Did you know that there is a distillery in Pakistan? Alcohol consumption is illegal, but that wasn’t made law until 1979 by the Hudood Ordinance. The Murree Brewery is the […]
White Corn is in the Mashbill
Did you know that the original recipe for Old Taylor called for an heirloom white corn, not yellow corn? Generally bourbon made today uses feed corn in their recipes because […]
There Were No “Old” American Whiskeys Before 1958…
Picture the whiskey industry after WWII. The few distilleries that remained after prohibition had been successful with pulling themselves out of a whiskey drought by producing massive amounts of young […]
Whiskey Production Finally Rebounds to Pre-Prohibition Numbers…
It may seem like an enormous amount of whiskey is being produced in the United States right now. That may be true, but we’re only just catching up to production […]
XXX on Whiskey Jugs Means Something…
Did you know that the XXX on old whiskey jugs actually means something? We’re all familiar with these jugs from cartoons and from American mythology. It was a common marking […]
Proof of Proof? History of Proof vs. ABV
Did you know that “proof” of alcohol content used to be proven with gunpowder? The term proof probably originated in the 16th century. Soldiers had no tools to determine whether […]
Is Distilling Illegal? Yes.
Is distilling legal if you’re just making it for personal consumption? NO. It is very much ILLEGAL. I get these questions a lot. Why would they sell stills smaller than […]
The Whiskey Wars
Maybe you’ve heard about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, but the Whiskey Wars? October, and conversations with people about pre-Prohibition whiskeys, got me thinking about the Whiskey Wars. They began […]
Bourbon County History
Did you know that Bourbon County was originally part of Virginia? Bourbon County, Kentucky may not be the namesake for our favorite American liquor…So if not Bourbon County, KY, where […]
Laird’s Apple Jack- America’s First Licensed Distillery
It’s autumn now and that makes me think of applejack… Laird’s applejack is not whiskey, but it was the first licensed distillery in the United States. I’m particularly proud of […]