High Life

HIGH LIFE 81 During his two terms as President, Washington had to deal with, inter alia, the Whiskey Rebellion, a popular protest against the “whiskey tax” which was the first tax imposed ondomestic products by the nascent Federal Government to repaywar debts incurredduringtheWarofIndependence.ComeththetaxmentoPennsylvania andMaryland fled the tax-dodgers to Kentucky andTennessee, and the two frontier states would go on to become America’s whiskey centres. The name “bourbon” originated from Bourbon County in northeastern Kentucky, whose county seat is Paris, but that iswhere the connection to the royal house and le Roi-Soleil Louis XIV ends. Curiously, bourbon can be produced outside of Bourbon County and indeed Kentucky, whereas Bourbon County actually produces little bourbon. True to the American spirit, it was private enterprise, not imperial decrees or government directives, that pushed bourbon forward. In the late 18th century, Baptist preacher Rev. Elijah Craig began experimenting with charred barrels and, in the early 19th century, Scottish immigrant Dr James Crowrefined the sourmash process. For their contributions, their names have been immortalised on the labels of numerouswhiskeys. Itwas not until 1964, during the tenure of Lyndon Johnson, that Congress finally gave bourbon a legal definition, as Senate Concurrent Resolution 19 on 4th May 1964 stipulated that a “straight bourbon” must be: • Made with no less than 51% of corn in its mash bill; • Distilled to no more than 80% ABV; • Aged at no more than 62.5% ABV in flame-charred new white oak barrels; and • Bottled at no less than 40%. “Unlike distilleries in Scotland, where the malting, distillation and maturation processes are often taken care of by various people, we take care of everything ourselves, from start to finish.” Eddie Russell