whiskey definition
William H. Taft comes from a family of lawyers. He was also a lawyer and served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In March 1909, he succeeded Roosevelt as the 27th President of the United States. Although he and Roosevelt were both Republicans, their styles were quite different. They favored the capitalists and defended their interests at all times. Therefore, distillers who thought they were suppressed by the Clean Food and Drug Act had a chance to survive, especially The bill does not specify the recipe for pure whiskey, leaving room for interpretation. President Taft accepted their request, and the Jedi appointed himself as the judge of (what is whiskey). Putting the final word on the Clean Food and Drug Act.
President Taaffe spent six months listening to both sides, holding public hearings on the following issues, including Colonel Taylor and George Brown:
1. What is whiskey, and what does this term mean to manufacturers, distributors and consumers?
2. What alcoholic beverages are included in the word whiskey?
3. As a grain recipe for whiskey, what are the most and least grain ingredients?
4. Can the word whiskey be applied to medicines and drinks respectively? If so, under what circumstances?
In order to answer the questions at the public hearing, the report was 1,200 pages thick. According to the conclusion of the report, President Taft signed a 9-page communiqué, later known as the "Taft Decision", which stipulated that the definition of American whiskey is as follows:
1. Bourbon whiskey: The grain formula must contain more than 51% corn.
2. Corn whiskey: The grain formula must contain more than 80% corn.
3. Rye whiskey: The grain formula contains more than 51% rye.
4. Nye malt whiskey: The grain formula must contain more than 51% naked malt.
5. Wheat whiskey: The grain formula must contain more than 51% wheat.
This is a document that neither party is satisfied with, but is acceptable to both parties. In addition to the above definition, it also stipulates that only water can be added to reduce the alcohol content of the above various whiskeys when bottling. If other substances are added, it will Must be called (Blended Whiskey). In addition, any neutral alcohol brewed from grains can be called whiskey, but if molasses is used as raw material, it can only be called rum. Distillers no longer need to label the whiskey as imitation whiskey, but they are also not allowed to use the adjective "Pure" and replace it with another "Straight".
The specifications as we know them today are mainly based on the Taft Judges, but with some modifications. The highest degree of distillation of road bourbon must not exceed 160 proof, it must be matured in new toasted oak barrels, and it must be grown in the United States. Production and so on, but the core is still this important document from 1909.
temperance movement
On January 16, 1920, the day before Prohibition went into effect, traffic in San Francisco was almost paralyzed. Cars, trucks, vans and all other available means of transportation were blocked on the roads. Boxes full of wine bottles are being shipped out on the last day: wooden boxes or wicker baskets are placed in front of bars and restaurants, with bottles of wine inside as well, with signs inserted on them and crooked writing. (Sale: 1 yuan per bottle).
The next day, January 17, 1920, the regular customers walked into the bar as usual and found that the shelves were empty and could only stare blankly at the cup of tea in front of them? Federal officials were busy moving boxes of wine from the bar's secret storage room, breaking bottles and pouring the wine into roadside ditches, and then smiling broadly as they invited reporters to take photos: That night, police closed two bars in Detroit. The winery, affixing a seal to the door (a sight that would become common in the coming years), reported the winery's intention to bribe law enforcement officials.
The Prohibition Campaign Before and After the Civil War
America and wine cannot be separated, that's an indisputable fact. Mark Twain wrote in his autobiographical travelogue "Life on the Mississippi" published in 1883: The earliest pioneer of civilization was never a steamship, not a train, not a newspaper, not a Sunday school ( Sabbath-school) or preacher, always whiskey. Poor immigrants, traders, gamblers, desperadoes, and highway robbers followed the liquor trail to the west, followed closely by lawyers and undertakers.
Although Mark Twain's observation is exaggerated, it depicts alcoholism at the bottom of American society in detail, which directly and indirectly leads to domestic violence and political corruption. Therefore, the call for prohibition in the United States did not just start in the 20th century. It had already appeared in 1826 when the term bourbon whiskey was not widely known (The American Temperance Socitey, ATS). By 1835, the number of people joining the ATS had expanded to 1.5 million, most of whom were women.
Under the constant advocacy of ascetics led by devout Protestants-mainly Wesleyans (Methodists)-the anti-alcohol movement known as the dry crusader gradually became popular. In the 19th century, it expanded its focus to fight against corruption. Politically related poets clubs, bars and other places of origin, and gradually achieved some results. Tennessee, a state with a large number of Puritans, passed the nation's first prohibition bill in 1838, prohibiting the sale of spiituou liquors in inns and three-pointers. Violators would be fined, and the fines were used to support public schools, but in the end it seemed to be nothing. . In 1851, Maine passed legislation known as the Maine Laws, which prohibited the production and sale of spirits. This bill was followed by a total of 12 states before 1855, but it caused great dissatisfaction among the working class and immigrants, so it was repealed in 1856. Then the entire temperance movement came to an abrupt end with the entry of the Civil War.
