse to close at night. 500 00:24:55,037 --> 00:24:57,337 If you’re living 40 miles from everybody on the farm, 501 00:24:57,414 --> 00:24:59,124 you know, it’s a, it’s a long haul to, 502 00:24:59,249 --> 00:25:00,409 to do something naughty. 503 00:25:03,211 --> 00:25:07,131 Cities become associated with what some people would call 504 00:25:07,257 --> 00:25:09,137 iniquity or evil, right? 505 00:25:09,259 --> 00:25:10,169 Cities will corrupt you. 506 00:25:10,260 --> 00:25:12,180 It’ll corrupt you through sex. 507 00:25:12,262 --> 00:25:13,972 It’ll corrupt you through alcohol. 508 00:25:14,097 --> 00:25:15,977 It’ll corrupt you through lust. 509 00:25:16,099 --> 00:25:18,719 It’ll corrupt you through like all kinds of things. 510 00:25:18,810 --> 00:25:20,520 [Narrator] In this era, Americans drink 511 00:25:20,604 --> 00:25:24,314 almost 800,000 gallons of liquor a year 512 00:25:24,441 --> 00:25:27,481 and guzzle more than 4 million gallons of beer. 513 00:25:27,611 --> 00:25:29,321 And there’s a rising tide of people 514 00:25:29,446 --> 00:25:31,786 determined to put a stop to it. 515 00:25:31,907 --> 00:25:35,497 The excess of alcohol use begins to worry people, 516 00:25:35,619 --> 00:25:38,029 particularly as America begins to industrialize. 517 00:25:38,121 --> 00:25:40,201 If people can’t get up and go to work 518 00:25:40,290 --> 00:25:41,620 and take care of their families, 519 00:25:41,750 --> 00:25:43,870 then of course alcohol is seen as a problem 520 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,000 because it’s undermining the very fabric of the economy, 521 00:25:47,130 --> 00:25:48,670 but also the fabric of the home. 522 00:25:49,966 --> 00:25:52,176 Alcohol, of course, in that time frame 523 00:25:52,302 --> 00:25:54,222 is still kind of unregulated. 524 00:25:54,304 --> 00:25:56,854 People were going out of their minds with it, drunk, 525 00:25:56,973 --> 00:25:59,473 it was causing abusive relationships, violence, 526 00:25:59,601 --> 00:26:00,891 all these things. 527 00:26:00,977 --> 00:26:02,857 [Narrator] A group with anti-vice sentiments, 528 00:26:02,979 --> 00:26:04,349 called the temperance movement, 529 00:26:04,481 --> 00:26:07,151 dates all the way back to the late 1700s 530 00:26:07,275 --> 00:26:11,035 when Americans began drinking less low proof beer and cider 531 00:26:11,154 --> 00:26:12,864 and more hard liquor. 532 00:26:12,989 --> 00:26:16,319 Now moonshine is rampant and the movement is back 533 00:26:16,451 --> 00:26:17,491 with a vengeance. 534 00:26:17,619 --> 00:26:18,529 There was a very strong 535 00:26:18,662 --> 00:26:20,912 temperance movement in the United States, 536 00:26:20,997 --> 00:26:26,217 connecting drinking alcohol to the downfall of the family 537 00:26:26,336 --> 00:26:29,716 because men would get their paycheck and they would go out 538 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,380 to bars and they would spend at the saloon, 539 00:26:32,509 --> 00:26:33,879 all of their paycheck. 540 00:26:34,010 --> 00:26:36,720 They would then, you know, run off with a loose woman. 541 00:26:38,140 --> 00:26:41,430 People in America value individual choice. 542 00:26:41,518 --> 00:26:44,398 They don’t want people to temper with their choice 543 00:26:44,521 --> 00:26:46,231 to have a drink or to smoke. 544 00:26:46,356 --> 00:26:48,906 But the reality is that we live in a society 545 00:26:49,025 --> 00:26:52,405 and other people have a choice not to be in a smokey room 546 00:26:52,529 --> 00:26:53,899 or to have a drink. 547 00:26:54,030 --> 00:26:56,400 There’s a tension and constant conversation 548 00:26:56,533 --> 00:26:58,823 about who should be allowed to indulge in this. 549 00:27:02,038 --> 00:27:04,748 (clock ticking) 550 00:27:07,169 --> 00:27:08,379 [Narrator] Jack Daniel and Nearest Greene 551 00:27:08,503 --> 00:27:11,093 have been distilling for Reverend Dan Call 552 00:27:11,214 --> 00:27:14,264 and scraping out money bootlegging on the side. 553 00:27:14,384 --> 00:27:17,014 Now the temperance movement is taking root 554 00:27:17,095 --> 00:27:18,685 in the reverend’s congregation. 555 00:27:21,683 --> 00:27:22,643 There you are. 556 00:27:23,977 --> 00:27:26,397 I need to talk to you about things down at the still house. 557 00:27:26,521 --> 00:27:28,271 I, I already know what you’re gonna say. 558 00:27:28,398 --> 00:27:30,358 Jasper just, just hold on. 559 00:27:31,568 --> 00:27:32,778 I’m shutting down the still for awhile. 560 00:27:32,903 --> 00:27:33,783 What? 561 00:27:37,741 --> 00:27:40,121 Temperance accelerated in places like Tennessee, 562 00:27:40,243 --> 00:27:41,623 which were much more Christian, 563 00:27:41,745 --> 00:27:43,915 and people were already sort of predisposed 564 00:27:44,039 --> 00:27:46,119 through their particular form of Christianity 565 00:27:46,249 --> 00:27:47,289 to be anti-alcohol. 566 00:27:47,417 --> 00:27:49,337 I know you’re disappointed. 567 00:27:49,419 --> 00:27:50,329 - Yeah. - But I’ve made up my mind. 568 00:27:50,420 --> 00:27:51,750 No, you can’t do that. 569 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:52,750 Look, if you just listen to me... 570 00:27:52,881 --> 00:27:54,751 I’m shutting it down! 571 00:27:56,092 --> 00:27:59,132 Dan Call, who’s a Reverend for the church that was nearby, 572 00:27:59,262 --> 00:28:02,302 and so it was a little bit of a conflict for him 573 00:28:02,432 --> 00:28:06,102 because his wife was also very much a temperance woman. 574 00:28:06,228 --> 00:28:07,108 That’s final. 575 00:28:11,483 --> 00:28:12,313 Yes, sir. 576 00:28:20,116 --> 00:28:23,626 Losing a business partner is always deeply disturbing. 577 00:28:23,745 --> 00:28:26,205 And Jack had always looked to Dan as a father figure 578 00:28:26,289 --> 00:28:28,829 and as a mentor, to now lose him, 579 00:28:28,959 --> 00:28:31,209 and to lose him over something like temperance, 580 00:28:31,294 --> 00:28:33,254 it would’ve been a particular insult. 581 00:28:35,131 --> 00:28:36,501 [Narrator] Without Call’s still, 582 00:28:36,633 --> 00:28:39,133 Jack Daniel is suddenly out a job 583 00:28:39,261 --> 00:28:41,891 and his bootlegging side hustle is dead in the water. 584 00:28:41,972 --> 00:28:44,972 (eerie suspenseful music) 585 00:28:45,100 --> 00:28:45,930 For now. 586 00:28:57,862 --> 00:28:59,652 [Narrator] Jack Daniel and Nearest Greene 587 00:28:59,739 --> 00:29:01,109 spent years distilling 588 00:29:01,199 --> 00:29:03,909 and secretly bootlegging on Dan Call’s farm. 589 00:29:05,078 --> 00:29:06,168 But now the temperance movement 590 00:29:06,246 --> 00:29:08,246 is gripping the religious south. 591 00:29:08,331 --> 00:29:11,161 I think in every generation there are politicians 592 00:29:11,251 --> 00:29:14,331 and religious figures who sincerely believe 593 00:29:14,462 --> 00:29:18,632 they’re a moment in time as like part of this great decline 594 00:29:18,717 --> 00:29:20,677 in morality in the United States. 595 00:29:20,677 --> 00:29:23,470 I mean, you had politicians at that time 596 00:29:23,555 --> 00:29:26,355 railing against what they said were vices. 597 00:29:26,433 --> 00:29:29,523 What they were trying to do is restore normalcy. 598 00:29:29,602 --> 00:29:31,522 They were trying to kind of restore 599 00:29:31,604 --> 00:29:36,314 a Protestant Christian moral America. 600 00:29:37,610 --> 00:29:39,860 [Narrator] Under mounting pressure from his congregation, 601 00:29:39,946 --> 00:29:42,206 Dan Call shut his still down, 602 00:29:42,282 --> 00:29:44,572 leaving Jack and Nearest unemployed. 603 00:29:45,785 --> 00:29:48,035 [Jack] To start over scratch someplace else. 604 00:29:48,121 --> 00:29:51,541 [Nearest] You make it sound so simple, but it ain’t. 605 00:29:51,541 --> 00:29:55,384 Jack really did want to become his own person 606 00:29:55,462 --> 00:29:56,842 and his own distiller. 607 00:29:56,921 --> 00:29:59,711 Distilling was where he could see himself 608 00:29:59,799 --> 00:30:00,839 making a mark in the world. 609 00:30:00,925 --> 00:30:04,185 You know, whiskey was his way to kind of get beyond 610 00:30:04,262 --> 00:30:09,102 small town life and to really do something I think special. 611 00:30:11,227 --> 00:30:13,397 I’m doing this. 612 00:30:13,397 --> 00:30:14,770 I want you to come with me. 613 00:30:16,691 --> 00:30:18,231 Now, now that’s complicated. 614 00:30:19,611 --> 00:30:22,571 I think he developed a pretty meaningful relationship 615 00:30:22,655 --> 00:30:26,615 with uncle Nearest at a time when a lot of his neighbors 616 00:30:26,743 --> 00:30:28,413 didn’t want to acknowledge his existence 617 00:30:28,536 --> 00:30:31,246 and Jack was not shy about, you know, 618 00:30:31,331 --> 00:30:34,121 telling people that that’s who taught him how to distill. 619 00:30:35,085 --> 00:30:35,965 It’s up to you. 620 00:30:38,338 --> 00:30:39,758 You wanna come work with me? 621 00:30:41,007 --> 00:30:42,267 It’s a critical importance 622 00:30:42,342 --> 00:30:43,762 to choose the right business partner. 623 00:30:43,843 --> 00:30:46,433 Businesses are not about ideas. 624 00:30:46,554 --> 00:30:49,434 They’re about the execution of those ideas. 625 00:30:49,516 --> 00:30:52,776 So it’s more than just what you’re doing in business, 626 00:30:52,852 --> 00:30:55,442 but also it’s who you’re doing it with. 627 00:30:56,523 --> 00:31:00,403 I think Nearest Greene ultimately had respect for Jack 628 00:31:00,485 --> 00:31:04,115 and wanted to help him fulfill his dream. 629 00:31:04,197 --> 00:31:07,117 But then also he was looking for an opportunity 630 00:31:07,117 --> 00:31:09,620 to become something for himself. 631 00:31:09,702 --> 00:31:12,622 (Nearest chuckles) 632 00:31:14,207 --> 00:31:15,337 You damn right I do. 633 00:31:16,709 --> 00:31:19,629 (Nearest chuckles) 634 00:31:20,922 --> 00:31:22,632 You’re killing me, you know that right? 635 00:31:22,632 --> 00:31:24,635 [Narrator] An orphan and former enslaved person 636 00:31:24,717 --> 00:31:27,477 are risking everything to start their own distillery, 637 00:31:28,555 --> 00:31:31,145 even as the tide of temperance is rising. 638 00:31:31,266 --> 00:31:34,816 (eerie suspenseful music) 639 00:31:36,229 --> 00:31:38,309 [Narrator] While performers are targeting hard liquor, 640 00:31:38,398 --> 00:31:42,158 in the mid 1870s, beer isn’t on their radar. 