The Birth of an Industry: Distilling Spirits in Early Colonial America
The Birth of an Industry: Distilling Spirits in Early Colonial America is the first exhibition presented through our digital platform. The exhibition seeks to engage and educate visitors by answering questions like: Who were the first distillers in America, what methods were used in early colonial distilling, and when did these practices cross the Atlantic? Past interactive gallery was featured March 20th-August 7th, 2023, and the exhibition has since been converted to a static webpage to ensure material remains accessible.
Curated by Clanci Jo Conover — Exhibition Design by Cassandra Douglas
Made withVisme
What is Distillation?
Distillation is a process involving the conversion of a liquid into vapor that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is used to separate liquids from nonvolatile solids, as in the separation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials, or in the separation of two or more liquids having different boiling points, as in the separation of gasoline, kerosene, and lubricating oil from crude oil.
Distillation vs Fermentation
Fermentation
Fermentation is the process of creating alcohol by adding yeast to a raw liquid that contains sugar. Beer and wine are examples of fermented drinks.
Distillation
Distillation occurs when a liquid is heated to a certain temperature so that a vapor is produced and caught in a still. This refines the substance, separating the different parts so that one ingredient is distilled from another, to produce things like spirits and perfumes. Fermentation is the first step in creating spirits, and that fermented liquid is then distilled to render a finer alcohol.
Timeline
While simple distillation equipment found in Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BCE, it was likely used for perfumes or medicines. It was not until later in the Arab kingdom that distillation would be regularly applied to wine to create a drink higher in alcohol content. This process was spearheaded by the creator of the modern alembic still, scholar Jabir ibn Hayyan (721-816), and carried on by academics working in Cordoba, Spain. From there, knowledge of distillation practices were disseminated throughout Europe around 1000 CE. This spread of knowledge coincides with the Vikings' voyage to the Americas, the first time Europeans crossed the Atlantic.
Image: Jabir ibn Hayyan Geber, Arabian alchemist, 1584.
If we fast forward a few hundred years, we will find that European explorers were eager to chart the Americas and establish colonies after Christopher Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1494. Jamestown and Plymouth often come to mind as the first European settlements in the "New World," when in reality the Spanish founded a colony in St. Augustine, decades before the others existed. It is unclear whether or not these colonists had a brewer among their ranks, but after settling, they befriended the local Timucuan tribe, who may have shown them how to access clean water and reduce the need for fermented or distilled drinks.
Image: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (founder of St. Augustine), 1791
Remember learning about the lost colony in U.S. History that disappeared without a trace? Well, they happen to have another claim to fame: Brewing the first beer in North America. These settlers were intended to arrive in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay region, but were instead left at Roanoke Island in modern-day North Carolina. Drinking water was unsafe, and the colonists brewed their own beer out of local maize. It was so repugnant, that when they sent John White (1539-1593) back to England for supplies, they requested he return with beer from the homeland. Unfortunately, when he did return 3 years later, the colonists had vanished – beer and all.
Image: Virginia Dare's Baptism in the Roanoke Colony, 1876
Even though St. Augustine was established first, Jamestown is the oldest successful colony that produced beer, wine, and spirits in the Americas. Indigenous tribes in Virginia did not make any kind of alcoholic drinks, so it is likely the settlers at Jamestown were the first to produce Spirits in the area. They may have been the first settlers to perform any kind of distillation in the Americas, and the activity was important enough that these colonists had their own alembic still like the one featured in this exhibition. Beer was brewed by wealthier settlers from grains imported from England, while more modest settlers used local barley. Apples were used to create cider, which could then be distilled into brandy with a much higher alcohol content.
Image: Map of Virginia, 1624, by John Smith and William Hole
Upriver from Jamestown was a College at the Henricus settlement, the first school of its kind in the Americas that aimed to convert and educate indigenous boys. Reverend George Thorpe, a preacher and physician, came from England to run the school and worked closely with the Powhatan community, becoming an advocate for their equitable treatment. In 1620, he confirmed the discovery of a method to create Whiskey out of local corn mash, writing to John Smith of Nibley: “Wee have found a waie to make soe good drink of Indian corne I have divers times refused to drinke good stronge English beare and chose to drinke that.” Not only was this whiskey promising with corn being a readily available crop, but it was more enjoyable to drink than beer brought from England - a shift in opinion from the ill-fated Roanoke colony.
