Greetings from North Idaho!

 

Somehow my work on the history of alcohol in the U.S. has led me once again
to Virginia (see, e.g., this <http://www.roizen.com/ron/dissch6.htm> ).
This time my focus is on the production of ardent spirits by distilleries in
your state (ahem, commonwealth) in 1790.  The short version of the reasons
behind my interest follows.

 

In 1793, Tench Coxe provided Alexander Hamilton and Congress with a table
showing the results of Hamilton's "Whiskey Tax's" first year of operation,
for a period of 12 months or so following July 1, 1791.  (Thanks to the
wonderful online resources of the Library of Congress, the two pages of
Coxe's table are available here
<http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=009/llsp009.db&re
cNum=254>  and here
<http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=009/llsp009.db&re
cNum=255> .)  Virginia, the most populous state in the union in 1790,
reported a quite small gallonage of spirits produced from foreign materials
(i.e., usually molasses, for rum) and an even smaller gallonage of spirits
produced from domestic materials (i.e., usually corn or something else, for
whiskey): namely, 9,687 gallons and 440.5 gallons, respectively.  A longish
footnote explained that the supervisor for collections in Virginia (one
Edw'd Carrington) was having difficulty getting going on the collections
process.  An estimated $22,234 in gross revenue from Virginia distillers
(also reported in the table) might suggest an associated production of about
200,000 gallons -- still not very much for a state Virginia's size.  Total
U.S. domestic production in this first year of the tax's operation
(according to Coxe's table) was reported at about 5,150,000 gallons - thus
making Virginia's 200,000-gallon figure equivalent to about 4 percent of
national domestic production (this, for a state comprising perhaps 20
percent of the U.S. population in 1790).  Given the amount of evasion
associated with Hamilton's tax, the true figure for U.S. domestic production
was probably substantially higher.  Now, I'm the first to admit that the
collection of this tax and the estimation of its associated production
gallonages are hedged about with all sorts of difficulties.  For one thing,
very small distilling operations producing just enough for household
consumption and small local markets for any excess probably defined the
Virginia situation.  These would have represented considerable difficulties
for tax collectors.  One <http://www.discus.org/heritage/distillery_faq.asp>
web site I've seen suggests that the average Virginia distillery at this
time produced about 650 gallons per year.

 

So, and without further ado, my question is this:  Might anyone on this list
be able to direct me to sources on the number and associated production
gallonages of distilling in Virginia in 1790?  I'd be most grateful for any
new sources or ideas this list's members may suggest.

 

With thanks,

 

Ron

 

Ron Roizen

Wallace, Idaho

Some <http://www.roizen.com/ron/index.htm>  Explorations in the Sociology of
Alcohol


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