641 00:31:42,235 --> 00:31:46,285 In the 19th century, when anti alcohol fervor began, 642 00:31:46,364 --> 00:31:50,494 the great enemy, then, was spirits, 643 00:31:50,494 --> 00:31:52,997 especially whiskey and rum. 644 00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:56,829 Many people started latching onto beer 645 00:31:56,916 --> 00:31:59,006 as kind of an antidote to alcohol. 646 00:31:59,085 --> 00:32:02,845 It wasn’t as alcoholic and you could drink that and you, 647 00:32:02,922 --> 00:32:04,842 it could still be respectable. 648 00:32:05,717 --> 00:32:07,477 [Narrator] Adolphus Busch wants to sell beer 649 00:32:07,552 --> 00:32:10,842 outside St. Louis and he’s designed groundbreaking 650 00:32:10,930 --> 00:32:13,470 refrigerated rail cars to do it. 651 00:32:13,558 --> 00:32:15,148 Now he’s working on a beer 652 00:32:15,226 --> 00:32:17,186 that’ll appeal to American tastes. 653 00:32:17,312 --> 00:32:18,522 Some of them are close. 654 00:32:19,647 --> 00:32:21,357 [Narrator] For months he’s been working 655 00:32:21,483 --> 00:32:24,153 with his brewmasters to crack the code. 656 00:32:24,235 --> 00:32:25,445 What would you suggest? 657 00:32:26,613 --> 00:32:30,783 More hops, less hops, more body, less body. 658 00:32:32,494 --> 00:32:34,204 Just bring me options. 659 00:32:34,329 --> 00:32:35,869 I’ll know it when I taste it. 660 00:32:36,664 --> 00:32:37,874 [Narrator] Now he’s brought in 661 00:32:37,874 --> 00:32:40,717 an industry friend named Carl Conrad. 662 00:32:40,793 --> 00:32:42,583 I’m on the verge of being pleased. 663 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,340 [Narrator] Who has a version of a recipe 664 00:32:45,340 --> 00:32:48,553 for a popular European beer called lager. 665 00:32:48,635 --> 00:32:52,395 The two main types of beer: ale and lager. 666 00:32:52,472 --> 00:32:55,392 Ale’s are warm fermenting beers that might ferment, 667 00:32:55,392 --> 00:32:56,765 say at room temperature. 668 00:32:56,893 --> 00:32:59,063 The German word lagern means "to store." 669 00:32:59,187 --> 00:33:03,357 These are beers that have a long and cold fermentation. 670 00:33:03,441 --> 00:33:06,941 They would actually ferment these beers down in caves 671 00:33:07,070 --> 00:33:08,530 underneath the ground. 672 00:33:08,530 --> 00:33:11,073 [Narrator] The lagering process kills more bacteria 673 00:33:11,157 --> 00:33:14,747 than making ale and results in a more refreshing beer. 674 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,870 Adolphus Busch believes Americans 675 00:33:17,956 --> 00:33:19,916 will love crisp lagger. 676 00:33:19,916 --> 00:33:22,249 If he can get the recipe right. 677 00:33:22,335 --> 00:33:24,425 The hops are imported from Czechoslovakia. 678 00:33:25,672 --> 00:33:28,092 The yeast is the best you can find in Germany. 679 00:33:30,176 --> 00:33:31,136 But you disagree. 680 00:33:32,011 --> 00:33:33,721 Maybe that’s the problem. 681 00:33:33,805 --> 00:33:36,015 I don’t wanna recreate a European recipe, 682 00:33:36,099 --> 00:33:37,219 this is America. 683 00:33:37,308 --> 00:33:39,638 We need an American beer. 684 00:33:43,690 --> 00:33:44,980 Good luck with that. 685 00:33:47,402 --> 00:33:51,112 German lager brewers had been trained 686 00:33:51,239 --> 00:33:56,449 under the "Reinheitsgebot," which was the German purity law 687 00:33:56,536 --> 00:34:01,666 regulating the ingredients that could be used in beer. 688 00:34:02,875 --> 00:34:06,635 However, Adolphus Busch himself was not a brewer 689 00:34:06,754 --> 00:34:11,134 and America was a land where the old restrictions 690 00:34:11,134 --> 00:34:14,847 and European traditions didn’t necessarily apply. 691 00:34:18,182 --> 00:34:20,472 [Narrator] Busch and his brew masters begin experimenting 692 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:25,190 with American ingredients using four and six row barley. 693 00:34:28,359 --> 00:34:31,149 But after investing in a refrigerated rail system 694 00:34:31,237 --> 00:34:33,497 to deliver a signature beer, 695 00:34:33,573 --> 00:34:36,493 so far, he has nothing to show for it. 696 00:34:41,039 --> 00:34:43,869 (horses neighing) 697 00:34:44,876 --> 00:34:48,336 Meanwhile, Buck Duke has traveled all over the country 698 00:34:48,463 --> 00:34:51,003 trying to find new buyers for his family’s tobacco. 699 00:34:51,132 --> 00:34:52,052 It’s a no. 700 00:34:55,928 --> 00:34:58,218 [Narrator] But he hasn’t made a single sale. 701 00:35:05,355 --> 00:35:08,865 The 1800s, cigarettes weren’t really that popular. 702 00:35:08,941 --> 00:35:10,191 You know, cigarettes at the time 703 00:35:10,276 --> 00:35:12,156 were really primarily for women. 704 00:35:12,236 --> 00:35:15,246 And most men did not engage in cigarette smoking. 705 00:35:15,365 --> 00:35:17,365 They would chew the tobacco, were smoking the pipe, 706 00:35:17,450 --> 00:35:18,410 or having a cigar. 707 00:35:24,749 --> 00:35:25,959 A cigarette. 708 00:35:29,337 --> 00:35:31,717 You mean people actually buy these. 709 00:35:31,839 --> 00:35:34,379 Early cigarettes were not manufactured cigarettes. 710 00:35:34,467 --> 00:35:37,187 This is just tobacco leaf that’s a, a, a consumer 711 00:35:37,261 --> 00:35:40,551 will later roll themselves into a cigarette. 712 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,930 I get 10 minutes for my break, no exceptions. 713 00:35:44,060 --> 00:35:46,180 If I take too long to smoke I don’t eat. 714 00:35:46,270 --> 00:35:47,140 Hmm. 715 00:35:51,984 --> 00:35:54,404 And it’s like that for everyone that works here? 716 00:35:58,825 --> 00:36:00,955 How many people would you say that that is? 717 00:36:02,328 --> 00:36:03,778 Couple hundred, give or take. 718 00:36:05,206 --> 00:36:08,086 If you go back and look at the late 19th century 719 00:36:08,209 --> 00:36:11,379 American economy and look at all the factory workers 720 00:36:11,379 --> 00:36:13,792 and mechanics and others skilled tradesmen. 721 00:36:14,924 --> 00:36:17,094 And, uh, a lot of them smoke? 722 00:36:17,218 --> 00:36:19,588 That portability of the cigarette helped make 723 00:36:19,679 --> 00:36:21,429 the cigarette particularly suited 724 00:36:21,514 --> 00:36:24,434 to more modern urban industrial life. 725 00:36:24,434 --> 00:36:25,267 Thank you. 726 00:36:25,351 --> 00:36:28,731 (suspenseful music) 727 00:36:28,813 --> 00:36:30,143 I’ll be damned. 728 00:36:36,696 --> 00:36:37,866 Is that a cigarette? 729 00:37:01,012 --> 00:37:01,882 You see that? 730 00:37:03,389 --> 00:37:04,219 See what? 731 00:37:05,224 --> 00:37:06,814 I just had a nice easy smoke 732 00:37:06,934 --> 00:37:09,234 in the time it took you to get that pipe lit. 733 00:37:10,521 --> 00:37:13,651 Filling a pipe and lighting it and tamping it down 734 00:37:13,775 --> 00:37:16,985 and keeping it going, it was a complicated operation. 735 00:37:17,111 --> 00:37:20,491 (eerie suspenseful music) 736 00:37:20,573 --> 00:37:23,163 And, uh, why should we care? 737 00:37:23,284 --> 00:37:25,954 Because new factories are being built every day, 738 00:37:25,954 --> 00:37:28,497 textile mills, oil refineries, steel plants. 739 00:37:29,582 --> 00:37:31,662 And you know what they all have in common? 740 00:37:33,044 --> 00:37:37,344 Hundreds of men working long hours with short breaks. 741 00:37:39,258 --> 00:37:41,628 Roughly the duration of one cigarette. 742 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,179 The cigarette, it’s really a convenience factor 743 00:37:45,264 --> 00:37:49,684 that then fits into the notion of that good, short, sweet 744 00:37:49,769 --> 00:37:52,849 smoke, which fits also then 745 00:37:52,980 --> 00:37:55,350 into the pattern of industrialization 746 00:37:55,441 --> 00:37:58,231 that is getting going rapidly in the north. 747 00:37:59,487 --> 00:38:02,117 (Ben chuckles) 748 00:38:03,282 --> 00:38:06,872 (suspenseful music) 749 00:38:06,953 --> 00:38:09,583 You think you’re gonna sell, all them workers, 750 00:38:10,540 --> 00:38:12,040 a novelty made for women. 751 00:38:12,124 --> 00:38:15,124 (suspenseful music) 752 00:38:19,340 --> 00:38:20,460 That’s a terrible idea. 753 00:38:21,509 --> 00:38:22,419 I’m telling you, 754 00:38:24,762 --> 00:38:25,722 it’ll catch on. 755 00:38:25,722 --> 00:38:27,685 (suspenseful techno music) 756 00:38:27,765 --> 00:38:30,725 [Narrator] Buck Duke’s father has a choice to make, 757 00:38:30,852 --> 00:38:34,852 maintain the status quo or risk the future of his company 758 00:38:34,939 --> 00:38:38,399 on an obscure tobacco product that’s ridiculed as a novelty. 759 00:38:38,484 --> 00:38:42,034 (suspenseful music) 760 00:38:42,113 --> 00:38:43,283 The cigarette. 761 00:38:48,744 --> 00:38:50,834 [Narrator] Buck Duke has convinced his father 762 00:38:50,913 --> 00:38:53,293 that despite their terrible reputation, 763 00:38:53,416 --> 00:38:56,296 cigarettes could be the future of the tobacco industry. 764 00:38:56,419 --> 00:38:59,209 Most Americans did not consume cigarettes 765 00:38:59,297 --> 00:39:00,757 at the turn of the century. 766 00:39:00,757 --> 00:39:04,090 Cigarettes were seen as making men more effeminate 767 00:39:04,218 --> 00:39:07,008 and making women more masculine. 768 00:39:07,096 --> 00:39:09,606 [Narrator] To transform the family’s small tobacco shop 769 00:39:09,724 --> 00:39:11,764 into a hand-rolling factory, 770 00:39:11,851 --> 00:39:14,931 he spends the modern equivalent of 75 grand 771 00:39:15,021 --> 00:39:17,851 to steal the specialized workforce he needs 772 00:39:17,940 --> 00:39:19,770 to bring them to North Carolina. 773 00:39:19,859 --> 00:39:21,609 (upbeat music) 774 00:39:21,736 --> 00:39:25,446 Most cigarette rollers in the late 19th century 775 00:39:25,573 --> 00:39:27,283 are Jewish immigrants. 776 00:39:27,408 --> 00:39:29,868 Cigarettes are actually more popular in Russia, 777 00:39:29,952 --> 00:39:32,122 so there’s a kind of expertise. 778 00:39:32,246 --> 00:39:35,626 Buck Duke hires 125 cigarette rollers 779 00:39:35,750 --> 00:39:37,290 from a New York based firm, 780 00:39:37,376 --> 00:39:38,966 hires them down to Durham 781 00:39:39,045 --> 00:39:42,135 and they set up shop at W. Duke and Sons. 782 00:39:43,132 --> 00:39:45,632 Back then, a professional cigarette roller 783 00:39:45,718 --> 00:39:48,808 could roll about four good cigarettes at a minute. 784 00:39:48,888 --> 00:39:50,808 [Narrator] Duke introduces pre-rolled cigarettes 785 00:39:50,932 --> 00:39:52,472 in his family shop 786 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,310 and needs a way to get people to try them, especially men. 787 00:39:56,437 --> 00:39:58,447 What’s all this? 788 00:39:59,607 --> 00:40:04,117 Look, this one is Jack Nego, right? 