After the war, the Dry Crusade was revived. The most vocal groups included the Prohibition Party, founded in 1869, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, WCTU, founded in 1873. Among them were housewives. The main WCTU exerted the most force. They were fed up with their husbands' violent behavior after drinking, and hoped to educate their female compatriots to resist together, so the second president, Frances Willard, set the goal of the organization as (uniting women of various denominations and educating young people to the formation of public sentiment, the redemption of drunkards enslaved to alcohol by the power of divine grace, and the passage of legislation to remove saloons from the streets). Although women did not have the right to vote at the time, the WCTU still followed the principle of "Do Everything", calling for the inclusion of moderate drinking into public policy, and linking it with the promotion of progressive bills such as prison reform and labor laws.
Through the initiative of these temperance groups, Kansas became the first state after the Civil War to legislate the sale of alcoholic beverages in 1881. Documents record that more than 30 people were arrested, fined, and imprisoned for violating the law. Carrie Nation (Carrie Nation) is a representative figure of radical women. Her husband is an alcoholic, which makes her hate alcohol products. She leads women holding high anti-alcohol signs and entering salons in groups. , yelled at customers, took out an ax and a stick and smashed wine bottles, known as the "Kansas Saloon Smashers." The political influence of the women's group's aversion to alcohol gradually expanded. In 1893, the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) replaced the Prohibition Party and the WCTU and became the most active anti-alcohol organization. Nathan was first arrested for destroying private property in 1901. He was in and out of prison no less than 30 times in 10 years. However, this kind of fierce resistance method was relatively rare. Other more moderate groups often gathered outside the salon to persuade by singing and praying. Customers, begging salon owners to stop selling alcohol. Similar anti-alcohol trends gradually spread to other states, or to some groups within states, especially in the southern states, which also enacted different bans.
The political turmoil of prohibition
Among the many individuals and groups who supported Prohibition was Wayne Wheeler of Ohio, who was a key figure in Prohibition's eventual implementation as an amendment.
Wheeler was born in 1869 on a farm near the small town of Yungstown, Ohio. As a child, a drunken worker accidentally stabbed him in the leg with a pitchfork. The psychological shadow made him hate prohibition. At the height of his power in the 1920s, he was elegantly dressed in a neat three-piece suit, but he still looked like an insurance company clerk, not a scary man who "pulled a puppet" as his opponents described him.
Wheeler was inspired in 1893 at a Congregational church in Ohio, but she was listening to a lecture on temperance by Howard H. Russell, the minister who had recently formed the Anti-Saloon League (ASL). ). After listening to the speech, Wheeler's latent enthusiasm exploded, and he immediately signed a contract with ASL, becoming one of the first full-time employees and becoming the most efficient political pressure group (Pressure Group) in the country in the future.
When he first started his ASL career, there were many believers in the temperance movement across the country, but there was a lack of effective leadership. Although the WCTU and the (Prohibition Party) have many members and a large organization, their demands have spread to other social reform issues, which has weakened their leadership ability on the issue of alcohol prohibition. Only the ASL is only interested in one thing: removing alcohol from the American people. Get rid of it in daily life.
In order to complete this arduous mission, they set a short-term goal of urging each state to legislate the manufacture and sale of alcoholic products. The approach they adopted is no longer targeted at saloons, but to concentrate on influencing local politicians in the election and fully support them. Member for the Prohibition Act. At the same time, he also tried his best to stop the senators who opposed the prohibition laws. Simply put, ASL's policy strategy is to redistribute political power.
In the Ohio election, the ASL defeated all 70 rival incumbents (almost half of the Assembly members). In addition to effectively controlling the legislative body, it also puts the choice of whether or not to ban alcohol directly in the hands of voters. However, Governor Myron Herrik did not fully pay for it. After weighing different versions of the legislative body's proposals, he persuaded the commissioners to proceed. Some modifications have been made to make the plan more fair and feasible.
Ohio's liberal bill, signed into law before the 1905 election, was too much for the ASL to accept: and Wheeler was simply outraged and decided to challenge Herrick directly, in addition to sponsoring more than 300 protest rallies across the state and mobilizing church supporters to turn Herrick away. Rick was a big supporter of liquor interests. Before the election, Wheeler received a copy of a confidential letter sent by the Brewers Association to Herrick, urging association members to provide materials to support the governor's re-election. Wheeler immediately copied thousands of copies and sent them to churches around the country. Rick was charged with colluding with the wine dealer.
This election set the highest turnout in Ohio's gubernatorial election. Herrick's political career ended, and Wheeler, who had made great achievements, boasted: After this battle. No political party can anymore dare to ignore the moral power of the Church.
