The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-17
Is ~ HE best whisky In the world II
genuine handmade sour mash.
distilled In wood. and never al

f1H DeSL WHlsky III inc WOItu -
genuine handmade sour mash.
distilled In wood, and never al
lowed to touch more metal than
the gooseneck and the worm,"
man who should know said the other
day. II know because was raised In
dstillery. Not one Of your flaming CONF
niercial whisky trust affairs, but one that
had individuality and a pride In It's brands.
My father owned 1t; first and last he own
ed something like a dozen dIstilleries. The
one that made me whisky wise was big
log affair, set down in a wooded nat be-
side picturesque tumbling little creek
and a spring Of the finest clear water In
the world
'.rhat meant something, let me tell you.
The water that goes into the beer leaves
its mark on the subsequent whitky. We
had fairish-sixed steam engine for grind
ing, pumping and 20 on. IT also heated
water for the mash, and later did the dis
filling We had fifty odd mash tubs and
three beer vats whose capacity was 1900
gallons A busheI and half Of coarsely
ground meal went into each OF the tubs.
was wet thoroughly with scalding water.
then mixed and kneaded and pounded with
the mash stick, wooden implement with
a straight handle and a square. open
Slated blade. The mixing took both
knowledge and muscle. After II was done
the tubs were left until the next day, The
sometimes amused myself by stepping
nimbly from one tub to another without
breaking through the crust.
1.-THE next morning the mash was broken
up in cold water to form sort Of thin
cruel. Then the tubs were emptied into
the vat and the Cruel dosed literally with
yeast ard ground malt. We made our own
malt from corn, letting 1t sprout, then dry
ing and grinding 1t. Sometimes we put in
also a few handfuls Of ground rye. Very
occasionally we had some Of the malt Of
commerce. For the most part. however.
our whisky was % strictly homemade az
handmade.
1.-THE beer stood two days in the vat be-
fore dstilling. Right there comes In the
thing which makes sour mash so much of
commercial impossibilty. For sweet
mash distilling the meal Is mixed IN the
vat by machinery and goes to the still
very shortly after. Thus II Is possible to
keep filing the watts as fast az they are
emptied and to make continuous runs
from the stills. The same thing might be
done with sour n1ash, but 1t would take
an awful lot OF space and watts and things
to do IT,
my father had had copper stills and all
sorts of houghten ones. world without end.
He had used them to good purpose, too,
and ought to have been satisfied with the
result-his whisky always held the top of
the market-but somehow he wasn't So
when an old fellow, half vagrant, let
him into moonshining secret he posted
straight off to East Tennessee to find out;
II the vagrant has spoken the truth.
The old fellow had said that the noun
tain men had way OF distilline in hollow
logs. The art had come down to them
from the. very earliest days, when there
were only trails across the mountains,
and no possibility of bringing in anything
like regular still. Then the settlers had
contrived these timber stills. using gun
barrels for the worms. and making goose;
necks from shreds and scraps of tinware.l
He added that the wooden still was yet the
moonshfners' reliance. 1t was not only