distilling landscapes

7/30/2019 Distilling Landscapes

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The Bourbon Industry is booming which has resulted in a surge in Kentuckys Heritage

Tourism


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A distillery tour tends to cover a general history of the industry and focus on

prominent figures. These are constructed mostly through oral histories and passed

down through generations of distillery employees.


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They are rich and interesting but the history of distillery workers, and the hundreds of

distilleries that did not flourish, have largely been forgotten.


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Bourbon is a type of whiskey that meets very specific criteria. Water and processed

corn are combined into mash


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Which ferments in large vats and is then pumped into copper stills


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The alcohol evaporates is condensed into a clear liquid called white dog or corn

whiskey or (if you havent paid your taxes) moonshine


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The corn whiskey is put in charred white oak barrels and placed in warehouses to

age. Kentuckys hot summers and cold winters cause the whiskey to seep in and out

of the charred wood acquiring the flavor profiles and color associated with bourbon.


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The basic process of making Bourbon has stayed the same throughout Kentuckys

history. Its place in our society has not. In the late 1700s When Scot-Irish immigrants

settled in Kentucky they brought centuries of distilling knowledge and found Kentucky

to be suitable for making whiskey. At this time, Kentucky operated on a subsistence

economy where whiskey filled the role of currency and was bartered for help in tasks

such as barn-raising.


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Distilling was not a luxury. Before 1820, Kentuckys transportation infrastructure was

limited and farmers were prompted to choose cash crops based on how well they

travelled. By using corn and rye to make whiskey, farmers were able to ship a product

that did not spoil and sold for considerably more money than the same volume of

grain.


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Around 1820, The shift of whiskey from a bartering tool to a marketable commodity

resulted in a rise in quality control. Distillers standardized their products so when a

consumer bought a particular brand they knew exactly what they were getting. Their

products were shipped by the river to a global market and the industry continued to

grow. By the late 1800s there were thousands of distilleries.


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Despite this success the industry was, and continues to be, entangled in many

different political and religious movements resulting in multifaceted impacts.

Throughout the 1800s excise taxes were used to pay for wars resulting in many

smaller distilleries closing or turning to moonshine. Farmers started supplying grain to

industrial distillers rather than produce their own whiskey.


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Despite whiskeys vital economic role, the temperance movement resulted in the

decreasing social acceptance of liquors. Its effects are felt in Kentucky at least as early

as 1830 when best whiskey competitions were removed from the state fair.

Whiskey was often blamed for violence and a variety of societal ailments.


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Many Kentuckians have relatives that worked in this industry. Despite this interest in

their own heritage only two distillers have been excavated in Kentucky. Both were the

result of 106 compliance projects. Both encountered robust foundations thought to

be associated with warehouses. Both were otherwise heavily disturbed by

development.


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In my research I am approaching Kentuckys distilling industry, at least initially, with a

broad definition: the application of heat to a mixture of grain and water to create

corn whiskey. As reflected by this brief history of distilling this results in an enormous

number of sites to study.


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Additionally, the material culture associated with Kentucky Distilleries is complex.

Their product was both desired and reviled. The distillery industry is, and has always

been, at an intersection between secular and non-secular social elements interacting

at local, regional, and global scales. While the basic elements of distilling (water,

heat, grains) stay the same the social and technological influences on the distilling

industry are complex resulting in widely varied impacts to a distillerys archaeological

signature.


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The various components of a single distillery are often located in spatially discretelocations that could result in several different sites bounded by culturally sterileareas. This problem has been addressed during excavations in Mount Vernon atGeorge Washingtons distillery by identifying networks of archaeological features that

are associated with the same human activity or feature systems (Breen 2004;Hardesty 1988:9-11). Four feature systems were described: the distillery complex,mashing and fermenting, distillation, and industrial household. Interpreting thesesystems requires synthesizing archaeological, historical, and ethnographic data tounderstand how an activity occurred within a space (Hardesty and Little 2003:23). Inorder to identify feature systems that may manifest in a variety of different ways amore complex framework is needed to understand the various spaces present at agiven site.


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Maria Zedenos work with behavioral landscapes conceptualize space as a collection

of places that are a form of material culture created through human actions

transforming the environment. Landmarks are places with life histories developed

through actor interactions over time. Landscapes encompass actor interaction with

each other within a network of landmarks.


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As a product of human behavior, landscapes have three definable dimensions. Formal

dimensions are physical characteristics of a landmark such as topography. Relational

dimensions are interactive links that connect landmarks. Roads, rivers, train routes, even

various communication media such as a brand label with a distillery drawing, all fall in the

relational dimension. Historical dimensions are the links within the landscape that result fromuse and occupation of a landmark (Zedeno 2000:107). Experiences like a distillery fire that

resulted in a river of burning whiskey flowing downhill and destroying everything in its path

are elements of the historical dimension that cause the actors to build new barrel

warehouses in a way that would cause minimal damage in case of another fire.


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While we can describe them, we must also be aware that these landscapes are

constantly changing. This process can be analyzed by examining natural and cultural

processes that impact a landmark. This, in turn, results in the reconstruction of life

histories of each landmark within a landscape. Once we understand the dimensions

of a distilling landscape and how it works we can start to identify performance

characteristics, that is, desirable properties of a landmark that make it a place suited

for certain activities.


