Whiskey distillers called these illicit traders the "water of life" men - or "Wherretts" (from the Gaelic uisce beatha). Most of these illegal whiskey distillers did not make their own whiskey from scratch. Instead, they bought whiskey in bulk from legal distilleries, transported it to the woods and then added ingredients to flavor it.
Assess the taste structure (sour, bitter, sweet) and flavors derived from retronasal olfaction (perception of smells emanating from your mouth when you eat or drink).Your tongue can "touch" the wine's texture. It can also detect tannins, which cause the drying sensation in red wines.
History records indicate that these early settlers made rye-based whiskey. Why? The barley they brought from Europe took too long before it became acclimatized to its new home. On the other hand, rye was a hardy crop that took root and fared well almost immediately. Since they were already accustomed to distilling a rye-based bill mash grain, they turned to it as "the next best thing" to barley.
It wasn't only the number of Jewish congregates that went up – the number of rabbis did as well. Unlike the Catholic Church, which had a formal way of distinguishing a priest from a layperson, the Jewish didn't have such a mechanism in place. So if a wine lover came together with a few friends and declared himself their rabbis, who was going to refute the claim?
Soon the fledgling Scotch industry attracted the attention of the Scottish Parliament, which introduced punitive taxes on Scotch in 1644. Naturally, this gave rise to the Scotch black market as not everyone was ready to part with their hard-earned money so easily.
