Irishman James Thompson joined George Garvin Brown (his second cousin) in the whiskey business during the mid 1870s. By 1786, the whiskey we now call bourbon was known as Kentucky or Western whiskey--just so people could distinguish it from Pennsylvania, Monongahela, or Maryland rye whiskey. Even so, Grant, at this point, made it clear that he wanted to clear up the whole mess and prosecute whoever was responsible for stealing the money. The manufacture of rum continued to be big business in America right through until 1808 when the U.S. prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa. This act stipulated that bonded whiskey must be: made at one distillery in one batch; aged for at least four years in warehouses supervised by the government, and bottled at 100? But Grant was about to have a change of heart that would rock his White House aides and change the outcome of the whole affair. 84 Proof which pays homage to the year 1984 when the Montana State Men's . For many proponents of temperance, however, the word meant moderation, not complete abstention. In fact, although pot stills were used by most of the legitimate distillers, some poorer folk were still running it on the log. This was a backwoods method of distillation that seems rather convoluted--but it worked. Heres a list of prominent whiskey men whose products hit the shelves between 1800 and 1860 (The current-day whiskeys with which these families became connected are noted. Wine is aged in toasted barrels, and indeed bourbon casks are toasted before they are charred. Later, in 1861, he did, however, add his signature to a temperance declaration that already bore the names of John Quincy Adams, James Buchanan, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Jackson, James Madison, Franklin Pierce, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, and John Tyler. To further help the distillers, the government agreed that stores of whiskey could be used as collateral for taxes when they came due. Every straight bourbon produced today is a sour-mash whiskey, in which a portion of the residue from one batch of mash is used to start the next, much as sourdough starter is used to start more batches of dough. The Pennsylvania whiskey makers decided to revolt. In 1904, the Cascade Distillery (George A. Dickel) was enlarged, making it the largest distillery in the whole of Tennessee at that time. (Many stories might never have met their deadlines if the hard-drinking journalists of yesteryear werent able to knock back a shot or two.) He was buried in a drunkards grave. The idea was that the distillers would show their willingness and ability to police themselves from within and prevent post-Prohibition bars from becoming the seedy, unregulated dives they had been prior to 1919. Jefferson once asked the question, Who would drink whiskey if wine were cheap enough? Well, those who lived in the Bluegrass State might have argued the point. Now he can instead buy his own car, and ride off for a weekend or a few days with his wife and children in the country or at the sea. And although it is possible that some early settlers built their own from imported raw materials, most were probably imported from Europe. Again, the quote has been twisted over the years to make Lincoln sound as though he were defending drinkers. The Lever Food and Fuel Act was enacted later that year; designed to preserve food supplies during World War I, it made all distillation of beverage alcohol illegal. Fittingly, some exact dates were forgotten (whiskey was involved, after all), but this timeline will help you grasp the basics and understand its origin; who played key roles in the history of distilling, how whiskey came to be, how it evolved to be the whiskey / bourbon / rye . We do know that he was a whiskey distiller in the late eighteenth century, and that his whiskey was probably known as Kentucky whiskey or maybe even bourbon, but theres no real evidence to prove that he was the first person to make bourbon. In 1876 Tom Moore and Ben Mattingly bought their first distillery. Carson does mention, however, that the log stills were used only for a primary distillation, and the spirit would then be redistilled in a pot still. Since most people were used to the bold body and heady flavors of good whiskey, gin was far preferable to vodka, a spirit that was virtually unknown in America at the time. Why gin? In 1776, Kentucky County was carved from the massive western part of Virginia previously known as Fincastle County, and a law known colloquially as corn patch and cabin rights, was issued by the Virginia General Assembly. Frederick and Philip Stitzel built their first distillery in Louisville in 1872. Maybe as a matter of routine, distillers who invested in used cooperage would set fire to the interior of the barrel to rid it of any lingering odors or dirt, and once again, at