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Liquor (also hard liquor, hard alcohol, spirit, or distilled drink) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruit, or vegetables that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. The distillation process purifies the liquid and removes diluting components like water, for the purpose of increasing its proportion of alcohol content (commonly expressed as alcohol by volume, ABV). As liquors contain significantly more alcohol, they are considered "harder" – in North America, the term hard liquor is used to distinguish distilled alcoholic drinks from non-distilled ones.
As examples, this term does not include beverages such as beer, wine, mead, sake, or cider, as they are fermented but not distilled. These all have a relatively low alcohol content, typically less than 15%. Brandy is a liquor produced by the distillation of wine, and has an ABV of over 35%. Other examples of liquors include vodka, baijiu, gin, rum, tequila, mezcal, and whisky. (Also see list of alcoholic drinks, and liquors by national origin.)
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington, ultimately under the command of American Revolutionary war veteran Major James McFarlane. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. The tax applied to all distilled spirits, but American whiskey was by far the country's most popular distilled beverage in the 18th century, so the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax". Farmers of the western frontier were accustomed to distilling their surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or fermented grain mixtures to make whiskey. These farmers resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the federal government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression of Congressional taxation powers.
Throughout Western Pennsylvania counties, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax. Resistance came to a climax in July 1794, when a U.S. marshal arrived in western Pennsylvania to serve writs to distillers who had not paid the excise. The alarm was raised, and more than 500 armed men attacked the fortified home of tax inspector General John Neville. Washington responded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to enforce the tax. Washington himself rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency, with 13,000 militiamen provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The rebels all went home before the arrival of the army, and there was no confrontation. About 20 men were arrested, but all were later acquitted or pardoned. Most distillers in nearby Kentucky were found to be all but impossible to tax—in the next six years, over 175 distillers from Kentucky were convicted of violating the tax law. Numerous examples of resistance are recorded in court documents and newspaper accounts. Read more...
Born in Inverness, Doctor James C. "Jim" Crow (1789–1856) has sometimes been loosely credited as the perfecter of the sour mash process used in creating bourbon whiskey. There are no historical records pinpointing him as the creator.
Dr. Crow, a Scottish chemist-physician, graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in 1822. He moved from Philadelphia to Kentucky in 1823 and began working for a distiller, utilizing his scientific and medical training. Read more...
 A glass and bottle of Jiugui brand baijiu ( Chinese: 白酒; pinyin: báijiǔ; literally: 'white (clear) liquor'), also known as shaojiu, is a category of at least a dozen Chinese liquors made from grain. Báijiǔ is a clear liquid usually distilled from fermented sorghum, although other grains may be used; some southeastern Chinese styles may employ rice or glutinous rice, while other Chinese varieties may use wheat, barley, millet, or even Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen ( yìyǐ) in their mash bills. The qū starter culture used in the production of baijiu is usually made from pulverized wheat grain or steamed rice. Read more...
 A view of the rear of Diageo's Clynelish Distillery near Brora is a distillery near Brora, Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. The original Clynelish distillery was built in 1819, adjacent to the present operational Clynelish distillery which was built in 1967. The original distillery briefly ran side-by-side with the new one (Clynelish A and Clynelish B) but for financial reasons closed in 1968. However, the original distillery was reopened in May 1969 and ran until July 1983. During this time it was renamed Brora. It produced a heavily peated whisky to supply for blending; this was done to cover a shortage of Islay whisky available for blends, reportedly caused by the rebuilding of the Caol Ila distillery (reported during the Manager's Tour of the distillery in September 2015). Following closure in 1983, Brora whisky has become one of the most rare and desired whiskies in the world, costing around one thousand pounds a bottle. Read more...
