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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2008-10 > 1224291076


From: "Murray Bell" <>
Subject: Re: [S-I] Whiskey galore
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:51:16 -0400
References: <mailman.799.1224226914.26412.scotch-irish@rootsweb.com><4F0F9580983347749607C61C8FD44CAB@userPC><892E614025F2498D8E9427F8BA94EC01@Study>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.799.1224226914.26412.scotch-irish@rootsweb.com><4F0F9580983347749607C61C8FD44CAB@userPC><892E614025F2498D8E9427F8BA94EC01@Study>


I believe Canada is mostly associated with rye whisky. The US whisky is bourbon which is made from corn. If you went into any bar in the US & asked for Rye, they likely wouldn't know what you meant. you would have to ask for Seagrams or Canadian whiskey.
----- Original Message -----
From: Edward Andrews<mailto:>
To: <mailto:> ; <mailto:>
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 3:32 PM
Subject: Re: [S-I] Whiskey galore


Rye is a grain, which is not as far as I know, grown in Ireland (certainly
not historically).
What you have to remember is that as well as making the people happy,
whiskey was a way of reducing the bulk and increasing the value of grain.
The illegal stuff was very high proof and did kill and blind people - it
also defrauded the Revenue, which would have annoyed the Church of Ireland
Vestry.

Bushmills is of course also celebrating its 400th anniversary this year

Different grains produce different spirits, so as they couldn't grow Barley
where they were in America, our kin people tried Rye.
The rest is history
And I'm off to have a Black Bush
Edward

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <mailto:> [mailto:scotch-irish-
> <mailto:>] On Behalf Of <mailto:>
> Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 6:22 PM
> To: <mailto:>
> Subject: [S-I] Whiskey galore
>
> Hey Linda, I'll do my best not to flee in horror no matter how gross the
> cuisine your Listers come up with! At the Gray family home we are very
> trad
> I'm afraid - turkey, roasties, boiled spuds, brussel sprouts, carrots,
> parsnips, stuffing and gravy. We do sneak a clove or two of garlic into
> the
> stuffing, which I am sure my mother would never have dreamed of doing, but
> I
> guess that doesn't qualify as gross.
>
> What interests me more re Ulster and America in terms of what might be
> loosely described as cuisine, is how our Irish whiskey became American
> rye.
> We at the East Donegal Ulster Scots are running another Francis Makemie
> style Summer School in May 2009 along the lines of the one in 2007, again
> concentrating on migration between Ulster and America. 2010 will be the
> 400th anniversary of the Ulster Plantation so the theme will definitely be
> links with Scotland in two years time. As part of the weekend, I would
> like
> to explore the possible links in distilling. After all, the Beverley
> Hillbillies (I cannot be the only person old enough to remember them?)
> showed us all about the illicit stills that existed in the Appalachian
> Mountains and I personally am very aware of the never ending battles which
> the churchwardens and vestrymen of Taughboyne Parish Church here in East
> Donegal fought against the iillegal distillers in the hills of east
> Donegal.
> I digipiced the Vestry Minutes from 1794 up to 1858 and you can read those
> which have been so far transcribed on Lindel Buckley's website -
> http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/<http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/>;. So, how did
> Tir
> Connail whiskey, as distilled by A A Watt from Ramelton, become Jack
> Daniels? Or Bushmills, from my own part of the world? Maybe some of your
> Listers can inform me. The very first thing I need to know is this; what
> IS
> rye? Is it just an Americanism for barley, which we use to make whiskey
> here, or is it an entirely different grain. Who were the first legal
> distillers in the States? Were they Scotch Irishmen and if so, from
> where?
> How did the product develop? How is it similar and how is it different?
>
> Getting back to the Summer School next year, as you will be aware, I am
> fascinated by the reasons why people left Ulster to go to America. I know
> the general history - the waves of emigration in the 18th century. I have
> researched my putative ancestor, the Reverend William Boyd from Macosquin,
> and his role in all of this, and you and many others have written
> extensively about the 1718 5 Ships Expedition in the past. For those not
> in
> the know - check the archives. Or go to the
> http://www.1718migration.org.uk/<http://www.1718migration.org.uk/>; website and read the contributions from
> James McConnell, William Roulston, Linde Lunney and Colin Brooks, our
> keynote speaker in 2007. But what really interests me now is the driving
> force behind ordinary people - the push and pull factors. This subject
> was
> well covered by Kerby Miller et al in "Irish Immigrants in the Land of
> Canaan" a couple of years ago. His research was based on and includes
> several dozen letter writers and the epistles they sent back and forth
> across the Atlantic. Now there is a new addition to the oeuvre. Gary T
> Hawbaker has written a fascinating book based on the letters written to
> and
> by just one man, William McKnight of Burt and Ramelton, wo immigrated to
> Lancaster County, Pennsylvania between 1796 and 1826.
>
> I must have dozens if not hundreds of "cousins" in the States because, as
> my
> tree grows and grows, I keep finding more and yet more of my ancestors
> turning up in Ellis Island Records, or the immigrations records on
> Ancestry.com and then in the censuses from 1870 through to 1930. Goodness
> knows how many went before the mid 19th century. I have only recently
> found
> a third cousin, descended from one of two brothers of my great grandfather
> who married sisters from the same parish in County Derry and who lived and
> died in New York. My maternal grandparents emigrated and my mother was
> born
> in Manhattan. Why did they all go there?! I have read the books, I know
> the theories but I would really love to know what was uppermost in their
> minds. Unlike the famine emigrants, the Scotch Irish seem to have been
> more
> motivated by the pull of America, rather than the push of hardship in
> Ireland. But did my grandparents really think the streets were paved with
> gold?
>
> Hey, maybe it was the rye? Was Jack Damiels really that much better than
> Bushmills? Or had they heard about the delights of possum on Thanksgiving
> Day? Tee hee.
>
> Regards,
>
> Boyd
>
>
> Hi folks, many years ago on this list, a member posted a query regarding
> what our ancestors (living in the Appalachian mountains) ate.
> Unfortunately, they were not here on the purported first occasion (Claimed
> to have been in Massachusetts about 1621). The holiday apparently didn't
> become one till Lincoln's day (post 1850), when they were here, all
> right.
> But no one seemed to have a guess. It's not as if this is an ethnic group
> widely known for its culinary delicacies!
>
> Then not too long ago, quite spontaneously, my 80 year old mother told me
> about her childhood Thanksgivings in the northern end of the Appalachian
> foothills, rural western Pennsylvania, where her ancestors got lost 200
> years ago and so remained.
> SNIP
>
>
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