some point, charred barrels were recognized as having a good effect on whiskey. Since there wasnt a great deal in the way of entertainment back then, almost everyone was interested in a dram of whiskey. This all began back in 2018 when Jack Daniel's started building six of new barrel houses in the area, with plans to build . The first cotton mill in America had opened in 1789, and when America signed a treaty with Spain in 1795, the Mississippi River became the old man whose back would carry goods for sale or trade with no hindrance from the Iberians. J. T. S. Brown and Sons (J. T. S. Brown Bourbon) bought the Old Prentice distillery in Anderson County sometime during early 1900s. According to William S. McFeely, author of Grant, A Biography, although both Grant and Babcock were confronted with this very damning evidence, Babcock insisted that the telegrams were about something other than the Whiskey Ring, and Grant sided with him. That year saw the birth of yet another organization, The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, made up of many brewers, distillers, and some very wealthy and influential people, DuPont family members among them. However, much whiskey was being sold in bulk to rectifiers and bottlers of the time, and the problem of unscrupulous wholesalers (and retailers) adulterating good whiskey just had to be tackled. During this time, the liquor was kept under governmental supervision in bonded warehouses. proof). Along with many other reputable distillers and rectifiers, Taylor was worried that the bad whiskey in the marketplace would reflect badly on the whole industry. All was by no means lost, however--good whiskey men never have given up that easily. (If you shake a bottle of whiskey, the bubbles that form on top, known as the bead, are an indication of the amount of alcohol in the whiskey.). Captain James Thorpe, a missionary in Virginia at that time, wrote to friends in London that he had learned to make a drink from Indian corn that was so good, he sometimes chose it over English beer. Thomas B. Ripy, whose sons would build a distillery that is known today as the Wild Turkey Distillery, opened his first whiskey distillery in 1869. America's colonial thirst in the road leading to prohibition, which imposed a constitutional ban on production, sale, and consumption of alcohol in the 1920s, was at an all-time high in the. Tastes had changed, and blended whiskeys had become increasingly popular. The most avid of these budding aficionadas and aficionados worked at learning about their drinks. So here we have a perfect place to make whiskey--the cultivation of corn was encouraged and therefore became the predominant grain, the water was perfect for distillation, and the settlers had plenty of wood from which to make barrels. Bourbon whiskey is America's native spirit. 14: And thou shalt bestow that money for whatever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth; and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household., After quoting the passage, Brown commented, The context shows that for the convenience of those living at a distance from the place appointed by God for feasts in His honor, authority was given to sell for money that which was required for tithes and feasts and provide the same at the place appointed by God for His worship. . One bottle, from the late nineteenth century, was shaped like a babys bottle, and bore the words, Here is the Milk of Human Kindness.. . In the 1790s American distilled spirits (whiskey, gin, rye, bourbon, etc.) Exploring unchartered lands, they learned to survive by hook and crook. The following month over 300 people (distillers and government employees) were arrested for their involvement in the Whiskey Ring, and everyone was certain that justice was being served. One such quote was from Deut. By the 1880s, however, when some of those travelers had amassed small fortunes, decent, aged whiskey was at last being shipped to the Wild West. A good number of bars were no more than dens of iniquity where one could buy drugs, consort with prostitutes, hire strong-armed boys to do a little dirty work, or bribe voters with a few shots of whiskey. Distillation is not an easy process. Thompson later formed his own company, bought the Glenmore Distillery in 1901, and introduced Kentucky Tavern whiskey to the world in 1903. By that time, the 95/5 rye whiskey inside of those 20 barrels reached 18 years old. First off, McDonald was confronted with the evidence, and he did, indeed, confess to his crimes. B. Dant, son of J. W. Dant, built the Cold Spring Distillery in 1865 and would soon produce Yellowstone Bourbon. They made wines from elderberries, parsnips, pumpkins, and the like--if it fermented, they turned it into some form of beverage alcohol or other. One report states that General James Wilkinson built a distillery at Harrodsburg, the earliest permanent settlement in Kentucky (1774), but that report is probably untrue since there is no record of Wilkinson being in the area until about 10 years later. Additionally, trademark and copyright rules were lax. Drinking was still legal in some areas of the country--but not for too very much longer. However, many of the residents of these states sided with the Confederate cause--states rights. 