789 00:40:05,529 --> 00:40:06,359 But next time, 790 00:40:07,740 --> 00:40:10,160 next time it could just as easily be Art Benedict. 791 00:40:10,284 --> 00:40:12,284 Now customers can collect the whole set. 792 00:40:14,956 --> 00:40:17,086 Seems silly. How does this help us? 793 00:40:18,501 --> 00:40:21,461 Ben, the customers want the cards. 794 00:40:21,545 --> 00:40:23,345 So they buy our products. 795 00:40:23,464 --> 00:40:24,634 Now the stores sell out, 796 00:40:25,633 --> 00:40:26,923 they order more from us. 797 00:40:28,094 --> 00:40:29,804 Buck Duke needed something unique to cut through. 798 00:40:29,804 --> 00:40:31,847 So they came out with trading cards 799 00:40:31,973 --> 00:40:33,853 they were literally making baseball trading cards 800 00:40:33,933 --> 00:40:35,143 to sell tobacco. 801 00:40:36,310 --> 00:40:37,270 Now the best part, 802 00:40:38,980 --> 00:40:39,730 watch this. 803 00:40:43,818 --> 00:40:45,828 We’re Texas Cigarettes during shipping. 804 00:40:47,113 --> 00:40:48,363 (upbeat music) 805 00:40:48,447 --> 00:40:49,707 [Narrator] To build recognition 806 00:40:49,824 --> 00:40:52,364 years before national brands exist, 807 00:40:52,493 --> 00:40:54,533 Duke launches his hand-rolled cigarettes 808 00:40:54,662 --> 00:40:57,622 under a brand, W. Duke and Sons, 809 00:40:57,707 --> 00:41:00,337 one of the first branded cigarettes in the country. 810 00:41:02,211 --> 00:41:03,541 And to drive demand, 811 00:41:03,671 --> 00:41:08,011 he pours $800,000, 23 million today, 812 00:41:08,092 --> 00:41:09,382 into a marketing campaign, 813 00:41:09,510 --> 00:41:12,510 powered by ads and collectable cards, 814 00:41:12,596 --> 00:41:14,556 betting that this new product would become 815 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:16,470 the future of the tobacco industry. 816 00:41:16,559 --> 00:41:19,559 (dramatic music) 817 00:41:22,815 --> 00:41:25,405 Adolphus Busch has already waged the lager 818 00:41:25,526 --> 00:41:27,236 as the future of beer, 819 00:41:27,361 --> 00:41:29,821 and that he could ship it in refrigerated rail cars 820 00:41:29,905 --> 00:41:31,325 to the US frontier. 821 00:41:32,491 --> 00:41:34,321 But after months of working on a recipe 822 00:41:34,410 --> 00:41:36,580 that caters to American tastes, 823 00:41:36,662 --> 00:41:39,502 his brew masters have yet to get it right. 824 00:41:41,167 --> 00:41:43,087 We try to achieve the perfect balance 825 00:41:43,210 --> 00:41:46,000 between Christmas and body without too much bite. 826 00:41:49,925 --> 00:41:51,725 I think I like this. 827 00:41:51,802 --> 00:41:54,842 An American twist on a beer I found in Budweis. 828 00:41:54,930 --> 00:41:55,800 Budweis. 829 00:41:57,933 --> 00:42:00,063 Budweis the town in Czechoslovakia. 830 00:42:04,899 --> 00:42:06,809 Get this into production right away. 831 00:42:09,570 --> 00:42:13,320 [Narrator] In 1876, Budweiser Beer is born. 832 00:42:14,867 --> 00:42:16,207 When you think of American beer, 833 00:42:16,285 --> 00:42:18,995 you only think of one thing, Budweiser. 834 00:42:19,872 --> 00:42:21,292 With Budweiser, 835 00:42:21,415 --> 00:42:24,465 it’s a brand that’s up there with Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, 836 00:42:24,585 --> 00:42:27,465 you’re never gonna pick one up in another country 837 00:42:27,588 --> 00:42:29,458 or in another part of the world 838 00:42:29,548 --> 00:42:31,128 and say, 839 00:42:31,217 --> 00:42:33,927 "This is a completely different Budweiser than I’m used to." 840 00:42:34,011 --> 00:42:35,471 [Narrator] Busch begins shipping Budweiser 841 00:42:35,596 --> 00:42:37,936 to saloons across the Southwest, 842 00:42:38,015 --> 00:42:40,145 gambling, hundreds of thousands of dollars 843 00:42:40,226 --> 00:42:44,606 that people will drink a beer they’ve never heard of. 844 00:42:49,235 --> 00:42:50,985 By the late 19th century, 845 00:42:51,112 --> 00:42:54,112 New York is the industrial capital in the nation. 846 00:42:54,198 --> 00:42:56,828 The lure of factory jobs brings a flood of immigrants 847 00:42:56,909 --> 00:42:58,619 from all across the globe, 848 00:42:58,619 --> 00:43:01,492 and the city’s population doubles every decade 849 00:43:01,622 --> 00:43:03,162 between 1800 and 1880. 850 00:43:03,249 --> 00:43:05,159 The late 19th century is a key moment 851 00:43:05,251 --> 00:43:07,501 in the urbanization of the United States. 852 00:43:07,628 --> 00:43:10,338 We see an incredible rise in the density of housing 853 00:43:10,464 --> 00:43:12,674 with the erection of tenements in New York city, 854 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:13,840 cramped conditions, 855 00:43:13,926 --> 00:43:15,676 shared living quarters, 856 00:43:15,761 --> 00:43:17,341 dirty streets. 857 00:43:17,471 --> 00:43:20,011 The nine square blocks of the Jewish Lower East Side 858 00:43:20,141 --> 00:43:23,141 was the most crowded mile in the world. 859 00:43:23,227 --> 00:43:25,357 More crowded than anywhere in India or China, 860 00:43:25,479 --> 00:43:27,689 because it had five storeys of people 861 00:43:27,815 --> 00:43:28,905 crowded upon each other. 862 00:43:29,024 --> 00:43:30,864 Not all buildings were connected to the sewer system, 863 00:43:30,985 --> 00:43:33,945 so you had outhouses at these places, 864 00:43:34,029 --> 00:43:34,989 the smells coming up, 865 00:43:34,989 --> 00:43:36,202 there was no ventilation. 866 00:43:36,323 --> 00:43:37,703 And then nobody had hot water, 867 00:43:37,825 --> 00:43:39,205 so nobody washed that often. 868 00:43:39,326 --> 00:43:42,416 [Narrator] Many people lived in filth squalor. 869 00:43:43,247 --> 00:43:45,707 But there’s one district infamous for its poverty 870 00:43:45,833 --> 00:43:46,713 and crime. 871 00:43:46,834 --> 00:43:49,834 It’s called the Tenderloin. 872 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,630 The Tenderloin District was a vice district 873 00:43:52,715 --> 00:43:55,385 in New York city during the late 19th century, 874 00:43:55,509 --> 00:43:57,219 early 20th century. 875 00:43:57,344 --> 00:44:01,224 And this is an area where you had tenement houses, 876 00:44:01,224 --> 00:44:04,687 you had brothels, you had gambling dens. 877 00:44:04,768 --> 00:44:06,348 The term, the Tenderloin, 878 00:44:06,437 --> 00:44:09,527 supposedly came from a New York Police Captain. 879 00:44:09,607 --> 00:44:12,027 He was being transferred to a vice district 880 00:44:12,109 --> 00:44:13,569 where he was gonna make a lot more graft. 881 00:44:13,694 --> 00:44:16,244 Police officers could take so many bribes back then 882 00:44:16,363 --> 00:44:17,743 he would make so much money, 883 00:44:17,865 --> 00:44:19,325 he could now eat tenderloin, 884 00:44:19,325 --> 00:44:20,358 instead of rump steak. 885 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:24,700 [Narrator] One resident of the Tenderloin 886 00:44:24,788 --> 00:44:27,538 is a German immigrant who was born partially paralyzed. 887 00:44:29,877 --> 00:44:31,427 He’s, Julia Schmidt, 888 00:44:31,545 --> 00:44:35,095 and after having to sell some of his clothing just to eat, 889 00:44:35,216 --> 00:44:37,806 he now works long hours at a local factory. 890 00:44:46,936 --> 00:44:48,646 Hey, this is my bench. 891 00:44:49,813 --> 00:44:52,443 Just resting, I’m already at work. 892 00:44:52,524 --> 00:44:55,114 Julia Schmidt came to America at a time 893 00:44:55,236 --> 00:44:57,946 when there was tremendous prejudice against immigrants, 894 00:44:58,030 --> 00:44:58,860 and for Schmidt, 895 00:44:58,948 --> 00:45:00,038 it was compounded by the fact 896 00:45:00,115 --> 00:45:02,325 that he was also physically handicapped. 897 00:45:05,621 --> 00:45:08,081 Julia Schmidt already had a trade 898 00:45:08,165 --> 00:45:11,045 which was making casings for sausages 899 00:45:11,126 --> 00:45:13,296 out of animal membranes. 900 00:45:13,296 --> 00:45:15,709 [Narrator] Julia Schmidt barely scrapes by 901 00:45:15,798 --> 00:45:17,308 working at a sausage factory. 902 00:45:17,424 --> 00:45:19,264 Julia Schmidt, I mean, here he is, 903 00:45:19,343 --> 00:45:20,883 he’s on a crutch bum leg, 904 00:45:20,970 --> 00:45:23,970 and he lives in the seediest section of Manhattan 905 00:45:24,056 --> 00:45:25,266 where there’s prostitution 906 00:45:25,266 --> 00:45:29,309 and just all kinds of illegal activities that’s going on. 907 00:45:29,436 --> 00:45:32,946 People can be born into the opportunity to create success, 908 00:45:33,023 --> 00:45:36,613 or they could create success out of necessity. 909 00:45:36,694 --> 00:45:38,614 [Narrator] Despite his humble beginnings, 910 00:45:38,696 --> 00:45:40,496 the product Schmidt innovates will one day 911 00:45:40,614 --> 00:45:42,784 prevents all manner of deadly disease, 912 00:45:43,742 --> 00:45:44,822 rewrite US law, 913 00:45:44,910 --> 00:45:47,030 ignite a sexual revolution 914 00:45:47,705 --> 00:45:51,085 and fuel a $9 billion industry. 915 00:45:57,381 --> 00:45:59,381 [Narrator] New York City is growing fast, 916 00:45:59,508 --> 00:46:01,968 and greed and crime and corruption, 917 00:46:02,052 --> 00:46:04,512 lurk in every dark alley. 918 00:46:05,180 --> 00:46:07,890 New York City was a very rough, crowded, dangerous place. 919 00:46:08,684 --> 00:46:10,564 Prostitution was way more common, 920 00:46:10,686 --> 00:46:12,186 and even though it was illegal, 921 00:46:12,271 --> 00:46:15,061 it was basically sanctioned by the police. 922 00:46:15,190 --> 00:46:18,150 They took bribes to allow the brothels to continue. 923 00:46:19,111 --> 00:46:22,861 There was an estimate that one in six adult men 924 00:46:22,948 --> 00:46:24,858 went to a prostitute every day. 925 00:46:27,619 --> 00:46:30,619 [Narrator] In the heart of New York’s seedy under alley, 926 00:46:30,706 --> 00:46:32,506 Julia Schmidt can’t make ends meet 927 00:46:32,583 --> 00:46:35,003 working at a local sausage factory, 928 00:46:35,085 --> 00:46:37,795 but he scratches out living with his side hustle, 929 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,340 making products out of scraps from the factory floor. 930 00:46:41,425 --> 00:46:45,055 Julia Schmidt actually sold and marketed sausage casings, 931 00:46:45,137 --> 00:46:46,557 creating a condom. 932 00:46:46,638 --> 00:46:50,888 It’s hard for us to imagine today in the 21st century. 