The W S A tried to dissuade politicians and churchgoers from taking the Anti-Saloon Leagues mission to its logical conclusion. Cutter, Chicken Cock and Old Forrester. A bottle exists today, produced in 1848, that bears the word bourbon and the distillers name, M. Bininger and Company of New York. They have Texas Pecan (my fave, even straight up over rocks), Coffee, Pumpkin Spiced, Honeysuckle . It was split into many smaller companies, but some of these companies then joined together again as the Distilling Company of America, and in 1899, that company found itself under federal investigation. In a personal recollection of a meeting between Lincoln and Douglas in 1854, James S. Ewing referred to a decanter of red liquor, red liquor being a term for bourbon that would become widely used by the end of that century. These guys meant business. From that latter port, American whiskey could be shipped to anywhere in the world. 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. 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. None, however, were as successful as Aenaes Coffey, who, in 1831, patented his perfected continuous still in Britain. Wartime dance bands didnt just sing Rum and Coca Cola, they drank it, too. But Washington had his reasons, and although he was himself a distiller, he listened to Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, who proposed that the newly formed country should pay off its debts from the Revolutionary War. It seems that a certain William Bard, an agent for David Bard and John C. Owens, who as partners had laid claim to 1,000 acres of land in Kentucky County by 1780, held a lottery that same year in which the 33 lucky winners would be awarded lots on the land. Heres an example of how it worked according to Martin Gilbert, author of American History Atlas, 1968: In 1752, by which time there were at least 30 legitimate distilleries in Rhode Island alone, a ship called The Sanderson left Newport, with 8,220 gallons of rum on board. So when did the whiskey-makers start aging their products? Members lectured and wrote to prominent people on both sides of the issue trying to bank the fire a little. Indeed, for every 1,000 bushels of corn used to make alcohol, the leftover mash could feed 30 head of cattle and 15 pigs for 112 days, thus producing 1,000 pounds of beef and 240 pounds of pork. All was by no means lost, however--good whiskey men never have given up that easily. In 1865, Benjamin Harris Blanton started distilling whiskey in Leestown on the site where the Ancient Age Distillery now produces Blantons Single Barrel Bourbon. In Kentucky Bourbon--The Early Years of Whiskeymaking, Henry G. Crowgey describes an 1821 newspaper advertisement for bourbon whiskey, so its fairly safe to assume that the distiller of that time knew that the readers would understand what it was he had for sale. During the year before his death in 1799, it has been estimated that he earned a considerable profit from his distillery, and had upwards of 150 gallons of whiskey left in storage. A book in the United Distillers archives in Louisville mentions charred barrels, but unfortunately, the cover is missing and there is no date printed on its pages--just a handwritten note that includes a reference to the year 1854. The major players in what became known as the Whiskey Ring, were General Orville E. Babcock, Grants secretary; John A. McDonald, the regional superintendent of the Internal Revenue, headquartered in St. Louis; and Benjamin Helm Bristow, the man who initiated the investigation into the affair when he became Secretary of the Treasury in 1874. Methyl alcohol has a direct affect on the optic nerve, and as little as one ounce has been known to cause death. He described her as unquestionably the handsomest woman in St. Louis, and went on to say, Her form was petite, and yet withal, a plumpness and development which made her a being whose tempting, luscious deliciousness was irresistible. Obviously, McDonald was quite taken with the woman (although a sketch of Sylph in McDonalds book reveals her to have been more homely than irresistible). Other such organizations within the industry existed in various parts of the country around this same time, but the distilling industry in Peoria, having started with one distillery in 1844, had actually outgrown its counterpart in Kentucky by 1880. It has no interest apart from the church. George Ade, author of The Old Time Saloon, noted that, in Chicago, once a saloon keeper got his license, he would throw the key to his bar into Lake Michigan so that his doors could never again be locked. Frederick and Philip Stitzel built their first distillery in Louisville in 1872. The upshot? And by this time, aged whiskey was preferred by far over the raw spirit that had been acceptable some 60 years previous. It was cheaper than beer, wine, coffee, tea, and milk in the 1820s than to buy whiskey. Many others were hauled into court and fined for their lack of cooperation. 