Whiskeys for the 4th, just like the Founding Fathers

As we get ready to celebrate the Fourth of July, which is both the “birth of our nation” and a consistent top four finisher in per capita drinking holidays in the United States, we should remember and honor our history as it relates to booze. One of the main complaints by the British colonies was taxation without representation. And one of the acts of the British Parliament that greatly peeved the colonists was a tax on rum or, more correctly, a tax on the raw material for rum: the Sugar Act of 1764. Parliament had previously tried a more direct tax on rum with 1733’s Molasses Act, but it was largely ignored and mostly unenforced. The Sugar Act and the following so-called “Intolerable Acts” set the stage for war.

So, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that the preeminent alcohol used by our Founding Fathers to celebrate not only the signing of the Declaration of Independence but also the creation of the United States Constitution and even George Washington’s inauguration was fortified wine, specifically Madeira, a Portuguese product similar to port but distinctly its own. In fact, the bill for a party of the Constitution “creators” from the City Tavern in Philadelphia, circa 1787, still exists: $15,000 in today’s money spent on booze, of which 59 bottles were Madeira — for the 55 attendees and 16 musicians. Only eight bottles of whiskey were there, and no rum was listed, which seems odd considering rum’s pivotal role in the American Revolution and that Washington himself was the largest producer of rye whiskey in all of the Americas. In fact, he was the only sitting president to lead troops into battle, which he did in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, which was brought on by a tax imposed by a new and distant Congress on rye whiskey producers in western Pennsylvania. Taxation without representation indeed.

The integration of fortified wine into whiskey, and specifically American whiskey, took some time. The new United States eventually moved away from drinking rum and on to drinking whiskey. First, it was the rye whiskeys of the upper East Coast, and then when those whiskey rebels floated down the Ohio River to Kentucky, it became bourbon as well, ironically named after the French kings who had supported the American Revolution but who had lost their own.

The defining characteristic for American whiskey became not so much the raw material — corn, rye, wheat and barley — but rather the container for it. One use, heavily charred new oak barrels, became the unofficial designation for nearly 200 years before becoming the legal definition in the early 1960s with the implementation of the standards of identity for distilled spirits.

This designation separated American whiskey from scotch in particular, which was often aged in used fortified wine barrels — port, sherry and Madeira — as well as both Irish whiskey and Canadian whiskey, which can both also be made with used barrels. In a strange irony, scotch started using used American whiskey barrels to age their whiskey first, before moving the liquid into the used fortified wine barrels — a step that many believe is what separates the perception in quality difference between scotch and American whiskey. It would take American whiskey nearly 100 years to catch on to this trend. And now many highly sought-after American whiskeys are first aged in new oak barrels — to fit the legal requirement — before being moved into other used barrels for finishing. So much for independent thinking.

In Marin County, we have two whiskey makers who are doing exactly that, and both have things to celebrate going into this Fourth of July.

• Moylan’s Distilling Co.’s American Whisky Finished in a Port Barrel, $85

Moylan’s Distilling Co., based in Petaluma but owned by longtime Novato resident Brendan Moylan, just won the overall prize at the U.S. Open Whiskey Championship for the second year in a row and the fourth time overall. It also picked up one silver medal, two bronzes and a whopping four gold medals, including one for this port-finished American whiskey. (One of the bronzes was for their sherry-finished single malt.) Their American port-finished whisky (the scotch spelling) is a single malt whiskey made from 100% barley, which is both 5 years old and barrel strength (111.8 proof). The port finishing, using barrels from their next-door neighbor Sonoma Portworks, gives it a big rich liquor forwardness and a nice residual sweetness. It’s both traditional and iconoclastic at the same time, and that just screams America, doesn’t it?

For more information, go to moylansdistilling.com.

• Sausalito Liquor Co.’s Unsinkable Single Barrel Madeira Finished Bourbon, $75.99

Sausalito Liquor Co. is owned by Marin resident Scott Jampol, and the company has just introduced a limited-edition single-barrel bourbon finished in used Madeira barrels to add to their Unsinkable portfolio, which also already includes a port-finished rye and a cabernet sauvignon wine barrel-finished bourbon. Jampol takes his original Unsinkable bourbon (80% corn, 10% rye, 10% malted barley) and gives it a six-month finishing in used Napa Madeira wine barrels. It too is barrel strength (121 proof) and is a 6-year-old product. The Madeira helps to mellow out the high proof as well as gives the whiskey a nice raisiny, nutty finish. No wonder the Founding Fathers liked it so much! Only available for a limited time.

For more information, go to sausalitoliquor.com.