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Inferno, winner of the King‘s Plate at Toronto‘s Woodbine racetrack in 1905 was bred and owned by Joseph E. Seagram M.P. The photo, reproduced courtesy of Saturday Night,..was taken from a painting by A.H. Hider. J 5 By 1911 the company formailly incorporated as Joâ€" seph E. Seagram & Sons, Limited with Joseph E. as president and his four sons, Edward, Norman, Joseph and Thomas as officers. Shortly before Thomas‘ wedding, the senior Seaâ€" gram asked his head distiller to send around to the house a barrelâ€"of good whisky for a spcial gathering. In response the distiller, William Hortop mixed a speâ€" cial blend for the occasion. Joseph Sr. took a sip and spluttered "what in hell‘s that?‘‘ After everyone had a sip or two of the whisky they agreed that it was a very good biend. _ The next morning theâ€"president confronted his disâ€" tiller at the plant and asked a startled Hortop how he‘d mixed the special blend. The elder Seagram conâ€". gratulated him on his choice and told Hortop it would be marketed under the name V.O. That brand, first taken out of bondâ€"10 years old in 1917 has begcome Seagram‘s best seller on the world market and the largest in terms of export sales to the United States for each of the past 20 years. : Joseph E. Seagram died in 1919 and during his son Edward‘s presidency in 1928 the company was In 1870 they hired a clerk named Joseph E. Seagram who eventually bought out the two partners and exâ€" panded the distillery side of the business to the excluâ€" sion of the grain operation. By 1883 the distillery emâ€" ployed 40 men and produced one million gallons of whisky annually. In that same year Seagram ‘83 came on the market and became one of the company‘s more famous brands. Joseph Enn Seagram in recognition of the artistry of the men who made his whiskies coined the company creed of craftmanship, ‘"Make finer whiskies, make them taste better." William Hespeler and George Randall started their small grist mill_in Waterloo, the same year the small German settlement of 500 people became incorporatâ€" ed as a village. It was customary in those days to use surplus grain to make whisky in conjunction with the grain grinding operation, and by 1864 they were proâ€" ducing 50,000 gallons a year with a staff of 15 men. A Waterloo business that started in 1857 selling *«*good liquor‘" for 25 cents a gallon recorded a net inâ€" come last year of $91â€"million. _ The flour mill and distillery as it operated in the 1800s. Note the small bridge over Laurel Creek and the horse and wagon unloading grain at the door toâ€"the right of the Seagram ofâ€" fice door. The warehouse (no.5) to the left of the bridge has had its corner cut off, on three occasions since this photo was taken, to accommodate widening of the railway tracks Joseph E. Seagram |â€" _ & Sons Ltd. _ Waterioo, Ontario grown corn annually." | In addition to the Waterloo plant, Seagrams has other Canadian plants in Toronto, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and two in Quebec. Despite the rising trend in both theâ€"company‘s net sales and net profits, ‘"the industry as a whole has noâ€" ticed a shift from brown goods to white‘"‘ as a result of changing drinking habits in restaurants and discos. The brown goods â€" mainly whiskies and other dark spirits â€" are, to some extent, being replaced by vodka, gin, light rum and wines. Mr. Hoch added, "I hope it will change ... our most highly developed skills are in the making of whiskies. Our operation has a sizeable influence on the Ontario economy,‘‘ he said. **We purchase close to 650,000 bushels of Canadianâ€" Mr. Hoch, a native of Saskatchewan, joined the company in 1957 and after some time in quality conâ€" trol, research and production soon became plant manager at the Gimli, Manitoba plant, a position he held for four years prior to coming to Waterloo last July to replace the retiring Arthur Downe. The Waterloo pfint, which Mr. Hoch called "the flagship plant‘‘ employs up to 250 people and plays the important role within the company of ‘"producing an essential flavoring element in the whiskies." merged with the Distillers Corporation Montreal under Samuel Bronfman. The product of that merger, Distillers Corporationâ€"Seagrams Limited, became the ~ parent company of what is today the world‘s largest producer and marketer of distilled spirits and wines. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Texas Pacific Oil Company Inc., the Seagram Company Ltd. is also . engaged in the search for and the discover‘y, developâ€" ment and production of crude oil and natural gas. ‘ In 1977 Seagram‘s consolidated net sales, including those of its subsidiaries and affiliates in 25 countries around the world, reached a record $2.2â€"billion â€" a level surpassed the following year when they reached $2.3â€"billion. Similarly the company record of $87â€" million net income for 1977 was broken in 1978 when it reached $91â€"million. The Seagrams plant in Waterloo, under the manageâ€" ment of Arthur Hoch, produces 90 various packages and utilizes from 50 to 100 different types of whiskies in the creation of its many brands. .