The Bomberger's Distillery legacy can be traced back to 1753, when two Swiss Mennonite farmers by the name of John and Michael Shenk began distilling rye whiskey on their farm near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The distillery was passed down through relatives of the Shenk family until 1860 when the distillery was purchased (and subsequently renamed) by Pennsylvania Dutchman Adam Bomberger, who owned and operated the distillery until Prohibition forced its closing in 1919. At that time, Bomberger's Distillery was the oldest operating distillery in the United States, and in many ways represented the transformation of whiskey distilling from an agricultural enterprise to a large-scale industrial one.