Hard liquor, corn whiskey, is one of the big reasons the US prospered in its early years before grain could be transported in bulk. All a farmer had to do to monetize his corn crop was ferment it and distill it into whiskey, with a HUGE volume reduction, and he could ship and sell the resulting whiskey all over, just as George Washington did with the whiskey he produced at Mt. Vernon in very large volumes. It also, through the alcohol tax, became the Federal Government’s largest source of income.
So let’s all take a drink, in moderation, to that good stuff.
As the european monks did with converting the barley and wheat stocks to beer. At the time the grain stocks were driving people mad from the mold present during grain storage. By making beer, the grains could be stored in mass liquid form in wooden barrels. One pint of good Trappest Monk brew = 1/2 a loaf of bread in nutrition.
And upon Washington’s death he willed his businesses to the slaves that had worked them. Huge fish salting business from the shad and sucker runs. Big distillery business. Big vineyard, wine making business. The same wine his troops were rationed each day. A very hearty dry red.