933 00:46:50,976 --> 00:46:54,566 The idea of using an intestine for a condom 934 00:46:54,646 --> 00:46:55,946 is actually genius. 935 00:46:56,065 --> 00:46:57,655 It’s really durable, 936 00:46:57,733 --> 00:47:00,823 and it’s gonna give you a skin like feel. 937 00:47:02,237 --> 00:47:05,077 Now the downside is that it will get funky, right? 938 00:47:05,157 --> 00:47:08,127 And for some thinking about a pig intestine 939 00:47:08,243 --> 00:47:09,623 around their genitals, 940 00:47:09,745 --> 00:47:12,705 that might not be as romantic. 941 00:47:12,790 --> 00:47:14,330 Talk about a sausage fest. 942 00:47:15,793 --> 00:47:17,003 Some version of condoms 943 00:47:17,003 --> 00:47:21,096 date all the way back to 1000 years before the common era, 944 00:47:21,173 --> 00:47:24,013 where people used oiled linen, silk, leather, 945 00:47:24,093 --> 00:47:26,303 and even thin horn as prophylactics. 946 00:47:27,513 --> 00:47:29,143 Animal intestines were used in parts of Europe 947 00:47:29,264 --> 00:47:31,764 as early as the 16th century. 948 00:47:31,850 --> 00:47:33,220 But in the late 1800s, 949 00:47:33,310 --> 00:47:36,140 it’s still a foreign concept in the United States. 950 00:47:37,773 --> 00:47:40,193 In fact, thanks to an anti vice crusader 951 00:47:40,275 --> 00:47:41,865 named Anthony Comstock, 952 00:47:41,944 --> 00:47:44,784 all forms of prophylactic are against the law. 953 00:47:45,948 --> 00:47:48,788 Anthony Comstock was a chubby baldheaded, 954 00:47:48,867 --> 00:47:51,037 mutton-chopped reformer, 955 00:47:51,037 --> 00:47:53,620 a federal public official in the Post Office Department 956 00:47:53,705 --> 00:47:55,335 who thought he knew everything about 957 00:47:55,457 --> 00:47:58,127 what was obscene and what needed to be prevented. 958 00:47:58,127 --> 00:48:00,290 And he took the definition of obscene 959 00:48:00,379 --> 00:48:05,049 all the way to birth control devices and condoms. 960 00:48:05,134 --> 00:48:08,384 If you allow men to have sex with no fear of VD 961 00:48:08,470 --> 00:48:10,180 and no fear of impregnating anyone, 962 00:48:10,305 --> 00:48:11,975 they will have more sex. 963 00:48:12,057 --> 00:48:13,067 That was his logic. 964 00:48:14,726 --> 00:48:17,646 [Narrator] Working in the vice-filled Tenderloin District, 965 00:48:17,646 --> 00:48:19,729 Schmidt should have no shortage of customers 966 00:48:19,815 --> 00:48:21,195 for his condoms, 967 00:48:21,316 --> 00:48:23,656 if he could sell them without getting caught. 968 00:48:32,536 --> 00:48:34,916 The budding temperance movement forced Jack Daniel 969 00:48:34,997 --> 00:48:36,417 out of a job, 970 00:48:36,498 --> 00:48:37,958 but instead of giving up, 971 00:48:37,958 --> 00:48:39,501 he’s going legit, 972 00:48:39,585 --> 00:48:42,175 investing every penny he’s ever made bootlegging 973 00:48:42,254 --> 00:48:45,134 to open a legal licensed distillery, 974 00:48:45,215 --> 00:48:47,515 with Nearest Green is a master distiller, 975 00:48:47,593 --> 00:48:50,263 and Nearest’s son, George, to help run the place. 976 00:48:51,763 --> 00:48:53,603 It’s absolutely important 977 00:48:53,682 --> 00:48:56,352 to recognize Nathan Green’s story 978 00:48:56,352 --> 00:48:58,145 in the Jack Daniel’s story. 979 00:48:58,145 --> 00:49:01,848 It acknowledges the African American role 980 00:49:01,940 --> 00:49:05,860 and our participation in building up 981 00:49:05,944 --> 00:49:08,494 the whiskey industry here in America. 982 00:49:08,572 --> 00:49:13,072 We know that we were a part of the story from the beginning. 983 00:49:14,369 --> 00:49:15,619 [Narrator] Unlike Moonshiners 984 00:49:15,704 --> 00:49:17,794 who make their booze in makeshift stills 985 00:49:17,873 --> 00:49:19,793 sell it cheap and untaxed, 986 00:49:19,875 --> 00:49:23,425 Jack Daniel’s new whiskey will be subject to heavy taxation. 987 00:49:23,545 --> 00:49:25,045 So he and Green need a product 988 00:49:25,130 --> 00:49:27,250 they can charge more money for. 989 00:49:27,382 --> 00:49:28,552 To make it, 990 00:49:28,634 --> 00:49:30,634 they use a technique called sour mash, 991 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:34,049 which creates lactic acid that kills unwanted bacteria 992 00:49:34,139 --> 00:49:35,389 during fermentation. 993 00:49:35,516 --> 00:49:37,726 Then they use charcoal to filter their liquor, 994 00:49:37,851 --> 00:49:40,061 to remove any impurities. 995 00:49:40,145 --> 00:49:45,065 It’s a system now known as the Lincoln County Process. 996 00:49:45,150 --> 00:49:47,230 These blends are single malt. 997 00:49:47,319 --> 00:49:50,239 These are blends made from the samples you already have. 998 00:49:58,997 --> 00:50:01,257 In West Africa in order to get clean water, 999 00:50:01,333 --> 00:50:02,873 they filter it through charcoal, 1000 00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:07,130 Nathan Green, mastered and included that principle 1001 00:50:07,256 --> 00:50:10,056 of running Moonshine through charcoal, 1002 00:50:10,133 --> 00:50:12,013 maple to strip some of that bite, 1003 00:50:12,094 --> 00:50:16,434 to strip some of that harsh flavors and mellow it out. 1004 00:50:16,515 --> 00:50:18,265 [Narrator] The last step in Jack and Nearest’s 1005 00:50:18,350 --> 00:50:19,770 whiskey making process 1006 00:50:19,851 --> 00:50:22,851 is mellowing it by aging it in charred oak barrels. 1007 00:50:24,189 --> 00:50:27,189 It’s not bad, but it ain’t perfect. 1008 00:50:28,944 --> 00:50:30,444 More time in the barrel it is. 1009 00:50:39,288 --> 00:50:41,548 [Narrator] Buck Duke has spent the last few years 1010 00:50:41,623 --> 00:50:44,623 slowly building his hand-rolled cigarette business, 1011 00:50:44,710 --> 00:50:47,380 marketed with baseball cards under a brand name. 1012 00:50:47,462 --> 00:50:50,252 Their popularity grows month after month. 1013 00:50:50,340 --> 00:50:55,300 And by 1884, he’s selling 90 million cigarettes a year 1014 00:50:55,387 --> 00:50:57,937 from the South to the industrial Northeast. 1015 00:50:58,515 --> 00:51:00,975 Oh ah, we need to talk. 1016 00:51:05,647 --> 00:51:06,487 All right. 1017 00:51:10,485 --> 00:51:13,905 We’re three weeks behind on our deliveries. 1018 00:51:13,989 --> 00:51:15,949 Of course, cigarettes are in hot demand 1019 00:51:16,033 --> 00:51:18,203 from the factory workers. 1020 00:51:18,327 --> 00:51:20,787 Our salesmen are suddenly drowning, 1021 00:51:20,871 --> 00:51:22,911 and at this pace is only gonna be worse. 1022 00:51:22,998 --> 00:51:25,338 The hand-rollers at Duke’s firm 1023 00:51:25,417 --> 00:51:27,877 rolled cigarettes slowly and gently, 1024 00:51:28,003 --> 00:51:31,253 which meant wastefulness and inefficiency. 1025 00:51:31,340 --> 00:51:32,670 We’re running at full capacity. 1026 00:51:32,758 --> 00:51:34,178 Mmm-hmm. 1027 00:51:35,927 --> 00:51:37,267 Can we add more workers? 1028 00:51:39,056 --> 00:51:40,266 We don’t have the room. 1029 00:51:43,602 --> 00:51:44,892 I need a minute to think. 1030 00:51:46,855 --> 00:51:48,405 [Narrator] Just a few years before, 1031 00:51:48,523 --> 00:51:49,863 21 year old engineer, 1032 00:51:49,941 --> 00:51:51,521 James Bonsack patented 1033 00:51:51,610 --> 00:51:54,150 an automatic cigarette rolling machine, 1034 00:51:54,237 --> 00:51:58,287 entering it in a competition to win a $75,000 prize, 1035 00:51:58,367 --> 00:52:00,877 the modern equivalent of over a million. 1036 00:52:00,952 --> 00:52:02,372 Bonsack won, 1037 00:52:02,454 --> 00:52:04,704 but the company that sponsored it rejected the machine 1038 00:52:04,790 --> 00:52:06,040 to avoid paying up. 1039 00:52:07,250 --> 00:52:11,460 That leaves the revolutionary technology up the grabs. 1040 00:52:11,546 --> 00:52:12,716 Oh, that’s beautiful. 1041 00:52:14,549 --> 00:52:16,259 We’ll open a new factory in New York, 1042 00:52:16,385 --> 00:52:17,425 filling it with these beauties 1043 00:52:17,552 --> 00:52:20,802 and we are going fully automated. 1044 00:52:20,889 --> 00:52:23,309 We’re never gonna fall behind that man again. 1045 00:52:23,309 --> 00:52:24,852 Um, (clears throat) 1046 00:52:24,852 --> 00:52:27,235 did you just say New York? 1047 00:52:28,730 --> 00:52:30,850 The late 19th century sees New York City 1048 00:52:30,941 --> 00:52:34,571 assume a dominance in the economic system of America, 1049 00:52:34,653 --> 00:52:35,613 emerges in this period 1050 00:52:35,737 --> 00:52:38,407 as the financial capital of the United States. 1051 00:52:39,658 --> 00:52:42,828 But the cost of what you’re talking about, 1052 00:52:42,828 --> 00:52:45,451 I can’t even think of a number high enough. 1053 00:52:48,750 --> 00:52:51,920 I’ve already secured a loan and a location. 1054 00:52:53,213 --> 00:52:58,763 No, no, no, no, Buck... 1055 00:52:59,678 --> 00:53:02,938 That kind of debt is going to cripple us. 1056 00:53:05,642 --> 00:53:06,642 Just trust me. 1057 00:53:09,771 --> 00:53:12,061 [Narrator] Believing he can expand his cigarette kingdom 1058 00:53:12,149 --> 00:53:13,479 into an empire, 1059 00:53:13,608 --> 00:53:15,148 Buck Duke leverages the company 1060 00:53:15,277 --> 00:53:17,287 to make a bold move to New York, 1061 00:53:17,404 --> 00:53:18,364 Damn it, Buck. 1062 00:53:18,364 --> 00:53:20,787 and bet its future on automation. 1063 00:53:27,456 --> 00:53:29,416 Adolphus Busch has made Budweiser 1064 00:53:29,416 --> 00:53:30,709 the first American beer 1065 00:53:30,709 --> 00:53:33,122 to be shipped by refrigerated rail, 1066 00:53:33,211 --> 00:53:34,631 investing millions of dollars 1067 00:53:34,713 --> 00:53:37,633 to sell it in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. 1068 00:53:38,633 --> 00:53:40,303 But after a brief surge, 1069 00:53:41,553 --> 00:53:43,393 sales are suddenly plummeting. 1070 00:53:44,556 --> 00:53:46,556 This one is from here in St. Louis. 1071 00:53:54,065 --> 00:53:57,985 This is from a barrel we confiscated in New Mexico. 1072 00:54:03,658 --> 00:54:07,158 In the 19th century, most beer was sold out of a barrel. 1073 00:54:07,245 --> 00:54:11,545 You go to a saloon, someone taps a beer and hands it to you. 1074 00:54:14,878 --> 00:54:16,048 This is watered down. 1075 00:54:16,505 --> 00:54:17,925 Mmm hmm. 1076 00:54:19,758 --> 00:54:21,018 How common is this? 1077 00:54:21,092 --> 00:54:22,012 It’s everywhere. 