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For me, the greatest utility of using this approach to examine distilleries is increase

objectivity and slow a rapidly changing situation in order to determine how the

landscape works. Assessing how each distillery fits into this framework helps clear

the noise surrounding this industry and facilitates comparison of distillery sites across

Kentucky. Remaining conscious of the relational and historical dimensions of a site

ensures that elements which never physically impact the archaeological record of a

particular location, such as local and national laws or market demand, are still

accounted for in site interpretation. Understanding why these sites are located in

these places will help identify both forgotten distilleries, but also aspects of a

distilleries feature system that have been overlooked such as possibly barracks or

cafeterias for laborers.


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Narrowing our focus and examining each of these individual distilling landscapes all ows theindustry to be divided into types which a least a little objectivity. Industrial distilling is largescale and high yield. The primary purpose of these sites was to make a product and get it tomarket. This type is resilient and has survived various elements that shut down smallerdistilleries. While their location is reliant on access to water, the actors involved with this

distillery type have the resources to make major changes to the dimensions of theirlandscape. Colonial Taylor built a railroad just to bring people to this distillery turned whiskeyresort as well as get his product out to the River. Today this distillery is considered remoteenough to not be economically viable and sits abandoned.


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Last year I had the opportunity to excavate at one of these distilleries. Buffalo Trace

allowed us to excavate at Riverside, a stone house built in 1792, in advance of their

renovation project.


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The building was a residence, possibly an overseers house with adjacent slave

quarters, butcher shop, master distillers office, bourbon laboratory, location of the

punch clock, unofficial break room, and currently it serves as the haunted abandoned

building stop on the distillerys popular ghost tour.


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Our excavations documented incredible variability in deposits resulting from refuse

disposal from the neighboring still building, installation of steam pipes for heating all

of the distillery buildings, and a possible cellar that was later filled with construction

debris.


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The constant use and repurposing of this space obscured deposits associated with

many historic functions of this site. Although certain activity specific artifacts like

these barrel plugs allowed us to state with relative certainty that certain contexts

were directly related to distilling.


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Our excavations also recovered artifacts associated with women and children who are

otherwise fairly invisible in a hypermasculine industry


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Moonshining is a second type of distilling. Although the volume is lower than an

industrial distillery the primary purpose of these sites was also the production of

whiskey. These sites were actively concealed by the distillers and their integrity is

largely dependant on the landscapes relational dimensions.


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Stills in remote areas such as those located in rockshelters in Daniel Boone National

Forest are relatively undisturbed. Stills in more easily accessible areas were impacted

by Prohibition as indicated by axe gouges in the stills and, possibly, by the absence of

key components like copper worms. It is important to realize that actors associated

with moonshine are either portrayed as violent criminals or as people resisting an

overbearing government. This status shifts depending on what happening in the

landscape and may have impacts on the material record.


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A third type of distillery, the farm distillery, is defined in Michael Veachs new book as

smaller scale locations that may have had a one or two stills of around 100 gallon

capacity each. Farmers may not have had their own stills but used their neighbors or

a millers still to distill their grain instead.


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Distilling was not the primary purpose of farm distillers. Stills were a tool to turn their

grain into something they could more easily transport to sell or trade. Aging the corn

whiskey may not have been a concern for them meaning that features indicative of

distilling such as barrel warehouse foundations may not be present on these sites.

Since corn whiskey at these sites was dispensed directly into reusable stoneware jugs

the importance (or even the presence) of containers may not be reflected by the

artifact assemblage. Distilling was only one of many activities that happened on these

site, meaning that archaeologically, these activities may be lumped with site types

such as: Mill, Historic Farmstead, or Historic Residence.

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These sites may be invisible not through the actions of actors or historic processes

but simply because we havent been looking for them. Perhaps by analyzing the

landscapes of known sites we might be able to start identifying (or at least discussing

the impact of) these nearly invisible distillery types.

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Many elements of Kentuckys distilling past are being left behind as a bourbon brandestablishes its history, gains momentum, and leaves the details in the dust (Mackenzie andStone 1990:3-4). The growing demand for bourbon is causing distillers to scramble to meetdemand, most significant for archaeologists this means clearing large swaths of land toconstruct new barrel warehouses.

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The pace of growth is similar to rapid development that resulting in the Bluegrass

Cultural Landscape of Kentucky to be listed on the 2006 World Monument Funds

endangered sites list because preservation of stone fences, horse farms, and historic

buildings was silly from an economic standpoint (Blackford 2005:A1; Slayman

2007:19). Unlike the situation in 2006, the distillery industrys success is often tied to

its heritage so it actually makes a great deal of economic sense to capture the details

that are being lost. We must ensure that our work does not stay invisible within

academic silos and actively engage stakeholders through blogs, public library talks, or

community archaeology. There are many stakeholders interested in Kentuckys

distilling industry; it is our responsibility to ensure they understand the potential in

archaeological research by sharing what we learn.

distilling landscapes

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