1. George A. Dickel died in 1894 from injuries sustained in an 1888 fall from a horse. However, McDonald had a few cards up his sleeve, and although he offered to replace the money in return for immunity (claiming he would get it from the distilleries), he also dropped mention of Grants name to add weight to his plea for clemency. And according to various industry documents of the time, it was used in a variety of fairly astounding ways: A by-product of making any form of beverage alcohol from grain is the leftover mash, which is dried and used as feed for farm animals. The country drank and drank, hardly knowing what was in the glass, everyone was out to achieve the high of all highs, and no one cared much how they did it. Pennsylvania was solidly in the Union, but Kentucky, and Maryland were two of the four border states in which slavery existed and was legal, yet whose political leanings were mostly with the Union. Lincolns secretary, John Hay, when recording the 1863 arrival of the Sons of Temperance at the White House, noted that the group blamed the defeats of Union troops on intemperance among the soldiers. A paper, written in 1993 by Mervel V. Hanes, M.D. As the name implies, Old Grand-Dad's 114 is indeed 114 proof. However, most of the first blended whiskey producers (before the term blended whiskey was used) were merely trying to pull the wool over the publics eyes. They have Texas Pecan (my fave, even straight up over rocks), Coffee, Pumpkin Spiced, Honeysuckle . The Leagues 1910 yearbook contains a declaration signed by their fearless General Superintendent, Reverend Purley A. Baker, D.D. Undeterred, they turned their talents to fermenting other fruits--and even vegetables. His master distiller, Wilhelm Hendriksen, is said to have used corn and rye to make liquor, and since the Dutch didnt develop a formula for gin until 10 or so years later, he must have been making some form of whiskey. It also stated that only straight whiskey could be bonded (although distillates other than whiskey--rum, for instance--that met the requirements could also be Bottled in Bond). The locations include delicatessens, shoeshine parlors, barber shops, delivery agencies, paint stores, taxi drivers, moving van companies, and of course, newspapermens associations. Six distilleries were given permits to sell medicinal whiskey during Prohibition--A. Ph. Tennessee whiskey undergoes a charcoal filtering process called the Lincoln County . The same products from British colonies in the West Indies were not taxed, it was just a little gentle goading to remind the colonists where their allegiances should lay. 9: Alcohol and the City 1800-1900. Lem Motlow, who took over the Jack Daniel distillery when Jack retired in 1907, introduced Lem Motlows Tennessee Sour Mash, Jack Daniels No. The timing was brilliant. The whiskey men of America were somewhat nervous that much of their audience was gone. Whiskey labeled as bourbon was actually distilled from low-grade molasses. With the advent of the glassmakers hinged mold, came incised molds that could act as labels to display the distillers name, address, brand name, or another designation. Was this a blended whiskey? These were to be trying times for the President. The number of crimes and misdemeanors that originated in drunkenness has declined. And while they had the governments attention, the distillers took the opportunity to have them look at the fact that paying taxes on unaged whiskey, a product that couldnt yet be sold, was another problem that should be dealt with. We might as well ask who was the first person to bake bread. In 1900, Ms. Nation gathered a group of supporters, rolled into a drugstore in Kansas (which was dry at the time), rolled out a cask of brandy, and promptly smashed it to smithereens with a sledgehammer. Other major changes that affected the whiskey industry in the early 1800s included the actions of that marvelous gourmet, President Thomas Jefferson, who, in 1802, repealed the excise tax that had caused the Whiskey Rebellion and thereby lightened the financial load on the distillers. The public houses are always crowded, especially so during the sittings of the courts of justice. However, Jefferson did stop those excise taxes on American liquor, and apart from the few years between 1813 and 1817, when taxes were levied in order to pay the costs of the War of 1812, whiskey wouldnt be taxed again until 1862. 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