1078 00:54:22,886 --> 00:54:24,346 Adolphus soon discovered 1079 00:54:24,346 --> 00:54:28,759 that he would sell barrels of beer to a saloon keeper, 1080 00:54:28,850 --> 00:54:32,640 and saloon keepers would take his barrels, 1081 00:54:32,729 --> 00:54:34,639 fill them with cheap beer, 1082 00:54:34,731 --> 00:54:38,191 which no surprise was infuriating. 1083 00:54:38,276 --> 00:54:39,486 It’s hurting our sales 1084 00:54:39,486 --> 00:54:41,189 and there’s not much we can do about it. 1085 00:54:45,242 --> 00:54:47,202 Get this outta my sight. 1086 00:54:47,202 --> 00:54:48,375 [Narrator] Busch needs a way 1087 00:54:48,453 --> 00:54:50,663 to ensure the quality of Budweiser 1088 00:54:50,747 --> 00:54:52,957 or his beer will never pave the way 1089 00:54:53,041 --> 00:54:55,081 for alcohol brands to go national. 1090 00:55:11,101 --> 00:55:13,431 [Narrator] Julia Schmidt sells illegal condoms. 1091 00:55:13,562 --> 00:55:15,812 Also called safes or skins 1092 00:55:15,897 --> 00:55:17,237 in the sleazy back alleys 1093 00:55:17,357 --> 00:55:19,567 of New York City’s Tenderloin District. 1094 00:55:27,576 --> 00:55:28,786 Three skins. 1095 00:55:28,910 --> 00:55:31,410 Just sold the last one, but I’ll be back tomorrow night. 1096 00:55:32,622 --> 00:55:35,462 Oh, I’ll make it, worth your while. 1097 00:55:37,419 --> 00:55:40,249 Sorry. But I really I’m sold out. 1098 00:55:42,799 --> 00:55:44,669 So Julia Schmidt was incredibly savvy 1099 00:55:44,759 --> 00:55:48,469 because he really found a product that people needed. 1100 00:55:48,597 --> 00:55:50,397 It’s not to knock sausages, 1101 00:55:50,473 --> 00:55:53,063 but they don’t have quite the same appeal that a condom 1102 00:55:53,143 --> 00:55:55,233 which can protect you against disease, 1103 00:55:55,312 --> 00:55:58,272 but also prevent unwanted pregnancies. 1104 00:55:59,774 --> 00:56:00,864 Okay. 1105 00:56:00,942 --> 00:56:03,112 Tomorrow night, but bring me six. 1106 00:56:11,620 --> 00:56:13,410 [Narrator] Julia Schmidt illegal condoms 1107 00:56:13,496 --> 00:56:14,416 are selling so well, 1108 00:56:14,497 --> 00:56:16,457 he can’t keep them in stock. 1109 00:56:16,583 --> 00:56:18,373 But anything he does to expand 1110 00:56:18,460 --> 00:56:20,790 runs the risk of drawing unwanted attention 1111 00:56:20,921 --> 00:56:22,131 from the authorities. 1112 00:56:34,643 --> 00:56:35,643 In Tennessee, 1113 00:56:35,727 --> 00:56:38,107 Jack Daniel and Nearest Green’s new distillery 1114 00:56:38,188 --> 00:56:40,238 won’t be able to make a sale 1115 00:56:40,315 --> 00:56:43,615 until they perfect their more expensive legal whiskey 1116 00:56:43,693 --> 00:56:44,483 by aging it. 1117 00:56:48,490 --> 00:56:52,990 Okay boys, to your good health. 1118 00:56:58,541 --> 00:57:01,831 Although whiskey was a theme back in those times, 1119 00:57:01,962 --> 00:57:05,632 it had not been perfected over the generations yet. 1120 00:57:05,632 --> 00:57:07,765 So I think it would’ve been a little bit harsher, 1121 00:57:07,842 --> 00:57:09,342 a little bit higher proof. 1122 00:57:16,184 --> 00:57:21,234 Dry spice, vanilla, hint of smoke, sweet finish. 1123 00:57:23,191 --> 00:57:24,231 Well it’s strong as hell. 1124 00:57:24,359 --> 00:57:25,359 [Nrearest] Yup. 1125 00:57:25,944 --> 00:57:27,034 [Narrator] As a final touch, 1126 00:57:27,153 --> 00:57:28,823 Jack Daniel’s high proof whiskey 1127 00:57:28,905 --> 00:57:32,075 is cut with water sourced from a natural spring 1128 00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:33,030 in a nearby cave. 1129 00:57:34,411 --> 00:57:35,241 All right. 1130 00:57:40,375 --> 00:57:42,375 This is the best whiskey I’ve ever tasted, 1131 00:57:42,502 --> 00:57:43,422 and it ain’t close. 1132 00:57:46,172 --> 00:57:47,052 I agree. 1133 00:57:50,051 --> 00:57:50,881 Nearest? 1134 00:57:57,183 --> 00:57:58,933 I think this is it. 1135 00:57:59,060 --> 00:58:02,390 (classic music playing) 1136 00:58:04,899 --> 00:58:06,109 (glasses clanking) - All right. 1137 00:58:06,234 --> 00:58:07,324 [Narrator] Jack Daniel’s Whiskey 1138 00:58:07,402 --> 00:58:09,442 is finally ready to hit the market. 1139 00:58:09,571 --> 00:58:13,241 All he needs is for local customer to give it a chance. 1140 00:58:19,039 --> 00:58:22,709 Budweiser is shipped by rail to states in the Southwest, 1141 00:58:22,709 --> 00:58:24,872 but it’s only sold in barrels. 1142 00:58:24,961 --> 00:58:27,461 So Adolphus Busch is up against countless saloon keepers 1143 00:58:27,589 --> 00:58:29,169 who are watering it down. 1144 00:58:29,257 --> 00:58:31,467 He’s trying to figure out what can I possibly do 1145 00:58:31,593 --> 00:58:34,343 to avoid this cheating on the part of people 1146 00:58:34,429 --> 00:58:35,759 who are selling my beer 1147 00:58:35,889 --> 00:58:37,639 Bottle would have a label on it, 1148 00:58:37,766 --> 00:58:40,726 with a trademark on it, 1149 00:58:40,810 --> 00:58:42,600 clearly indicating where that come from 1150 00:58:42,729 --> 00:58:43,849 and a saloon keeper 1151 00:58:43,938 --> 00:58:46,848 isn’t gonna go to the trouble of refilling the bottle 1152 00:58:46,941 --> 00:58:48,151 and trying to recap it. 1153 00:58:50,820 --> 00:58:52,190 [Narrator] Today, 1154 00:58:52,280 --> 00:58:55,320 over 65 billion individually packaged 12 ounce beers 1155 00:58:55,450 --> 00:58:58,120 are consumed in the United States every year. 1156 00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:00,330 But at the time, 1157 00:59:00,455 --> 00:59:03,755 the idea of mass producing and selling any bottled beverage 1158 00:59:03,833 --> 00:59:05,713 is practically unthinkable. 1159 00:59:05,794 --> 00:59:06,794 To change that, 1160 00:59:06,878 --> 00:59:09,798 Adolphus Busch needs another infusion of cash, 1161 00:59:09,923 --> 00:59:12,803 but he’s already too deep in debt to get a loan. 1162 00:59:12,926 --> 00:59:16,306 And his father-in-law Eberhard Anheuser is his last hope. 1163 00:59:19,682 --> 00:59:21,312 When it’s fully operational, 1164 00:59:21,434 --> 00:59:24,684 we are talking about thousands of bottles a day. 1165 00:59:24,813 --> 00:59:26,193 Maybe that many every hour. 1166 00:59:29,317 --> 00:59:31,777 We have barely recovered 1167 00:59:31,861 --> 00:59:34,191 from building your refrigerator rail cars. 1168 00:59:34,322 --> 00:59:35,112 I know. 1169 00:59:36,658 --> 00:59:38,998 This guarantees the beer taste the same way, 1170 00:59:39,077 --> 00:59:41,287 every time, everywhere. 1171 00:59:41,371 --> 00:59:42,991 Each one’s sealed and sterilized 1172 00:59:43,123 --> 00:59:46,503 using the same techniques as the finest wineries in France. 1173 00:59:47,836 --> 00:59:50,176 Busch was shrewd, he was smart. 1174 00:59:50,255 --> 00:59:52,305 He was fluent in French, 1175 00:59:52,382 --> 00:59:55,212 and he read Louis Pasteur in the original, 1176 00:59:55,343 --> 00:59:56,513 when it first came out. 1177 00:59:56,636 --> 00:59:58,596 He’s probably one of the first people in the United States 1178 00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:02,810 who knew about pasteurization and its possibilities. 1179 01:00:02,892 --> 01:00:05,482 [Narrator] Nearly half a century before pasteurization 1180 01:00:05,562 --> 01:00:07,892 will revolutionize the dairy industry, 1181 01:00:08,022 --> 01:00:10,982 Busch wants to adopt the process for his beer. 1182 01:00:11,067 --> 01:00:12,487 It kills bacteria, 1183 01:00:12,569 --> 01:00:16,029 and will make every bottle of Budweiser shelf stable. 1184 01:00:16,114 --> 01:00:17,954 I know it’s expensive, 1185 01:00:18,032 --> 01:00:20,572 but I bet we can get it all the way to the coasts. 1186 01:00:22,745 --> 01:00:25,875 Just imagine our products in every state. 1187 01:00:27,041 --> 01:00:29,421 Where technology comes from is usually beer. 1188 01:00:29,544 --> 01:00:31,584 (Garrett laughs) 1189 01:00:31,713 --> 01:00:34,553 Refrigeration was invented for beer. 1190 01:00:35,425 --> 01:00:36,675 Things like pasteurization, 1191 01:00:36,759 --> 01:00:38,089 people were like, "Oh, great for milk." 1192 01:00:38,219 --> 01:00:41,389 No, pasteurization was invented for beer. 1193 01:00:42,932 --> 01:00:43,932 I’ll consider it. 1194 01:00:44,058 --> 01:00:46,558 (tense music) 1195 01:00:51,858 --> 01:00:53,368 [Narrator] Buck Duke taken out loans 1196 01:00:53,443 --> 01:00:54,863 to move his tobacco company 1197 01:00:54,944 --> 01:00:56,654 from small town in North Carolina, 1198 01:00:56,738 --> 01:00:58,408 to New York City. 1199 01:00:58,489 --> 01:00:59,859 Buck Duke was a Republican, 1200 01:00:59,949 --> 01:01:02,159 which meant he was not necessarily comfortable 1201 01:01:02,243 --> 01:01:03,953 in the politics of North Carolina 1202 01:01:04,078 --> 01:01:05,698 in the late 19th century. 1203 01:01:05,788 --> 01:01:09,498 He was a money man, oriented toward the bankers. 1204 01:01:09,584 --> 01:01:11,334 I like to imagine that his accent 1205 01:01:11,419 --> 01:01:13,329 was a little bit off putting in New York 1206 01:01:13,421 --> 01:01:15,881 where he did most of his business. 1207 01:01:15,965 --> 01:01:17,215 [Narrator] He’s opening a factory 1208 01:01:17,300 --> 01:01:18,550 to industrialize cigarettes, 1209 01:01:18,635 --> 01:01:21,305 and betting everything on the Bonsack machine. 1210 01:01:21,429 --> 01:01:22,759 Let’s get it opened up. 1211 01:01:23,848 --> 01:01:24,798 [Narrator] And he’s hired an engineer 1212 01:01:24,933 --> 01:01:26,313 to oversee quality control. 1213 01:01:38,655 --> 01:01:40,325 Bring me another batch 1214 01:01:40,448 --> 01:01:42,158 and they better show improvement. 1215 01:01:43,076 --> 01:01:43,956 I can’t. 1216 01:01:44,953 --> 01:01:47,333 The machine is uh, 1217 01:01:48,915 --> 01:01:50,625 indisposed. 1218 01:01:51,292 --> 01:01:52,332 Indisposed? 1219 01:01:54,128 --> 01:01:56,918 My wife is indisposed when she has a cold, 1220 01:01:57,006 --> 01:01:59,516 machines, don’t get indisposed. 1221 01:02:00,635 --> 01:02:02,435 When Buck Duke first established 1222 01:02:02,512 --> 01:02:05,472 and began using the Bonsack cigarette rolling machine, 1223 01:02:05,556 --> 01:02:07,016 it didn’t work at all. 1224 01:02:07,141 --> 01:02:09,681 It should be up and running by the end of the day. 1225 01:02:11,187 --> 01:02:13,357 Don’t come back until the machine works. 1226 01:02:17,026 --> 01:02:18,826 [Narrator] The Bonsack machine’s been sidelined 1227 01:02:18,903 --> 01:02:21,113 for months and Buck’s brother, Ben, 1228 01:02:21,197 --> 01:02:22,827 is watching the bottom line. 1229 01:02:23,992 --> 01:02:26,952 We’ve um, barely been able to stay ahead of expenses 1230 01:02:27,036 --> 01:02:27,876 for months. 