Any idea what they actually produced and how strong? I'm imagining a kickass American bourbon ( not some Euroweenie sippy drink ). I'm guessing rye ( today there are cornfields everywhere but back then, probably very little ). They could have used wheat or other grains too.
Anyway, just wondering. Never really crossed my mind before but since this is like a hundred years before Jack Daniels came along it might be interesting to know what they drank out there and how they made it.
I just remembered something. IIRC, there was talk alleging President Washington was sympathetic to crushing the rebellion because he also made Whiskey at Mount Vernon and this was his competition. That's all I recall though. May not be true but wouldn't surprise me.
My understanding was that in the late 18th cen. PA whiskey was considered the benchmark for quality. Whiskey was consumed in vast quantities in those days.
The feds action (which was thought up and pushed for by Hamilton--Jefferson opposed it) destroyed the distilling industry in this area and it subsequently moved to Kentucky and then Tennessee. The tax was not enforced in those areas.
Its actually a fascinating era and shows that the pressures; fed vs local that roiled those days are still rampant today.