Image: Indian or Turkie Wheate, John Parkinson, 1640
Some of the first written records of rum production appear in Barbados around 1650, and the drink becomes widely popular for its ability to keep well on long journeys. The demand for rum sadly encouraged a blossoming slave trade: sugarcane and molasses went to New England to be made into rum, rum went to a British port where it was traded for African people, and those enslaved people were forcibly transported to the West Indies and America to work on sugarcane plantations. This vicious cycle made the rum trade inseparable from the slave trade, and the drink would retain its status as the most popular drink in the colonies until the Revolutionary War. Rum was distilled in both pot stills and column stills, and was cheaper than other drinks the colonists had access to. While it was common to find whiskey omitted from tavern price lists prior to the revolution, rum tended to be available.
Image: Sugar Works, French West Indies, 1667
Early Industry
Unknown Artist, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, c. 1584 Engraving 7 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (19.7 x 14 cm.) Collection: Science History Institute, Fisher Collection, Philadelphia, PA
This engraving is a posthumous portrait of Arabic scholar Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān published in Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens, or The true portraits and lives of illustrious Greek, Latin and pagan men, 1584, by André Thévet (French, 1502-1590). Jābir, Europeanized as “Geber,” was featured in this book for his advancements in chemistry, including the development of the modern alembic still. He authored hundreds of texts, with roughly 215 of those still available to read today. Primarily active in the 8th century, his research around distillation laid the pathway for his successors throughout the Arab Kingdom to refine distillation methods and test its limits.
Ernest Board (British, 1877-1934) Rhazes, Persian Physician and Alchemist, in His Laboratory at Baghdad, c. 1912 Oil on canvas 36 x 23 7/8 in. (91.5 x 60.5 cm.) Collection: Wellcome Collection, London.
Commissioned in the early 20th century by Henry S. Wellcome, an American pharmaceutical magnate who made his fortune in England, this was one of dozens of paintings Board created for the collector featuring subjects related to the history of medicine and science. Rhazes (also known as Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, c. 860-930) was one of Geber’s successors, who used distillation and the technology of the alembic still to synthesize rose water. Rhazes spent time in the Arabic centers of Spain, studying and experimenting, allowing for the transfer of knowledge with local academics that would gradually filter throughout the rest of Europe. He published a book detailing his findings on distillation and alchemy Sirr al-Asrar or The Book of the Secrets of Secrets. Early chemists would have distilled wine with the intention of using the purified alcohol as disinfectant or ink.
José Camarón y Boronat (Spanish, 1730-1803) Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, 18th century Engraving; edition unknown 11 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (29.8 x 18.4 cm.) Collection: Georgetown University Fine Print Collection
A discussion of distillation in the Americas has to start with early settlements – the first being the colony at St. Augustine, Florida, established in 1565. Spanish conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574) was sent by King Philip II with 2,000 men to contend with the French who had established a settlement at Fort Caroline. In true conquistador fashion, all of the French colonists were massacred, leaving St. Augustine as the first successful European settlement in North America. Menéndez continued on to explore more of the Atlantic coast, and the remaining colonists lived in harmony with the local Timucua people for a brief period. While this large group of settlers undoubtedly brought beer and wine from England, their need to produce fermented or distilled drinks may have been reduced thanks to the Timucua teaching them how to find clean water.
William Ludwell Shepherd (American, 1833-1912) Baptism of Virginia Dare, 1876 Engraving Published in: William A. Crafts (1876) Pioneers in the settlement of America: from Florida in 1510 to California in 1849, Boston: Samuel Walker and Company, p. 110 [public domain]
Established a few decades after St. Augustine, the Roanoke Colony was founded in modern-day North Carolina in 1587. This engraving depicts the baptism of Virginia Dare, the first English baby born in the Americas who also happened to be the granddaughter of John White (c. 1539-1593), artist and leader of the fated expedition. These colonists brought large amounts of beer to subsist on in lieu of clean water, and were able to produce a type of beer out of local maize once they arrived that would keep them from becoming dangerously dehydrated. This could have been the first time beer was brewed in the Americas rather than being imported from Europe – un fortunately, any additional knowledge on the Roanoke colony’s beer production will likely remain just as mysterious as the missing colonists themselves.
Distilling & Fermenting: Europe to the Americas
William Hole (British, dates unknown) and John Smith (British, c. 1580-1631) Virginia. Discovered and described by Captain John Smith, Graven by William Hole, 1624, Engraved map, 12 5/8 x 16 1/8 in. (32 x 41 cm.), Collection: Columbus State University Archives and Special Collections, Columbus, GA
In 1607, more than 40 years since the founding of St. Augustine by the Spanish, the British finally form a successful colony: Jamestown, Virginia. The settlers brought beer and spirits on their ships to ensure they had something safe to drink on arrival. If there weren’t already brewers on the first ships, the colonists would have sent for them to join the party and continue production in their new home. They would also bring stills for distillation – the first colonists to do so, further solidifying Jamestown as a major historic center.
