But toward the end of Prohibition, those who were still producing whiskey were busy making plans for Repeal. Around when did water become a viable option? The following year, 1792, the government reduced the taxes a little (down to around 7 per gallon from 11, dependent on proof), and Kentucky finally became a state. . The distillers supplied bars and saloons with decanters and bottles that bore the distillers name and could be used to pour their product, but it wasnt at all uncommon for cheap whiskey to be poured from its cask into decanters that advertised a more-expensive product. When Reconstruction began, President Andrew Johnson faced huge problems. Its easy to see that national prohibition was inevitable sooner or later. Taxes have long been the bane of the whiskey businesss existence, and toward the end of the nineteenth century, demand was high for a fair policy that would benefit the country without crippling the entire liquor industry. Only time in wood gives it color, and only time in charred wood results in the crimson-hued tint that is peculiar to bourbon. Tastes had changed, and blended whiskeys had become increasingly popular. To have lived during this period must have been similar to people who were born in the 1930s; one minute you get your first telephone installed, and before you know it, you are accessing information from libraries in Budapest. It was common practice for corrupt local officials to accept bribes to assure lenient treatment of wayward tavern keepers and drunken customers alike. The idea was that by attracting newcomers to the town, the surrounding land, owned by the same company, would grow in value. Others, either those not versed in the art of distillation or too concerned with time and money, would not adhere to the art of the distiller wherein only the center section of the whiskey is deemed suitable for consumption. Finally, small-batch whiskey, single-barrel whiskey, and wheated bourbon, were getting their fair share of attention. James E. Pepper built the James E. Pepper Distillery in 1879 and soon produced a whiskey that bore his name. They had conned Grant into becoming an ally, and the scheme backfired. American whiskey started its life as a raw, unaged spirit that had, as its main attribute, the power to spur the courage of the first colonists. The whiskey man noticed an improvement in his liquor, figured out what had happened, and from that day forth charred barrels were preferred by whiskey-makers. To match todays style of bourbon whiskey, we must use todays standards as our guide: Bourbon must be aged for at least two years in charred oak casks (folk may tell you they must be white oak, but government specifications dont designate a type), and contain more corn than the sum of all *other grains used. The whiskey from the middle colonies eventually became known as Monongahela or Pennsylvania or Maryland whiskey, named for its various locations, not the grain used to make it. Bonding helped the whiskey men a little since it meant that they didnt have to pay their taxes as soon as the spirit ran out of the still, but 12 months wasnt a very long grace period considering that whiskey under two years old isnt worth drinking, and it doesnt really gain much character until it has been in the wood for three to four years. Indeed, Lincoln said just that; but he was not applauding the use and enjoyment of liquor. It was cheaper than beer, wine, coffee, tea, and milk in the 1820s than to buy 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). According to Roseann Reinemuth Hogan in her book, Kentucky Ancestry, a churchman of the time referred to heaven as a Kentucky sort of a place. Well, any old place with decent topsoil would have sufficed for the farmer-distillers of Virginia at the time. (Not all these people personally produced brand names that are now familiar to us, but they did establish a whiskey-making tradition in their respective families--the whiskeys with which these families became connected are noted.). Rates were based on the alcoholic strength of the product, spirits made from home-grown products were taxed less than those made from imported goods (rum, made from imported molasses, therefore, was more-heavily taxed than whiskey), and an annual tax was levied on each still, dependent on its capacity. According to Gerald Carson in his book, The Social History of Bourbon, one such tax collector, who had employed the services of a dozen soldiers to guard his house, had it burned to the ground nonetheless. Two quotes from Lincoln often are used out of context and make him sound like a drinking man; both are taken from a speech he made to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society in 1842. The U.S. population in 1909 was about 90.5 million; therefore, if the Leagues statistics were accurate, over 45 percent of the country already was dry in 1910. In fact, the drys had some very serious legitimate issues that needed to be addressed. Consequently, some at least were repeatedly looking for new land to farm. However, some documents had been discovered that pointed to reasons other than