Distilled In Washington

Stories to Savor Washington has a tortured history with liquor. Efforts to ban or restrict it date back to1854, before the region even attained statehood, with blue laws remaining on the books well into the twentieth century. From Jimmie Durkin, an enterprising saloon owner, to Roy Olmstead, a former Seattle cop turned gentleman bootlegger, the business of liquor has inspired both trouble and innovation. Join author and journalist Becky Garrison as she traces the history of the barrel and the bottle from early settlement to the modern craft distilling boom in the Evergreen State.

Introduction -- "Spiritous Liquors" -- Master of Mount Vernon -- "A Pretty Considerable Distillery" -- Big Whiskey -- Making George Washington's Whiskey -- George Washington on Alcohol -- the American Whiskey Trail -- Portfolio of Distillery Images -- Notes -- Index

"Men are divided into three classes. There are men who love their liquor, men who sell liquor, and politicians who are on both sides of the question." Before Prohibition, a number of liquor merchants operated in the District of Columbia. This was a time when intoxicating beverages were at the forefront of the national conversation and the District, being subject only to laws passed by Congress, served as a testing ground for regulation. Learn the stories of the Poison Squad, Lemonade Lucy, the Sons of Temperance, and the sad tale of Senators baseball star Ed Delahanty. On the political front, read a blow-by-blow account of the decade long whiskey war, which involved every branch of the federal government as it sought to answer the question, "What is whiskey?" Local author and whiskey producer Troy Hughes provides a glimpse into Washington whiskey culture and the businesses of producers at the turn of the twentieth century.

Early Oregon fur traders concocted a type of distilled beverage known as "Blue Ruin," used in commerce with local Native Americans. Drawn by the abundant summer harvests of the Willamette Valley, distillers put down roots in the nineteenth century. Because of Oregon's early sunset on legal liquor production in 1916--four years before national Prohibition--hundreds of illicit stills popped up across the state. Residents of Portland remained well supplied, thanks to the infamous efforts of Mayor George Baker. The failed national experiment ended in 1933, and Hood River Distillers resurrected the sensible enterprise of turning surplus fruit into brandy in 1934. Thanks in part to the renowned Clear Creek Distillery triggering a craft distilling movement in 1985, the state now boasts seventy distilleries and counting. Author Scott Stursa leads a journey through the history of distilling in the Beaver State.

Colonist George Thorpe first crafted "corn beere," an ancestor to bourbon, in 1620 at Berkeley Plantation, and George Washington once operated one of the nation's largest distilleries. Icy mint juleps were first served in Virginia until the state was one of the first to enact Prohibition. That dark period gave rise to bootlegging, moonshining and even NASCAR. Through well-documented research, interviews with key stakeholders and plenty of cocktail recipes for the reader to shake and stir at home, author Patrick Evans-Hylton showcases the rich history of four hundred years of drinking in the Commonwealth. Raise a glass to Virginia, birthplace of American spirits, and its long history of distilling and imbibing.

An encyclopedia guide to the thousand-year history and dynamic future of the distillation of whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, brandy, and more.

Discusses the regulation of distilled ethyl alcohol in Washington State.