1231 01:02:30,498 --> 01:02:33,958 We’ve got a $200 payment coming in, 1232 01:02:34,043 --> 01:02:35,373 should be in the next week. 1233 01:02:35,503 --> 01:02:36,633 But after that, 1234 01:02:36,713 --> 01:02:39,383 that’s it, it’s all we have. 1235 01:02:40,842 --> 01:02:43,052 At least it’s something. 1236 01:02:44,137 --> 01:02:48,357 We owe $12,000, due this week. 1237 01:02:52,020 --> 01:02:54,560 You know what 200 minus 12,000 looks like? 1238 01:02:55,732 --> 01:02:57,982 Beg, lie if you have to, all right? 1239 01:02:58,067 --> 01:03:01,037 Buy me a few weeks, Ben, until I can fix this. 1240 01:03:03,156 --> 01:03:05,786 Now it is by no means a foregone conclusion 1241 01:03:05,867 --> 01:03:08,497 that mechanically made cigarettes 1242 01:03:08,578 --> 01:03:12,298 would come to dominate cigarette production. 1243 01:03:12,373 --> 01:03:13,333 In the 1880s, 1244 01:03:13,333 --> 01:03:14,966 it is commonly held wisdom 1245 01:03:15,043 --> 01:03:17,713 that the machine is simply too glitchy. 1246 01:03:19,589 --> 01:03:23,419 I’ll do what I can, but you can’t pull this off, 1247 01:03:24,427 --> 01:03:25,267 we’re done. 1248 01:03:27,430 --> 01:03:28,260 I know. 1249 01:03:39,067 --> 01:03:41,407 [Narrator] Buck and Ben Duke have risked their company 1250 01:03:41,486 --> 01:03:43,736 on an automated cigarette rolling machine 1251 01:03:43,821 --> 01:03:45,861 and waited months for it to work. 1252 01:03:45,948 --> 01:03:49,118 Now they’re waiting for results from the latest test run. 1253 01:03:50,745 --> 01:03:54,915 And I thought you said by noon. Its past noon. 1254 01:03:59,962 --> 01:04:02,802 It’s 12:02, relax. 1255 01:04:14,102 --> 01:04:15,812 The machine’s running smoothly, 1256 01:04:15,937 --> 01:04:19,607 clocking in at about 190 cigarettes an hour, 1257 01:04:19,607 --> 01:04:21,110 and they all look like this. 1258 01:04:31,244 --> 01:04:32,994 Start shipping these immediately. 1259 01:04:36,416 --> 01:04:37,296 [Narrator] Each Bonsack machine 1260 01:04:37,375 --> 01:04:40,215 produces over 200 cigarettes per minute, 1261 01:04:40,294 --> 01:04:43,544 doing the work of 40 to 60 hand workers, 1262 01:04:43,631 --> 01:04:46,341 and Duke invests in two dozen of them. 1263 01:04:46,467 --> 01:04:49,477 Buck Duke’s 24 Bonsack cigarette rolling machines 1264 01:04:49,554 --> 01:04:55,474 in 1889 replaced 1,080 workers in hand-rolling jobs, 1265 01:04:55,560 --> 01:04:59,190 and produced 834 million cigarettes. 1266 01:04:59,313 --> 01:05:02,653 Every single one of those cigarettes was the same. 1267 01:05:02,733 --> 01:05:04,153 [Narrator] Duke’s machine rolled cigarettes 1268 01:05:04,277 --> 01:05:05,447 are a sensation. 1269 01:05:05,528 --> 01:05:06,788 Within a single year, 1270 01:05:06,863 --> 01:05:08,823 his company controls nearly 90% 1271 01:05:08,948 --> 01:05:11,488 of the American cigarette market. 1272 01:05:11,576 --> 01:05:12,956 Cigars and chewing tobacco 1273 01:05:13,035 --> 01:05:15,335 were still the industry’s biggest sellers, 1274 01:05:16,831 --> 01:05:18,291 but it’s enough to vault Duke 1275 01:05:18,291 --> 01:05:21,544 into the top five tobacco companies in the country, 1276 01:05:21,669 --> 01:05:23,079 and he’s still rising 1277 01:05:25,047 --> 01:05:27,257 In New York city’s Tenderloin district, 1278 01:05:27,341 --> 01:05:30,591 The Comstock Act has made selling condoms illegal, 1279 01:05:32,305 --> 01:05:34,185 but working secretly out of his apartment, 1280 01:05:34,307 --> 01:05:37,187 Julia Schmidt’s selling more sausage casing condoms 1281 01:05:37,268 --> 01:05:38,688 than he could keep up with. 1282 01:05:43,357 --> 01:05:45,527 I can’t imagine being in the shoes 1283 01:05:45,651 --> 01:05:48,781 of someone who’s running an illegal business. 1284 01:05:50,323 --> 01:05:51,203 Short. 1285 01:05:52,909 --> 01:05:54,869 That layer of risk 1286 01:05:54,869 --> 01:05:57,702 that authorities are going to discover you 1287 01:05:57,788 --> 01:06:01,288 or that someone is going to break your knee caps, 1288 01:06:01,375 --> 01:06:03,125 or something like that. 1289 01:06:09,509 --> 01:06:13,629 You’ve got vices, smoking, drinking, sex and prostitution. 1290 01:06:15,848 --> 01:06:18,258 The reformers are there on the other side. 1291 01:06:18,392 --> 01:06:21,062 Both sides are working in a sense 1292 01:06:21,187 --> 01:06:24,447 for what they define as a soul of those communities. 1293 01:06:29,737 --> 01:06:31,447 [Narrator] Schmidt is making a name for himself 1294 01:06:31,572 --> 01:06:33,242 in the New York underground, 1295 01:06:33,324 --> 01:06:35,914 and he won’t be able to stay hidden forever. 1296 01:06:44,418 --> 01:06:47,248 Adolphus Bush has taken a loan from his father-in-law 1297 01:06:47,338 --> 01:06:48,798 and invested the modern equivalent 1298 01:06:48,923 --> 01:06:50,253 of millions of dollars 1299 01:06:50,383 --> 01:06:52,923 in the state-of-the-art bottling facility, 1300 01:06:53,010 --> 01:06:54,880 and he’s using it to make Budweiser 1301 01:06:54,971 --> 01:06:57,801 not only the first mass produced bottled beer 1302 01:06:57,932 --> 01:07:00,222 in American history, 1303 01:07:00,309 --> 01:07:03,679 but the first industrial bottled drink of any kind. 1304 01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:05,940 Most entrepreneurs take blind risks. 1305 01:07:05,940 --> 01:07:07,443 They have an idea, 1306 01:07:07,525 --> 01:07:09,735 they have a passion and they just want to go for it. 1307 01:07:09,819 --> 01:07:12,569 Adolphus Busch started pasteurization, 1308 01:07:12,655 --> 01:07:14,575 and refrigeration and bottling, 1309 01:07:14,657 --> 01:07:15,917 so he could distribute his beer 1310 01:07:15,992 --> 01:07:17,702 all across the United States. 1311 01:07:18,911 --> 01:07:19,781 And most people could only afford 1312 01:07:19,870 --> 01:07:20,950 to drink beer in the pub. 1313 01:07:21,038 --> 01:07:23,078 And so when you got the bottled one, 1314 01:07:23,165 --> 01:07:24,505 it was seen as somewhat swanky, 1315 01:07:24,625 --> 01:07:27,295 you know, the king of beer, the beer of Kings. 1316 01:07:27,420 --> 01:07:29,960 If this beer was seen in your home, 1317 01:07:30,089 --> 01:07:32,839 it would mean that you were a higher class person. 1318 01:07:34,677 --> 01:07:36,097 [Narrator] Busch ships his Budweiser 1319 01:07:36,178 --> 01:07:38,178 to states across the Southwest, 1320 01:07:38,306 --> 01:07:40,356 introducing it with an unprecedented 1321 01:07:40,474 --> 01:07:41,934 marketing campaign. 1322 01:07:43,185 --> 01:07:44,435 Can I get the logo on both sides? 1323 01:07:44,520 --> 01:07:45,680 You can. 1324 01:07:46,981 --> 01:07:49,561 [Narrator] He offers saloon’s free perks like coasters, 1325 01:07:49,650 --> 01:07:51,270 calendars, and signs, 1326 01:07:51,360 --> 01:07:53,360 and advertises through the most powerful 1327 01:07:53,487 --> 01:07:55,447 form of mass media at the time. 1328 01:07:55,531 --> 01:07:58,491 Newspaper advertising was one of the most important ways 1329 01:07:58,576 --> 01:08:01,956 to get to customers during the late 1800 1330 01:08:02,038 --> 01:08:03,998 and the early 1900s, 1331 01:08:04,123 --> 01:08:06,503 in the days before radio and television. 1332 01:08:06,584 --> 01:08:08,044 People would see these ads, 1333 01:08:08,169 --> 01:08:10,789 they would demand that their local saloon keeper 1334 01:08:10,880 --> 01:08:13,750 or restaurant bring in Budweiser beer. 1335 01:08:14,842 --> 01:08:16,842 Budweiser, to me, its success 1336 01:08:16,969 --> 01:08:20,009 is more of a result of brilliant branding 1337 01:08:20,139 --> 01:08:21,349 than brilliant brewing. 1338 01:08:21,349 --> 01:08:26,102 They mastered the marketing and branding of their product 1339 01:08:26,187 --> 01:08:28,237 and they are dominant because of it. 1340 01:08:29,190 --> 01:08:30,480 [Narrator] Soon, 1341 01:08:30,566 --> 01:08:33,026 Budweiser is selling millions of bottles a year, 1342 01:08:33,110 --> 01:08:35,690 and with the temperance movement focused on liquor 1343 01:08:35,780 --> 01:08:37,190 and not beer, 1344 01:08:37,281 --> 01:08:40,871 Adolphus Busch has his site set on national expansion. 1345 01:08:40,951 --> 01:08:42,701 The Busch’s had a dream 1346 01:08:42,787 --> 01:08:46,417 that the world of beer would belong entirely to them. 1347 01:08:47,708 --> 01:08:49,078 You know, 1348 01:08:49,210 --> 01:08:52,500 if you are able to capture the entirety of the market, 1349 01:08:52,588 --> 01:08:54,748 you could make all the money, 1350 01:08:54,882 --> 01:08:56,882 not your fair share of the money, 1351 01:08:56,967 --> 01:08:58,887 not like some slice of the money, 1352 01:08:59,011 --> 01:09:00,261 all the money. 1353 01:09:10,272 --> 01:09:11,902 [Narrator] Jack Daniel and Nearest Green 1354 01:09:11,982 --> 01:09:14,692 have finally introduced their premium signature whiskey 1355 01:09:14,777 --> 01:09:16,327 to the local market. 1356 01:09:16,404 --> 01:09:20,074 But they’re charging a premium price and nobody’s buying it. 1357 01:09:20,199 --> 01:09:21,409 As a distiller, 1358 01:09:21,409 --> 01:09:23,452 you aren’t responsible for the cost 1359 01:09:23,577 --> 01:09:25,587 that the federal government will get from the excise tax 1360 01:09:25,663 --> 01:09:26,793 on that whiskey. 1361 01:09:26,914 --> 01:09:28,414 And there are a lot of people who, 1362 01:09:28,499 --> 01:09:29,579 if they’re given the option 1363 01:09:29,709 --> 01:09:31,039 between Moonshine and Tennessee whiskey, 1364 01:09:31,127 --> 01:09:32,377 they’re gonna choose Moonshine. 1365 01:09:32,461 --> 01:09:35,751 And I think Jack Daniel bet his career on making good stuff 1366 01:09:35,881 --> 01:09:37,131 as opposed to cheap stuff. 1367 01:09:41,262 --> 01:09:42,262 Reverend. 1368 01:09:42,346 --> 01:09:44,856 [Narrator] Then he gets an even more devastating 1369 01:09:44,932 --> 01:09:46,932 piece of news. 1370 01:09:47,017 --> 01:09:47,857 What! 1371 01:09:51,105 --> 01:09:51,945 No. No. 1372 01:09:57,194 --> 01:09:58,034 Get out! 1373 01:10:07,788 --> 01:10:10,958 [Narrator] 1890, before the whiskey they created together 1374 01:10:10,958 --> 01:10:13,121 even gets off the ground. 1375 01:10:13,210 --> 01:10:14,540 The righteous perish, 1376 01:10:16,130 --> 01:10:18,460 and no one takes it to heart. 1377 01:10:18,549 --> 01:10:21,469 [Narrator] Jack Daniel loses his friend and mentor, 1378 01:10:21,594 --> 01:10:22,474 Nearest Green. 