friendship for Grants change of heart. So, if a saloon owner in the west needed whiskey in a hurry, he could now order by telegram and get a few barrels on its way to him the very next day. Even though some documents pertaining to the case were stolen (allegedly by a man in the employ of Grant himself), Babcock was indicted. Everyone seemed to have it out for the distillers. Distillation is not an easy process. Though they were producing whiskey, its quality had to have been questionable. Oscar Pepper, in the 1800s. No, not really, it turns out she was more a *sexual dalliance in the White House than an anonymous inside source, and that it was Babcock who wired the warning and added the odd signature. The Trust had effective ways of dealing with these offenders and with those who wanted to remain independent--they destroyed their distilleries. During the war, American distilleries were enlisted to produce industrial alcohol for the war effort, and once again the whiskey supplies began to dwindle. Also in that same year, Bourbon County was created from a large chunk of what was previously Virginias Fayette County, and around this time, when Spain permitted it (they still had control of the Mississippi), Kentucky whiskey first started being shipped down river to thirsty people in St. Louis and New Orleans. From time immemorial, coopers have been forming barrels over fire, and therefore toasting the staves while they were making them bow. Advertisements in magazines and newspapers of the time gave consumers the chance not only to buy whiskey at reduced rates, but also to receive special offers, such as an elegant gold-filled watch sent free to all who influence ten new customers to each order one gallon or more of our goods. If you had only four friends, you could receive the most beautiful set of Limoges China Dishes you ever saw for persuading each of them to order a gallon of spirits from the Security Distilling Company of Chicago. Some sat alone at the bar taking notes on the particular malt they were sampling; others assembled in groups, experienced a few different drams, and discussed and compared each ones particular intricacies. If trouble occurred, perhaps the name Sylph could help secure a show of friendship from the President. The plant produced Tom Moore Bourbon in 1879, and Mattingly & Moore Bourbon by 1896. The straight wooden staves that are used to form a barrel must be heated in order to bend the wood into the familiar barrel shape. During the same period of time, names of other whiskey distillers crop up, and many of them have faded into obscurity. While Presidents Johnson and Grant were going through their personal and political strifes, the excise tax that Lincoln had been forced to impose in 1862 had taken its toll on the whiskey industry. My observations have convinced me that many fewer would drink were it not illegal.. Though that possibility is not unthinkable, its more probable that he was making corn beer. Bourbon whiskey is America's native spirit. Certainly that was not enough time in the wood to soothe its soul completely, but undoubtedly, it was long enough for the whiskey to have gained some color and mellowed sufficiently for quaffers to notice the difference. One of the women who had joined the Womens Crusade and was president of the WTCU. For those who insist on having a name, we say James Crow invented bourbon sometime between 1823 and, say, 1845. This figure, of course, is somewhat difficult to comprehend until you learn that the same table estimates that, using the same criteria, in 1970, consumption was at 2.5 gallons. David Beam (Jim Beam Bourbon) was working at the Old Tub Distillery in 1850, and his son, David M. Beam became distiller there in 1853. They might have been making a decent living, but many, indeed, most transactions at that time were conducted by barter. Rumors of the Whiskey Ring were rife at this point, and many upstanding aides at the White House breathed a sigh of relief when Benjamin Bristow was appointed to the Treasury--he was a very well respected man. included instructions on how to make imitation whiskeys such as Old Rye, Old Rye Monongahela, and Old Bourbon. The author, John Stephen, M.D., who billed himself as A Practical Chemist and Experienced Liquor Dealer, noted that his methods, known as the French System, were almost unknown in this country and accused previous rectifiers of adulterating liquors with poisonous and deleterious compounds., Stephens French System of making imitation whiskey, however, was, as he predicted in his book, to become the standard method of making less-expensive whiskey. proof (50 percent alcohol.) Grants magnificent military might, however, didnt prepare him for the presidency. Somewhere, close to the top of the log or in the lid itself, must have been a hole fitted with the copper pipe that carried live steam into the still from a nearby kettle. Yes, all sorts of deals were going on throughout this period--distilleries without a medicine license were selling their stocks to those who did, others maintained warehouses where those with licenses could store their