Somehow, I wasn't terribly surprised when I pawed through a couple of hundred embossed, labeled and embossed, and label only western whiskies on my shelves, when searching for anything that started with a "Z" only to come up empty.
I was, however, rewarded when I thought to take a peek at the western pre-pro glasses in one of my display cabinets.
Sure enough, Z for Zythum.
John Sroufe tossed his hat into the western whiskey wholesale ring, going solo in 1893. His least successful brand was Zythum.
No, this is not a Nazi emblem! In Hinduism, the right-facing symbol (clockwise) (卐) is called swastika, symbolizing surya ('sun'), prosperity and good luck.
Zythum was originally a malt beer made in ancient Egypt. Since whiskey is often made using malt as the base, the name seemed to be a natural.
Unlike his somewhat successful Slaters Premium Bourbon, the Zythum brand flopped, undoubtedly being paper labeled only since no embossed examples have ever surfaced.
There are less than a scant handful of these pre-pro shots documented to exist; best count is four in any condition. This one is dead mint.
Zythum