1379 01:10:23,679 --> 01:10:25,299 The devout are taken from us 1380 01:10:26,390 --> 01:10:27,640 and no one understands, 1381 01:10:27,725 --> 01:10:31,485 the righteous are taken away to be spared. 1382 01:10:35,149 --> 01:10:36,939 I think Nearest Green’s death 1383 01:10:37,026 --> 01:10:39,736 would’ve impacted Jack Daniel greatly, 1384 01:10:43,824 --> 01:10:45,284 not even from a business standpoint, 1385 01:10:45,284 --> 01:10:47,167 but from a personal standpoint, 1386 01:10:47,244 --> 01:10:50,374 he lost his friend, he lost his teacher, 1387 01:10:50,498 --> 01:10:53,218 and he lost his partner in business. 1388 01:10:53,334 --> 01:10:56,254 And so I’m quite sure that Jack Daniel 1389 01:10:56,254 --> 01:10:59,047 was devastated when Nearest Green died. 1390 01:11:00,841 --> 01:11:03,381 Jack Daniel learned to distill from Nearest, 1391 01:11:03,511 --> 01:11:04,721 and that’s what made his whiskey good, 1392 01:11:04,845 --> 01:11:05,725 and I think Jack Daniel knew 1393 01:11:05,846 --> 01:11:07,186 that’s what made his whiskey good 1394 01:11:07,306 --> 01:11:10,686 and would not have wanted to work with anybody else. 1395 01:11:12,645 --> 01:11:14,445 [Narrator] If Jack Daniel was going to find a way 1396 01:11:14,522 --> 01:11:16,982 to revolutionize the whiskey industry, 1397 01:11:17,066 --> 01:11:19,616 he’s going to have to do it on his own. 1398 01:11:28,828 --> 01:11:31,048 [Narrator] Julia Schmidt is now the biggest condom dealer 1399 01:11:31,121 --> 01:11:32,871 in the Tenderloin District, 1400 01:11:32,957 --> 01:11:34,967 selling them in secret out of his apartment, 1401 01:11:35,042 --> 01:11:38,172 careful to stay one step ahead of anti-vice crusader, 1402 01:11:38,254 --> 01:11:39,714 Anthony Comstock. 1403 01:11:43,968 --> 01:11:46,728 (door knocking) 1404 01:12:01,610 --> 01:12:02,480 Can I help you? 1405 01:12:02,570 --> 01:12:03,900 Yeah, I’m here for skins. 1406 01:12:05,406 --> 01:12:06,746 No idea. What you’re talking about. 1407 01:12:06,824 --> 01:12:08,244 Have a nice night. 1408 01:12:08,367 --> 01:12:10,327 You could always find condoms 1409 01:12:10,411 --> 01:12:14,081 despite the fact that they were not legal. 1410 01:12:15,457 --> 01:12:18,467 A part of it is still that idea of secret knowledge. 1411 01:12:18,586 --> 01:12:22,466 So you would ask around where can I find condoms, 1412 01:12:22,590 --> 01:12:25,590 it just was not always discussed openly. 1413 01:12:25,718 --> 01:12:28,598 Hey, hey, hey, I just need one box. Come on. 1414 01:12:30,180 --> 01:12:31,600 I don’t know you, friends. 1415 01:12:31,724 --> 01:12:33,604 Like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking. 1416 01:12:33,684 --> 01:12:35,684 You might find someone who sells the condoms 1417 01:12:35,769 --> 01:12:39,229 and you can buy them directly from them on the street. 1418 01:12:39,315 --> 01:12:40,105 Jimmy sent me, 1419 01:12:42,526 --> 01:12:45,406 he ran out and he said I could find some here. 1420 01:12:45,487 --> 01:12:46,697 Jimmy? 1421 01:12:46,697 --> 01:12:48,200 Yeah. From Ward Saloon Downtown. 1422 01:12:50,367 --> 01:12:51,377 Give me a second. 1423 01:12:52,536 --> 01:12:54,956 I would think people thought anti-vice crusaders 1424 01:12:55,080 --> 01:12:57,000 were definitely against freedom. 1425 01:12:57,124 --> 01:12:58,794 They were in a way busy bodies 1426 01:12:58,876 --> 01:13:01,966 who thought they knew better about how you should live, 1427 01:13:02,046 --> 01:13:03,676 and there was a lot of pushback. 1428 01:13:03,797 --> 01:13:04,807 It was not freedom. 1429 01:13:05,883 --> 01:13:06,713 Officers. 1430 01:13:09,720 --> 01:13:10,630 What is this? 1431 01:13:12,973 --> 01:13:14,143 You know what it is. 1432 01:13:15,476 --> 01:13:17,896 [Narrator] In 1890, despite every precaution, 1433 01:13:17,978 --> 01:13:20,978 Julia Schmidt’s apartment is raided by Anthony Comstock 1434 01:13:22,149 --> 01:13:25,729 He’s areested and all his merchandise is confiscated. 1435 01:13:33,994 --> 01:13:35,414 Just a few miles away, 1436 01:13:36,997 --> 01:13:39,007 Buck Duke’s industrial rolling machines 1437 01:13:39,083 --> 01:13:42,503 have put him at the forefront of the cigarette business, 1438 01:13:42,628 --> 01:13:46,008 with output surging from 9 million cigarettes a year 1439 01:13:46,090 --> 01:13:49,170 to a staggering 2 million a day. 1440 01:13:49,259 --> 01:13:52,629 When Buck Duke discontinued hand-rolling operations 1441 01:13:52,721 --> 01:13:54,011 of cigarettes, 1442 01:13:54,139 --> 01:13:55,389 he was operating 1443 01:13:55,516 --> 01:14:00,236 24 different Bonsack cigarette rolling machines. 1444 01:14:00,354 --> 01:14:03,024 Buck Duke was just taking advantage of the moment. 1445 01:14:03,024 --> 01:14:04,867 I think he saw economies of scale, 1446 01:14:04,942 --> 01:14:07,862 and as a result, he leaped. 1447 01:14:07,862 --> 01:14:11,365 By 1890, cigarettes account for less than 10% 1448 01:14:11,365 --> 01:14:13,608 of the tobacco industry as a whole, 1449 01:14:13,701 --> 01:14:14,571 but it’s growing. 1450 01:14:15,703 --> 01:14:17,533 And Duke’s visionary leadership has propelled him 1451 01:14:17,621 --> 01:14:21,211 into the so-called big five tobacco companies. 1452 01:14:22,668 --> 01:14:23,798 People keep congratulating me 1453 01:14:23,877 --> 01:14:25,717 on making it into the "Big Five". 1454 01:14:27,297 --> 01:14:28,717 What number are we nowadays? 1455 01:14:30,801 --> 01:14:31,551 Five. 1456 01:14:33,554 --> 01:14:34,894 The Duke family at this time, 1457 01:14:34,972 --> 01:14:38,142 they are by no means the biggest player in town. 1458 01:14:39,601 --> 01:14:42,981 Well, I’m sure that’s still quite an accomplishment. 1459 01:14:44,565 --> 01:14:47,735 That title is held by the William Blackwell Company, 1460 01:14:47,860 --> 01:14:49,650 which has, for a while, 1461 01:14:49,737 --> 01:14:53,117 the largest smoking tobacco factory in the world. 1462 01:14:53,240 --> 01:14:56,240 What’s that supposed to mean? 1463 01:14:56,326 --> 01:14:57,826 When I go down to the track, 1464 01:14:59,079 --> 01:15:01,749 I don’t bet a horse to show, 1465 01:15:02,124 --> 01:15:03,794 I bet it to win. 1466 01:15:06,086 --> 01:15:09,806 And in fact, it’s Blackwell’s dominance of smoking tobacco 1467 01:15:09,923 --> 01:15:12,673 that pushes the ever competitive Buck Duke. 1468 01:15:13,802 --> 01:15:15,342 [Narrator] Buck Duke has clawed his way 1469 01:15:15,429 --> 01:15:18,389 to the top tier of the tobacco industry, 1470 01:15:18,474 --> 01:15:20,104 but he’s not finished yet. 1471 01:15:29,026 --> 01:15:30,906 [Narrator] Armed with his shelf-stable Budweiser 1472 01:15:30,986 --> 01:15:33,616 and a growing fleet of refrigerated rail cars, 1473 01:15:33,739 --> 01:15:36,489 Adolphus Busch is expanding beyond the Southwest 1474 01:15:36,617 --> 01:15:37,577 into new markets, 1475 01:15:37,659 --> 01:15:41,619 and he dominates every new territory he enters. 1476 01:15:41,705 --> 01:15:42,915 Beer in those days, 1477 01:15:42,915 --> 01:15:44,908 this was the day of the robber barons. 1478 01:15:45,000 --> 01:15:47,540 So this was a cutthroat of business. 1479 01:15:47,628 --> 01:15:49,888 You’re gonna roll your army up to the gates 1480 01:15:49,963 --> 01:15:52,093 and you’re gonna sack the other guy’s castle, right? 1481 01:15:52,174 --> 01:15:54,634 And you’re gonna burn it. (chuckles) 1482 01:15:54,760 --> 01:15:56,930 You’re gonna take over all of his forts, 1483 01:15:57,012 --> 01:15:58,722 once you have secured that town, 1484 01:15:58,806 --> 01:16:01,186 you then roll onto the next town. 1485 01:16:01,308 --> 01:16:03,598 [Narrator] Thanks to Busch’s relentless innovation, 1486 01:16:03,685 --> 01:16:06,945 Budweiser becomes not just the first national beer brand, 1487 01:16:08,232 --> 01:16:10,982 but one of the earliest national brands in the country. 1488 01:16:11,110 --> 01:16:13,610 National brands were not all that prevalent. 1489 01:16:13,695 --> 01:16:16,365 Busch really was a pioneer in branding beer. 1490 01:16:16,490 --> 01:16:18,610 They also pioneered pasteurization of beer 1491 01:16:18,700 --> 01:16:20,870 and refrigerated rail cars. 1492 01:16:23,497 --> 01:16:24,457 To success. 1493 01:16:25,541 --> 01:16:27,411 So here you went from everybody being local 1494 01:16:27,501 --> 01:16:29,171 to this national brand, 1495 01:16:29,294 --> 01:16:30,754 you know, spreading across the country 1496 01:16:30,838 --> 01:16:32,298 and that was new. 1497 01:16:33,048 --> 01:16:34,168 To your promotion, 1498 01:16:38,011 --> 01:16:39,471 I’m making you a partner. 1499 01:16:42,099 --> 01:16:45,809 I told you to maintain the status quo and you ignored me. 1500 01:16:46,687 --> 01:16:47,737 You were right. 1501 01:16:56,321 --> 01:16:57,901 I don’t know how to thank you. 1502 01:16:59,324 --> 01:17:01,454 To become a partner in the Anheuser company is... 1503 01:17:01,535 --> 01:17:03,245 Anheuser Busch. 1504 01:17:06,540 --> 01:17:07,910 Anheuser Busch. 1505 01:17:09,042 --> 01:17:11,042 (dramatic music) 1506 01:17:15,382 --> 01:17:16,252 Congratulations. 1507 01:17:28,437 --> 01:17:29,737 [Narrator] By 1890, 1508 01:17:29,813 --> 01:17:31,983 thanks to his machine-rolled cigarettes, 1509 01:17:32,065 --> 01:17:34,985 Buck Duke is head of the fifth largest tobacco company 1510 01:17:34,985 --> 01:17:36,568 in the nation, 1511 01:17:36,653 --> 01:17:39,403 but he’ll stop at nothing to be number one. 1512 01:17:49,208 --> 01:17:50,758 I need you to contact our sales team 1513 01:17:50,876 --> 01:17:52,966 and let them know we’re slashing prices. 1514 01:17:56,798 --> 01:17:58,258 Good afternoon to you too. 1515 01:17:59,551 --> 01:18:00,801 I want to be the cheapest brand on the market 1516 01:18:00,928 --> 01:18:02,768 by the end of the week. 1517 01:18:02,888 --> 01:18:05,558 Buck, why the hell would we want to do this 1518 01:18:05,558 --> 01:18:07,931 when sales are an all time high? 1519 01:18:09,102 --> 01:18:10,932 Buck Duke was an aggressive businessman 1520 01:18:11,063 --> 01:18:15,613 who had no qualms about using predatory pricing. 1521 01:18:15,692 --> 01:18:18,822 Our competition will lower their prices to compete, 1522 01:18:18,946 --> 01:18:19,826 and when they do, 1523 01:18:20,781 --> 01:18:22,991 we’ll under cut that again. 