whiskey under government supervision, and an unofficial cartel sent Owsley Brown of Brown-Forman to Europe to try to sell over 20,000 barrels of bourbon--a mission that was only partially successful. For some of them, this meant traveling a couple of hundred miles through dangerous country where native Americans were wont to attack, and it also meant leaving their farms for relatively long periods when there was work to be done--and whiskey to be made. That nickname has stuck around through the years. Decorative glass and ceramic bottles containing whiskey were a novelty that had been around since the early 1800s. Irishman James Thompson joined George Garvin Brown (his second cousin) in the whiskey business during the mid 1870s. Over the whole of the eighteenth century, about 250,000 Scots-Irish Ulstermen and Ulsterwomen came to America. This was typical of the time. Bottles, however, were the exception rather than the rule--they simply added to the price of whiskey. It's a tightly regulated product that must be produced in the United States and has a few distinct characteristics. See the Kansas City Post Gazette, March 3, 1886, p. 6. And these were not the bygone days when men were the sole decision makers, by this time women, too, had buying power--and they were discriminating consumers. But these were also the days when many people were stricken with a variety of weird and wonderful maladies that needed regular treatment with frequent tots of decent, aged, medicinal whiskey--the product of a loophole in the law that allowed certain distillers to sell whiskey for medicinal use. Since the distillation of beverage alcohol is, in simple terms, the separation of alcohol from water, they were actually performing a form of distillation by freezing instead of heating. Each barrel comes from a different area of the warehouse. In order to put people to work, Roosevelt proposed a New Deal for the country. Stills had been commonplace on Scottish farms since the mid-1500s, usually little more than barrel-size (or smaller) enclosed copper pots with a metal pipe that emerged from the top and coiled down to a receptacle that caught the condensed spirit. Bourbon vs. Tennessee Whiskey Fast Facts. And beer was made in relatively copious quantities in the 1600s. On what did they spend it? McDonald was somewhat of an old pal of the Presidents, having been recommended for his position by more than a couple of Julia Grants familys friends. Not all Northerners believed that their soldiers were drinking more than the Southern troops. 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. To accomplish this, Hamilton persuaded Congress to introduce tariffs on imported goods, tax spirits, and charter the Bank of the United States, which would hold the governments revenues and stimulate economic growth by investing in American businesses. Other accounts say that Wattie Boone, a relative of Daniels, and a certain Stephen Ritchie both made whiskey in Nelson County, Kentucky in 1776, and this is probably accurate. Indeed, had Prohibition not come to an end, the government would have had enormous difficulties fulfilling their need of industrial alcohol (beverage alcohol at 190? Whiskey labeled as bourbon was actually distilled from low-grade molasses. The cause for concern was completely understandable--the liquor industry was growing very quickly, and it wasnt well regulated. Not that Jefferson was a whiskey man, he was much more enamored of imported wines. Meanwhile, Seagram introduced its Five Crown and Seven Crown blended whiskeys to the American public, and they were an unmitigated success. Once again, just as in the case of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, whiskey was being made to help finance the armed forces. AP Photo Consumption begins to drop. In 1893, one of the most colorful characters ever to grace the whiskey industry, Julius Pappy Van Winkle, entered the whiskey business as a salesman for W. L. Weller and Son. It was at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street where local patrons were served toddies made with our rye whiskey and Peychaud's bitters. 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. .. One of the strangest, most unpredictable effects of Prohibition, however, was this: Hard liquor actually became more popular than it had been prior to the Noble Experiment. 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. Even before the turn of the century, the rum business had been winding down. proof), but by 1865 they had risen to a whopping $2 per gallon, the exact same amount that would be levied after Repeal, almost 70 years later. Were charred barrels being used before that date? A lid of sorts must then have been fitted onto the top of the log. Black marketeers who had the means to make whiskey simply couldnt restrain themselves. (America was mainly a rye whiskey country until the early-1800s.) However, they had to contend with a certain Dr. Wiley, head of the Bureau of Chemistry, a part of the Department of Agriculture, and a true believer in straight whiskey. 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