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. Years later, under the stewardship of Oscar and Master Distiller James Crow, their distillery reformed and modernized producing whiskey in the United States the distillery revolutionized the concepts of sour mash and yeast propagation. Lem Motlow, who took over the Jack Daniel distillery when Jack retired in 1907, introduced Lem Motlows Tennessee Sour Mash, Jack Daniels No. B. Dant (Yellowstone Bourbon) built a distillery at Gethsemane, Kentucky, in 1912. Cabin Still and Kentucky Tavern whiskeys were both trademarked in 1903. These simple labels say only "Overholt Rye Whiskey" with a year printed in red. And telegraph wires were all the rage in this period, too; by 1850 over 50,000 miles of wire was strung up all over the place. Corn, an indigenous grain, was also cultivated, and although the immigrants werent used to using it to make whiskey, it was gradually introduced to the process in small quantities. After the American Civil War (1861-1865) beer replaced whiskey as preferred beverage of working men. Though that possibility is not unthinkable, its more probable that he was making corn beer. The Canadians and the Scots, on the other hand, had plenty of aged whiskey, and they were champing at the bit to ship it into the States. Since, as Luckner, noted, the sleazy gin mills had disappeared, and much drinking, therefore, occurred in swank nightclubs and the homes of the wealthy, Prohibitions other weird but wonderful effect was that drinking became more socially acceptable than it had been prior to 1920. And although the Governor of New Yorks office wasnt mentioned in the telegram, it is said that, even during the dry years, Franklin D. Roosevelt was wont to serve cocktails from his desk every afternoon at four. Carry Nation died of a stroke in 1911. Luckily for us, a few of the business types had deep pockets and a long-term view, and these were the distillers who continued to make good whiskey. In Europe, the first temperance organization had come into being in Ireland in 1818 (later known as the Ulster Temperance Society), and similar organizations sprung up in Scotland, England, Norway, and Sweden in the first half of the nineteenth century. The worst is, that precisely as a consequence of the law, the taste for alcohol has spread ever more widely among the youth. Distilling wasnt merely a case of, Oh, I have some extra grain, might as well make some whiskey. It was a much bigger decision than that. 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. Heres an update of a few significant people and events in the years between 1860 and 1900: Though the whiskey industry may have started on a small scale, during the years following the Civil War it developed into a form of commerce in which a substantial amount of money was to be made--major distilleries had been founded, whiskey families had staked their claims, and the foundations for many a whiskey empire had been laid. There are still shiners in America today, and apparently the greatest concentration of such people is probably in the Carolinas. Its body gets bigger, its soul develops character, and the sharp, childish bite of *young, raw whiskey become deep, somber declarations of maturity. The Reawakening of the American Whiskey Business. All whiskeys were, once again, whiskeys--some were blended, and some were straight--but the label had to declare which type was in the bottle. Happily, the atmosphere was nowhere near as oppressive as it had been for our forefathers at the beginning of this century. Whatever the reality of who was drinking more, the Southern populace needed food more than they needed whiskey. The popularity of alcohol in Europe as a medicine was very high. Upon his release from jail McDonald accused Grant of taking part in the Ring in his book, Secrets of the Great Whiskey Ring (1880). Trade was brisk for the mail-order whiskey suppliers, but dont think for a second that the Prohibitionists were going to stand idly by while thousands of gallons of whiskey were being mailed to their hard-fought-for dry states and counties. The rum business in the United States was doomed, but its demise created plenty of room for the up and coming whiskey industry. The act gave legitimate distillers the ability to prove the quality of their products, but the fight for honest labeling had only just begun. Not only did the geographical aspects of Kentucky make it a tough area to invade, if Washington had decided to pick on Kentuckians rather than Pennsylvanians, he would have run the risk that the state would up and leave the union and join up with the Spanish, who controlled the land west of Kentucky. WhistlePig is touting this new expression as the " first-ever super-aged North American Single Malt," claiming its 21-year age statement is "more than twice as long as the oldest American Single Malt.". The Leagues 1910 yearbook contains a declaration signed by their fearless General Superintendent, Reverend Purley A. Baker, D.D. And west. one gallon was needed in order to make 64 hand grenades or two 155mm Howitzer shells. Their pride for the craft is evident in this Rare Release of the 8-Year Single Barrel Rye Whiskey. For those who insist on having a name, we say James Crow invented bourbon sometime between 1823 and, say, 1845. 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