Speyburn Distillery was founded in 1897 by John Hopkins & Company for the sum of £17,000. The site was chosen by John Hopkins himself for its unpolluted water supply from the Granty Burn, one of the major tributaries to the River Spey. Hopkins appointed the famous distillery architect Charles C Doig to design the distillery and to this day Speyburn has its classic pagoda ventilator, a hallmark of Doig's design. The proprietors, keen to have production started to ensure that the first fillings could bear the date 1897 - Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - had scheduled production to begin on 1 November 1897. However, due to delays, the stills did not run until 15 December. When production finally began, the still house was without doors and windows. Under the watchful eye of the distillery's manager, John Smith, the first spirit was run off in a violent snow storm with the distillery men working in overcoats and mufflers to protect them from the elements. However, the proprietors succeeded in achieving their ambition and one butt was produced and bonded bearing the date 1897. Read more...
 Whisky producing regions of Scotland are the single malt Scotch whiskies produced on the islands around the perimeter of the Scottish mainland. The islands (excluding Islay) are not recognised in the Scotch Whisky Regulations as a distinct whisky producing region, but are considered to be part of the Highland region. Islay is itself recognised as a distinct whisky producing region (see Islay whisky). The whiskies produced on the Islands are extremely varied and have few similarities, though can often be distinguished from other whisky regions by generally having a smokier flavour with peaty undertones. Read more...
The Old Bushmills Distillery is a distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, that is owned by Casa Cuervo of Mexico. All of the whiskey bottled under the Bushmills whiskey brand is produced at the Bushmills Distillery and uses water drawn from Saint Columb's Rill, which is a tributary of the River Bush. The distillery is a popular tourist attraction, with around 120,000 visitors per year. The company that originally built the distillery was formed in 1784, although the date 1608 is printed on the label of the brand – referring to an earlier date when a royal licence was granted to a local landowner to distil whiskey in the area. After various periods of closure in its subsequent history, the distillery has been in continuous operation since it was rebuilt after a fire in 1885. Read more...
The Jameson Experience, Midleton, (also known as the Old Midleton Distillery) is an Irish whiskey museum and visitor centre located in the Old Midleton Distillery in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Set over 15 acres, since opening as a visitor's centre in 1992, the old distillery has received approximately 100,000 guests per year, receiving 125,000 in 2015. The Old Midleton Distillery in which the Jameson Experience is located began life as a woollen mill, before being converted to a military barracks and subsequently a distillery in 1825. The distillery operated until 1975, when a new distillery was constructed alongside it to house the consolidated operations of three former whiskey-making rivals, John Jameson & Son, John Powers & Son, and Cork Distilleries Company (owners of the Midlelton Distillery), who had come together to form Irish Distillers in 1966. It now houses a visitor centre, a restaurant, and a gift shop. Read more...
 Six Classic Malts of Scotland box The Classic Malts of Scotland is a selection of six single malt whiskies, launched and marketed together in 1988 by United Distillers and Vintners which is now owned by Diageo. They are often displayed together in bars and liquor stores. Diageo has since marketed other single malt labels and expressions with the Classic Malts labeling. The six original malts are: UDV's regions differ from the more conventional categorisations of Highland (and subregion Island), Lowland, Speyside, Campbeltown, and Islay. The region of West Highland was created to separate between Oban and Dalwhinnie. Talisker is the only distillery on the Isle of Skye, which has never been a whisky region unto itself, but would be in the Island subregion; though this categorisation enabled UDV to include both Talisker and Lagavulin, strongly flavoured malts with strong followings. Campbeltown, a formerly prominent whisky-making region, is not featured in the range. Read more...
 Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over twenty million visitors. The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. The ground floor introduces the beer's four ingredients (water, barley, hops and yeast), and the brewery's founder, Arthur Guinness. Other floors feature the history of Guinness advertising and include an interactive exhibit on responsible drinking. The seventh floor houses the Gravity Bar with views of Dublin and where visitors may drink a pint of Guinness included in the price of admission, which was €18.50 on 15 October 2018 with discounts depending on dates and times, described as "overpriced" by Condé Nast Traveler. In 2006, a new wing opened incorporating a live installation of the present-day brewing process. Read more...
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