Learn how the Sugar Act and the Revolutionary War pushed colonial drinkers away from rum and toward rye whiskey.

Learn how the first president ran one of the young country's largest whiskey operations, and why farmer-distillers in western Pennsylvania rebelled against Alexander Hamilton's whiskey tax.

Follow the path from Kentucky whiskey becoming “bourbon” to the unscrupulous dealers who cut it with additives, and the Taft Decision that finally separated straight and blended whiskey by law.

About the course

This module covers the first chapter of American whiskey's economic and political history, from Colonial rum through the 1909 Taft Decision. You'll learn why rum gave way to rye, how George Washington became one of the country's largest whiskey distillers, and how the Whiskey Rebellion tested the new federal government. From there, you'll follow Kentucky whiskey's transformation into “bourbon,” the rise of unscrupulous rectifiers, and the sequence of laws, Bottled-in-Bond, Pure Food and Drug, and finally the Taft Decision that defined straight whiskey as we know it today.  This is a standalone module: it does not include the Level One exam or certification, which are only awarded with the complete 10-module program.

Your Instructor: Susan Reigler

Susan Reigler wrote the book on American whiskey. Eight of them, actually. She's the author or co-author of eight books on bourbon and American spirits, an adjunct professor of Beer & Spirits at Eastern Kentucky University, and a working spirits judge — which means she's spent decades doing exactly what this course teaches you to do, at a level most drinkers never reach. She's judged whiskeys against each other by the hundreds, trained hospitality students on the science behind every barrel, and turned some of the industry's driest regulations into stories people actually remember. That's the instructor behind every module in American Whiskey Scholar: someone who has done the tasting, read the fine print, and can tell you precisely why your glass tastes the way it does.

Curriculum

1 Chapter · 16 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome to Colonial Era to The Taft Decision

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      The Colonial Era - Rum

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Colonial Era - Rye

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      The Colonial Era - The Whiskey Rebellion

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Settling the Frontier - Farm Distilling West of the Appalachians

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Settling the Frontier - Kentucky Whiskey Becomes “Bourbon”

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      After the Civil War: Distilling Goes Commercial - From Barrels to Bottles

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      After the Civil War: Distilling Goes Commercial - The Rectifiers

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Whiskey Regulations - Bottled-in-Bond, 1897

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Whiskey Regulations - Pure Food & Drug Act, 1906

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Whiskey Regulations - Taft Decision, 1909

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      Colonial America Era to The Taft Decision

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      Timeline of American Whiskey Events

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      Quiz

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      Review Questions

    16. (Included in full purchase)

      Recommended Reading

Learn where bourbon's rules came from.

Enroll in History: Colonial Era to The Taft Decision and trace the fight to define whiskey.

$49.00

Enroll now