1914 Beverages de luxe

erected on more .scienlilic and ccoiioniic prinuiplL's than had been previously made. The first whisicy made in Kentucky was produced exclusive- ly from corn, which was grown right on the farms where these small stills had been set up. Later, it was found that the intro- duction of some rye with the corn, in the mash, increased the yield of spirits produced and improved the flavor. Still later, it was found that barley, malted, further increa.sed the yield. The fertile county of Uourboii was the largest producer of whisky in Kentucky in those early days, and it is said that the first still was erected there. The whisky made in that county became known as "B()url)i)ii Whisky." Later, other counties be- came celebrated for the quantity and character of their produc- tions of whisky, such as Nelson, Anderson, Fayette, Daviess, Marion, etc., and in Kentucky, before the Civil War, the county in which the whisky was produced became, as it were, a trade mark for all the distilleries in such county, so that, among Ken- tuckians, whisky was known by the county in which it was dis- tilled. But, outside of the State of Kentucky, Bourbon County, whicli had been the largest producer of whisky, became the mcst important source of supply for the demand for the goods from without the borders of the State, and, con.sequently, Kentucky whisky was linked with the name of that county. Bourbon, therefore, became a generic name, as known outside oi the State, to all whisky made in the whole State of Kentucky of which the largest percentage of grain, from which it was made, consisted of corn. Kentucky, having succeeded so well in establishing a legiti- mate commerce with Bourbon whisky, the distillers began to manufacture other whisky with a larger percentage of rye, and sometimes with a total of rye, known as "Rye Whisky," so that for more than a quarter of a century all whisky made in Ken- tucky has been known as either Bourbon or Rye whisky. As indicative of the improvements made in the .scientific distillation of whi.sky, I will cite the fact that the yield per bushel of grain of about two gallons and a quart of whisky has about doubled within the last half century. In my own experience in the busi- ne.ss, now pa.st forty years, I remember buying a crop of old- fashioned sour mash whisky, the yield of which was oidy two and one-fourth gallons per bushel. Such a small yield as this now would entail on the producer the payment of the (tovern- ment tax of $1.10 per gallon on the deficiency for his failure to obtain as much spirits from each bushel of grain as the Govern- ment, after surveying the distillery, holds should be the mini- mum amount produced in 1h(> iilant.