WHISKEY

WHISKEY. Many early colonial settlers were from Ireland and Scotland and were acquainted with the art of distilling whiskey, principally from malt. Many of the Irish and Scottish immigrants settled in western Pennsylvania, which in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries became a center of rye-whiskey making. In Kentucky, settlers discovered that whiskey could be produced from corn, which eventually became America's leading spirit. In 1792 there were 2,579 small distilleries throughout the United States. The drink emerged as a patriotic alternative to rum, which relied on imported molasses.

Whiskey became such a vital part of the ecomony that in 1794 western settlers organized in protest against a federal excise tax in the Whiskey Rebellion. Enormous distilling plants flourished in Kentucky, manufacturing sour mash, sweet mash, bourbon whiskey, and a small percentage of rye. Prohibition changed the business dramatically, destroying many long-established companies. In 1935 Kentucky produced 197 million gallons of whiskey. Producing a relatively low 104 million gallons in 1955, whiskey distillers in the United States put out 160 million gallons in 1970. By 1972 production had fallen to 126 million gallons.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crowgey, Henry G. Kentucky Bourbon: The Early Years of Whiskey Making. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1971.

Rorabaugh, W. J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Alvin F.Harlow/h. s.

See alsoAlcohol, Regulation of ; Distilling ; Prohibition ; Rum Trade ; Whiskey Rebellion .