History of Spirits in America. The Book of Bourbon. Watch The Hole Movie Consuming Spirits Torrent' title='Watch The Hole Movie Consuming Spirits Torrent' />The below information has been republished with permission of the authors, Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan. The views and opinions expressed in the following book chapters are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Distilled Spirits Council or its member companies. For more information, please visit www. THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WHISKEY. The origins of whiskey can be traced back to the Medieval monks of both Ireland and Scotland, but now, those two countries make their own distinctive styles of their native spirit. So it is with American whiskeythe original concept may have been imported from far away lands, but some 3. The Asahi Shimbun is widely regarded for its journalism as the most respected daily newspaper in Japan. The English version offers selected articles from. 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Luke Plunkett is a Contributing Editor based in Canberra, Australia. He has written a book on cosplay, designed a game about airplanes, and also runs. American whiskey, a spirit that cant be made without corn, an indigenous American grain, is a product unto itself. 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. And through the years, whiskey has developed into the complex, big bodied, distinctively American bourbons, ryes, and Tennessee whiskeys that today, are savored by connoisseurs, sipped by grandmothers, tossed back by barflies, and discovered by almost every American as he or she reaches that magical age of twenty one. American whiskey, itself, has reached maturity in relatively recent years, after spending a 3. And at times, the reverse is truewhiskey has affected the nation itself. Whiskey making was one of the first cottage industries in the land it was responsible for George Washington mustering federal troops for the first time, and whiskey went with the early pioneers as they traveled westward to explore new territories. Whiskey was a spirit of contention during the Civil War, and was, in part, the reason that Grant never served a third term in the White House. Whiskey spurred the women of America to lead a crusade that led to Prohibition, and has played a part in every major war this nation has seen. In short, where America has been, so has American whiskeyand where whiskey has traveled, so have Americans been influenced by its presence. Bourbon, in fact, is so darned American, that, in 1. Congress itself recognized it as a distinctive product of the U. S. A. And although straight rye, and Tennessee whiskeys havent attained such a prestigious honor, they too have traveled the same dusty trails that led to todays superhighways and are as distinctively American as any bourbon whiskey. When the first immigrants arrived on this continent, their love for alcohol in almost any shape or form led to a chain of events that would culminate in the creation of distinctive American whiskeys. By tracing the thirst the settlers wanted to slake we can plot the development of American whiskey from the early days of the settlers in Virginia and New England all the way through time to today. Furthermore, we can track the creation of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey back to their very rootsa rare opportunity when the subject is food or drink. The Settlers Search for a Decent Drink. Beer was probably the first kind of beverage alcohol produced in the early settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth. The early setters brought quite a supply of ale and spirits with them from England, but when their supplies dwindled, they had no choice but to brew their own beer, using whatever ingredients were close at hand. By the early 1. 62. Virginia were brewing beer that they claimed would tide them over until they got used to the water. 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. Was Thorpe actually distilling corn whiskey at the time Though that possibility is not unthinkable, its more probable that he was making corn beer. Whatever his product actually was, however, was strong enough to get a whole bunch of native Americans so drunk that they scalped and killed him in 1. Further north, the Pilgrims also were making beer, and according to John Hull Brown in his book, Early American Beverages, they werent above adding flavorings in the form of molasses, tree barks spruce, birch, and sassafras were popular, and fruit and vegetables, such as apples and pumpkins, to their brews. Though many types of grapes were native to America, the wines they produced were unlike the ones the Europeans were used to, and the colonists tried to cultivate European strains. However, European Vitis vinifera grapevines didnt fare well on the East Coast. Undeterred, they turned their talents to fermenting other fruitsand even vegetables. They made wines from elderberries, parsnips, pumpkins, and the likeif it fermented, they turned it into some form of beverage alcohol or other. The first settlers imported some alcohol toowines, brandy, and fortified wines such as Madeira, sack, and Canary. But they really wanted to become as self sufficient as possible, and although imported wines and liquors have always held that if it comes from France, it must be good image, the self sufficient Pilgrims and those who followed them soon started to make all kinds of drinks from the abundant native ingredients. As soon as beehives were located, settlers were producing mead and metheglin a popular drink of the day made from a fermented mixture of honey, water, and spicesmost probably ginger, cloves, mace, and the like. And once their orchards gave fruit, cider and perry pear cider were added to the menu. Funny Comedian Videos 50 Cent: Refuse 2 Die there. But still, these early Americans werent content. They wanted their own liquor. Stills had been commonplace on Scottish farms since the mid 1. And although it is possible that some early settlers built their own from imported raw materials, most were probably imported from Europe. Like the first beers and wines, the first liquors made here used a variety of ingredientsberries, plums, potatoes, apples, carrots, and grainanything that had the power to attract yeast and then ferment. The spirits they made were probably not the smoothest of potions, mind youbut they were liquor all the same. Two of the more popular American spirits during the first century and a half of colonization were peach brandy, made mainly in the Southern colonies, and applejack a brandy distilled from cider, which probably originated in or around New Jersey. The still popular Lairds Applejack can trace its roots to Scotsman William Laird, most probably a whisky distiller, and most definitely from the Highlands of Scotland. Laird settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, in 1. Interestingly enough, cider makers who didnt possess a still would, during the winter months, leave cider outside to freeze. The following morning they discarded the frozen portion, leaving them with very strong ciderthe alcohol content was concentrated in the liquid that didnt, or couldnt, freeze. 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. In 1. 64. 0, William Kieft, the Director General of the New Netherland Colony, decided that liquor should be distilled on Staten Island. 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 1. But until the mid eighteenth century, whiskey was made in relatively small quantities, mainly by farmer distillers, and without distinctive or consistent techniques. Though they were producing whiskey, its quality had to have been questionable. However, its interesting to look at why so many farmers in the century preceding independence were also distillers. Distillation is not an easy process. Aside from having to follow a complex, multi step recipe, distilling beverage alcohol in those days meant creating a highly flammable liquid over a heat source of open flames.