Whiskey n’ Rye – America
Itʼs a scene almost as iconic as the mesas and buttes of Monument Valley: the saloon doors swinging open and a bottle of whiskey sliding down the counter to yet another dusty, thirsty cowboy. But the story of American whiskey goes back to before the West was settled. Fiona McDonald reports.
In 2009 the stills at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate in Virginia, flowed with spirit again – more than 200 years after ceasing production. Before his death in 1799 George Washing- ton, the quintessential American pioneer president, was one of the country’s most successful distillers. His Mount Vernon spread boasted its own grist mill, still house with 50 mash tuns and five copper stills – the smallest of which had a capacity of just under 500l. The distillation was handled by John Anderson, the son of Washington’s Scottish farm overseer, James Anderson, along with six slaves.
According to surprisingly detailed records which have survived, the recipe for Washington’s Mount Vernon whiskey comprised 60% rye, 35% corn and five percent barley. In the year of his death, the estate produced 50 000l of whiskey and produced a whopping profit of $7 500, according to Michael Jackson’s book, Whisky, the definitive world guide.
Washington’s whiskey is representative of the style of the spirit that would have been distilled in the late 1700’s. It provides a snapshot of American whiskey’s origins and development – a tale involving settlers, taxation, war, pioneers and using the raw materials available locally.
One of the largest settlements in America at the time – and still the largest – New York, was originally called New Amsterdam. That should provide an indication of the predominance of Dutch settlers who’d based themselves there – along with Germans too. Both these nationalities had a long tradition of distilling so it was only natural that they would have continued to do so.
They blended corn, because it was grown locally by the indigenous Indian population and rye, because they knew it and used it to bake their traditional breads. Barley was less successful as a crop in those early days.
Revolution
From 1775 to 1783 the American colonists fought a war of independence against the British, aided by the French. (Take note: that’s important and crops up later!) The American revolution as it came to be known, established the new nation’s independence but it also financially hamstrung the country.
With taxes on imported items as high as could be tolerated, Washington and his government needed to raise money – and lots of it. Consequently a decision was taken to enact the first tax on a domestically produced item – whiskey – in 1791. It led to the whiskey rebellion which lasted three years.
As Dave Broom stated in his lecture on American Whiskey at last year’s Whisky Live festival, farmers realized the benefits of processing their raw material – corn. Farmers could get 50c for a bushel of corn but there was a glut of it and transport was expensive. Getting it to market would cost them more than the price they could realise.
By distilling it and making whiskey, it was also easily transported to market and a more valuable product – worth around two dollars for the same bushel of raw material. “Makes more sense to distill, doesn’t it?” was Broom’s summation. By 1794 the opposition to the whiskey tax had taken on a violent edge and even led to armed insurrection. The whiskey rebellion is notable for the fact that it became the first time that the federal government raised its armed forces to quell the growing opposition which it did with a 13 000 strong show of force in Monongahela, Pennsylvania.
What many farmers did was to simply up stakes and move elsewhere – in this case, over the Appalachian mountains into areas which were beyond the reach of the federal government – such as Kentucky and Tennessee which remain to this day, the heartland of the American whiskey distilling tradition.
Because of the financial and logistical support of the French during the American war of independence, in 1785 (before the same French Royal family had their respective heads lopped off in the French Revolution of 1789…) a large county was named after the French Royal family – Bourbon. Whiskey made in that county was transported in barrels emblazoned with the area of origin – and that’s how the American spirit became synonymous with being called Bourbon.
The impact of the influx of Scots and Irish settlers had a profound impact on American distillation. The Scots began arriving after being forcibly displaced from the Highlands in the late 1700’s while the Irish potato famine caused thousands of people to flee to America around 1840. They brought their skills and knowledge of the distilling process along with them.
Historic records from 1810 reflect that there were 2000 registered distilleries and that by 1850 this had grown to 5000 registered potstills in Pennsylvania alone. So what happened? Why is it that American whiskey production slumped so dramatically?
It started in the mid-1800s with the Civil War when many men went off to fight and production almost grinding to a halt. Just a few decades after that the temperance movement kicked in and Prohibition was proclaimed. It lasted until 1933 (see the story elsewhere on Page 26). During Prohibition most of the distilleries went out of business – and those that managed to keep their doors open and the stills flowing were producing limited amounts of medicinal alcohol. The Irish and Scots had stepped into the void and the market got used to drinking their whiskies. Other contributory factors were the Depression and World War II.
Modern influences
Stuart Ramsay wrote the following in his overview of American whisky in Jackson’s book: He noted that there has been a resurgence in interest in American whiskey since the 1980s. People tired of the mass production and dumbing down of the product began rediscovering complexity and quality of aged American whiskey.
Dave Broom echoed those sentiments in his Whisky Live lecture in Johannesburg. He said American whiskey is one of the most exciting – and fastest growing – segments of the international whisky market. It’s certainly the most innovative – and one of the biggest areas of innovation is that of yeast strains.
“You’ve got to remember that you can’t rush whisky. For those of us who drink and write that’s an immensely frustrating thing because we want the new stuff to see what’s happening. But whisky takes 10 or 20 years to be ready – and when it’s experimental, it might work…and it might not! So what we’re seeing now is the result of experiments conducted one and two decades ago.”
Broom also quipped that many of the American whiskies he brought for the masterclasses were not available locally. “That’s partly done to torture you – but mainly to demonstrate that there’s a world of complex and innovative American whiskies out there that you may not be aware of.” He presented seven whiskies at the tasting: Bernheim original small batch whiskey, Kentucky; Rittenhouse straight rye; Maker’s Mark; Four Roses small batch; Four Roses single barrel; Blanton’s single barrel, and Elijah Craig single barrel, aged 18 years “Rye gives power, corn the roundness and wheat the delicacy and lightness,” he said.
Most modern American whiskies are a blend of all three. American whiskies are unique in that they don’t use just one yeast strain – as in Scotland. Each distillery jealously guards its yeasts. That’s where much of the complexity in modern American whiskey is created. Four Roses, established in 1888, has five different strains – because it used to be owned by Seagrams which also owned four other distilleries. The other four shut their doors but the yeast strains were retained… It’s now in the Japanese Kirin stable.
“Strain K provides a spice, while O offers bold fruits. Strain Q is quite floral while F is more herbal and finally the V strain is lightly fruity,” Broom said.
It is by playing around with these strains and different percentages of rye, corn and wheat that deliciously unique whiskies are being produced in America.
“If you try and wrap your head around the intricacies of all that you’re bound to end up with a headache,” Broom conceded. “But what a nice headache! It’s that sort of complexity that makes American whisky so exciting.”
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