1524 01:18:25,077 --> 01:18:27,747 Duke’s method was cut prices 1525 01:18:27,829 --> 01:18:30,289 to either drive a competitor out of business, 1526 01:18:30,415 --> 01:18:33,425 or to compel that competitor to sell out to him. 1527 01:18:34,795 --> 01:18:38,135 Ben, we’re either first, or we’re losing. 1528 01:18:46,348 --> 01:18:48,938 Buck Duke intended to use cigarettes 1529 01:18:49,017 --> 01:18:52,437 in order to finance his price wars 1530 01:18:52,521 --> 01:18:54,481 against other branches of the industry. 1531 01:18:56,149 --> 01:18:59,729 And he poured millions of dollars into this process. 1532 01:18:59,820 --> 01:19:02,280 [Narrator] Duke lowers the price of his cigarettes 1533 01:19:02,364 --> 01:19:04,654 to 5 cents for a pack of 10, 1534 01:19:04,783 --> 01:19:06,953 half the cost of his competitors. 1535 01:19:07,035 --> 01:19:08,745 The move sends profits plummeting. 1536 01:19:09,579 --> 01:19:12,999 But that’s a strategy to bleed his own company 1537 01:19:13,083 --> 01:19:15,213 to hurt competitors more 1538 01:19:15,335 --> 01:19:16,885 and see who blinks first. 1539 01:19:24,636 --> 01:19:26,476 [Narrator] Jack Daniel is on his own 1540 01:19:26,555 --> 01:19:29,305 and he needs to convince people to try his expensive 1541 01:19:29,391 --> 01:19:30,391 premium whiskey. 1542 01:19:32,602 --> 01:19:35,022 So he’s starting with the bottle that’s sold in. 1543 01:19:36,064 --> 01:19:38,194 None of these are good enough. 1544 01:19:38,275 --> 01:19:39,195 Back in those days, 1545 01:19:39,276 --> 01:19:40,866 the bottles, they were jugs, 1546 01:19:40,986 --> 01:19:42,986 they were any sort of, you know, 1547 01:19:43,071 --> 01:19:47,031 container that folks could just go and get a refill, 1548 01:19:47,117 --> 01:19:48,707 essentially, of their own whiskey, 1549 01:19:48,785 --> 01:19:50,375 and then take it home. 1550 01:19:50,454 --> 01:19:54,374 There wouldn’t be, you know, this iconic labeling involved. 1551 01:19:56,293 --> 01:19:58,043 I want more options on my desk on Monday. 1552 01:19:58,170 --> 01:19:59,250 You got it. 1553 01:19:59,379 --> 01:20:02,549 Jack Daniel is totally reimagining his whiskey’s image, 1554 01:20:03,633 --> 01:20:05,553 not just with new packaging, 1555 01:20:05,635 --> 01:20:07,845 but a legend he could sell along with it. 1556 01:20:07,929 --> 01:20:10,389 We perceive that distillers have been these guys 1557 01:20:10,515 --> 01:20:11,395 in seer sucker suits, 1558 01:20:11,516 --> 01:20:14,066 sitting on a porch somewhere in Kentucky, 1559 01:20:14,144 --> 01:20:15,564 sipping on a mint julip, 1560 01:20:15,645 --> 01:20:18,735 when in fact distillers have always been the marginalized 1561 01:20:18,815 --> 01:20:19,815 people of society. 1562 01:20:21,860 --> 01:20:23,360 First, it was slaves. 1563 01:20:23,445 --> 01:20:26,575 Then it was who for whatever reason mainstream society 1564 01:20:26,698 --> 01:20:28,698 had said, we don’t want to do business with you. 1565 01:20:28,784 --> 01:20:31,534 Jack Daniel is the picture of this. 1566 01:20:31,620 --> 01:20:33,540 [Narrator] Jack Daniel transforms himself 1567 01:20:33,622 --> 01:20:35,372 from a rough tumble orphan 1568 01:20:35,457 --> 01:20:37,587 into the Quinter Central Southern gentleman. 1569 01:20:40,504 --> 01:20:42,094 And in 1895, 1570 01:20:42,172 --> 01:20:46,262 he debuts a new signature bottle to evoke a square deal. 1571 01:20:47,844 --> 01:20:51,434 A square bottle in a sea of round bottles 1572 01:20:51,556 --> 01:20:52,726 or oval bottles, 1573 01:20:52,808 --> 01:20:56,028 or circular bottles is easy to pick out. 1574 01:20:57,187 --> 01:21:00,657 The Jack Daniel’s label is iconic, 1575 01:21:00,774 --> 01:21:04,944 black label, white lettering with a number 7 on it. 1576 01:21:05,070 --> 01:21:08,450 That Number 7 has its own meaning, 1577 01:21:08,532 --> 01:21:10,112 some say it was a distillery, 1578 01:21:10,242 --> 01:21:12,952 some say it was the amount of girlfriends he had, 1579 01:21:13,036 --> 01:21:15,956 or it was his seventh recipe. 1580 01:21:15,956 --> 01:21:17,949 [Narrator] Now armed with his signature look 1581 01:21:18,041 --> 01:21:21,121 and the iconic bottle that still bears his name, 1582 01:21:21,211 --> 01:21:23,131 Jack Daniel sets his sights, 1583 01:21:23,213 --> 01:21:25,133 not just on dominating Tennessee, 1584 01:21:25,215 --> 01:21:27,635 but the entire nation. 1585 01:21:27,759 --> 01:21:29,969 Jack Daniel was not only ahead of his time, 1586 01:21:30,095 --> 01:21:33,145 he was one of the founders of American branding 1587 01:21:33,223 --> 01:21:34,433 as we understand it. 1588 01:21:34,433 --> 01:21:35,816 He was making a commodity, 1589 01:21:35,892 --> 01:21:37,642 which was not branded whiskey. 1590 01:21:37,727 --> 01:21:40,317 It was like corn or like milk. 1591 01:21:40,397 --> 01:21:41,777 But Jack took that 1592 01:21:41,857 --> 01:21:44,697 and turned it into what we now recognize as brand, 1593 01:21:44,818 --> 01:21:48,328 and was one of the first to really do that 1594 01:21:48,405 --> 01:21:49,995 in a dramatic way, 1595 01:21:50,073 --> 01:21:52,743 and one that is remarkably persisted 1596 01:21:52,743 --> 01:21:54,456 and continues even now. 1597 01:21:54,536 --> 01:21:55,586 (typewriter keys clicking) 1598 01:22:00,250 --> 01:22:02,170 [Narrator] 700 Miles away. 1599 01:22:03,086 --> 01:22:05,176 Have a seat, please. 1600 01:22:05,297 --> 01:22:06,387 [Narrator] Buck Duke’s price war 1601 01:22:06,506 --> 01:22:10,136 has brought the entire tobacco industry to its knees. 1602 01:22:11,052 --> 01:22:14,012 And he’s called a meeting of the big five companies 1603 01:22:14,097 --> 01:22:16,227 to bully them into a cease fire. 1604 01:22:17,142 --> 01:22:18,102 Look, 1605 01:22:19,436 --> 01:22:21,896 I know I’m not the most popular man in this room right now, 1606 01:22:23,523 --> 01:22:24,853 but that’s why I’ve brought you all out here 1607 01:22:24,983 --> 01:22:26,863 was to make amends. 1608 01:22:26,943 --> 01:22:29,483 Why would we make amends with someone who spent the last 1609 01:22:29,571 --> 01:22:31,901 year trying to put us all out of business? 1610 01:22:34,784 --> 01:22:35,874 Buck Duke, 1611 01:22:35,994 --> 01:22:37,874 he’s an incredible entrepreneur. 1612 01:22:37,954 --> 01:22:40,374 He’s a man with tremendous vision. 1613 01:22:40,374 --> 01:22:42,877 He’s also a man that a lot of people don’t like 1614 01:22:43,001 --> 01:22:44,371 for various reasons. 1615 01:22:45,670 --> 01:22:47,670 He tends to be a little arrogant. 1616 01:22:47,756 --> 01:22:49,596 Because I’m gonna spend the next year 1617 01:22:49,716 --> 01:22:52,386 making all of us a hell of a lot of money. 1618 01:22:54,471 --> 01:22:56,721 I don’t wanna fight you anymore, 1619 01:22:56,806 --> 01:22:59,016 I want us to work together. 1620 01:22:59,100 --> 01:23:00,720 If we do that, 1621 01:23:00,810 --> 01:23:02,600 we’ll become the biggest tobacco concern 1622 01:23:02,729 --> 01:23:04,889 in the history of the planet overnight, 1623 01:23:08,527 --> 01:23:10,117 under my leadership, of course. 1624 01:23:13,365 --> 01:23:14,905 And if we’re not interested? 1625 01:23:16,034 --> 01:23:16,914 And we’ll keep right on fighting 1626 01:23:16,993 --> 01:23:18,623 and see how many of you survive, 1627 01:23:21,289 --> 01:23:25,039 I’m prepared to lower my prices another 5% on Monday, 1628 01:23:25,126 --> 01:23:25,966 are you? 1629 01:23:41,518 --> 01:23:43,568 Buck Duke goes out and makes a deal 1630 01:23:43,645 --> 01:23:45,445 with four of his major competitors. 1631 01:23:45,522 --> 01:23:47,442 And they all fall under the umbrella 1632 01:23:47,524 --> 01:23:50,734 with the formation of American Tobacco. 1633 01:23:50,819 --> 01:23:52,729 [Narrator] A decade before U.S. Steel is formed, 1634 01:23:52,821 --> 01:23:56,111 and eight years before Nabisco is founded, 1635 01:23:56,199 --> 01:23:59,319 Buck Duke merges with his four largest competitors, 1636 01:24:00,537 --> 01:24:04,297 forming a conglomerate called American Tobacco, 1637 01:24:04,374 --> 01:24:06,254 with an initial estimated valuation 1638 01:24:06,334 --> 01:24:10,294 of over seven and a half billion dollars in modern money. 1639 01:24:12,549 --> 01:24:14,669 The American Tobacco Company were part 1640 01:24:14,801 --> 01:24:17,971 of the great merger movement in American business. 1641 01:24:17,971 --> 01:24:19,974 We see this with Andrew Carnegie, 1642 01:24:20,098 --> 01:24:23,138 we see it with the other great industrialists of the age. 1643 01:24:23,226 --> 01:24:25,026 Buck Duke is part of this trend. 1644 01:24:29,107 --> 01:24:31,487 By the 1890s into 1900, 1645 01:24:31,568 --> 01:24:36,578 they are controlling 90, 95 for the sale of all cigarettes 1646 01:24:37,282 --> 01:24:38,662 in the United States. 1647 01:24:38,742 --> 01:24:41,032 The irony of all of this is 1648 01:24:42,245 --> 01:24:45,505 Buck Duke personally hated cigarettes. 1649 01:24:47,250 --> 01:24:49,790 [Narrator] American Tobacco is now the most powerful 1650 01:24:49,878 --> 01:24:51,588 tobacco company on earth, 1651 01:24:52,756 --> 01:24:56,216 and nothing can threaten their dominance for now. 1652 01:24:59,220 --> 01:25:01,850 (upbeat music) 1653 01:25:03,600 --> 01:25:04,510 Let’s go. 1654 01:25:08,480 --> 01:25:11,480 [Narrator] Prohibition sends the booze racket underground- 1655 01:25:11,566 --> 01:25:12,526 Keep it quiet 1656 01:25:12,526 --> 01:25:13,519 [Narrator] and puts the makers 1657 01:25:13,610 --> 01:25:15,360 of Jack Daniel’s and Budweiser 1658 01:25:17,447 --> 01:25:18,707 on the wrong side of the law. 1659 01:25:18,823 --> 01:25:21,033 You are under arrest for violating Section 37, 1660 01:25:21,117 --> 01:25:22,577 Article 2 of the penal code 1661 01:25:22,702 --> 01:25:23,742 We’ve been indicted. 1662 01:25:25,664 --> 01:25:28,374 [Narrator] The First World War becomes an unlikely front 1663 01:25:28,500 --> 01:25:30,710 in the battle for legal condoms. 1664 01:25:30,794 --> 01:25:33,674 Yes, condoms. Rubber condoms. 1665 01:25:33,755 --> 01:25:35,045 (upbeat music) 1666 01:25:35,131 --> 01:25:37,841 [Narrator] And the numbers game in Harlem- 1667 01:25:37,926 --> 01:25:39,176 Be discrete. 1668 01:25:39,260 --> 01:25:43,220 [Narrator] touches off a turf war with the New York mafia 1669 01:25:43,306 --> 01:25:44,396 over a gambling ring- 1670 01:25:44,474 --> 01:25:46,564 Just make sure you pay up. 1671 01:25:46,643 --> 01:25:48,563 [Narrator] that’ll become the state lotto. 1672 01:25:48,687 --> 01:25:50,527 You think you can come in here and intimidate me? 1673 01:25:50,605 --> 01:25:53,945 (upbeat dramatic music)