Contemporary reproduction
Jamestown Alembic Still, originally dates to c. 1607-1624, Glass, copper, 15 x 15 x 9 in. (38.1 x 22.9 cm.), Collection: SPIRITS Museum, Williamsburg, Virginia
This model was reproduced through the collaborative efforts of the Jamestown Rediscovery project and the Corning Museum of Glass. It is based on fragments of an alembic unearthed by archaeologists at Jamestown, and was reconstructed by a glassblower at Corning to create an example of a c. 1607 alembic that would have been used at Jamestown. In 1608, two apothecaries and two “refiners” arrived at the colony – the apothecaries to research medicinal cures, and the refiners to practice alchemy on local metals. Both of these professionals would have required an alembic in their work. The Virginia Company, financial backers of the Jamestown settlement, were interested in finding gold and precious metals. Combined with the artifacts uncovered, we can surmise that the primary purpose of distillation here was alchemy. Could these colonists have used their alembics for other purposes, like alcohol distillation? The answer is probably yes, but the first record of liquor produced in Virginia does not appear until 1620 at Henricus.
Contemporary Reproduction
Thomas Ward Still, Martin’s Hundred, originally dates to c. 1621, Ceramic, 23 1/2 x 13 x 13 in. (59.7 x 33 x 33 cm.), Collection: SPIRITS Museum, Williamsburg, VA
This reproduction serves as an example of what could have been the first still created in America. The replica was developed with the help of Virginia scholars and is based on what was found at the site of Martin’s Hundred, a settlement founded in 1618 off the James River with approximately 140 people. The settlement was ravaged by the native Powhatan population in 1622, killing around 80 inhabitants and destroying the town they had created.
Possibly Cheroenhaka Tribe, Virginia, Native American Grindstone, Stone, 3 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (8.3 x 21.6 x 16.5 cm.), Collection: SPIRITS Museum, Williamsburg, VA
Corn was essential for distilling spirits in America, and it was thanks to indigenous communities that European settlers learned how to grow and harvest the unfamiliar crop. This grindstone, or metate, would have been used to grind corn or other foods in preparation for cooking. This technique may have influenced settlers in preparing a corn mash for fermentation and later distillation in whiskey production. We know from historic correspondence that Reverend George Thorpe synthesized corn whiskey from a fermented mash by 1620. He worked closely with the united Powhatan people through his missionary work in Virginia and advocated for their fair treatment, which means he would likely have had privileged access to their customs and ways of life – including their use of the grindstone in culinary preparation.
John Parkinson (British, 1567-1650) Milium Indicum maximum Maiz dictum, sive Frumentum Indicum, vel Turcicum. (The usuall Indian or Turkie Wheate), 1640, Engraving, Published in: John Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum, London: 1640, Tribe 12, Chapt. 24, p. 1138 (Copy in Bartram’s Garden, The John Bartram Association, Dr. Philip George book collection).
John Parkinson’s 1640 publication Theatrum Botanicum was compiled with the intention of clarifying plant names, as there was a lack of consensus around terminology at that time. Here, corn is called “Indian or Turkie Wheate,” and is described as looking like a long cone or pineapple, “…set with six or eight or ten rowes of Cornes, orderly and closely set together, each being almost as bigge as a Pease, not fully round, but flat on the sides that joyne one unto another.” Corn was used to produce whiskey as early as 1620, a favorable concoction amongst colonists. It was surpassed in popularity by rum, however, which relied on sugarcane and molasses from the West Indies.
Adriaen Brouwer (Flemish, 1605-1638), Peasants Smoking and Drinking, c. 1635, Oil on canvas, 13 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. (35 x 26 cm.), Collection: Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
Back in Europe, people were benefiting from centuries of distilling, where recipes, ingredients, and methods were tried and true. Taverns were not in short supply, and genre scenes such as this painting were popular in the 17th and 18th centuries; depictions of regular people laughing and enjoying a drink. While artists in the Americas served more as documentarians, focusing on recording new information and specific historic events, artists in Europe had achieved greater freedom in what they chose to portray. Religion was still a reigning force in society (whether in Europe or the Americas), but the staunch attitudes from the 15th and 16th centuries had given way to a more humanistic approach in art.
Jean Baptiste DuTertre (French, 1610-1687), Sugar Works, French West Indies, 1667, Engraving, Published in: Jean Baptiste DuTertre, Histoire Générale des Antilles Habitées par les Francois (Paris, 1667), vol. 2, p. 122. (Copy in the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University)
A drink in high demand from the Americas to Africa, Rum quickly became a hot commodity in the colonial world after its invention in the Caribbean. It is thought to have been synthesized by enslaved people on sugarcane plantations, and would constitute a greater need for labor on these plantations in order to meet the growing demand for rum. Enslaved people were needed to work the sugarcane plantations so that sugar and molasses could be sent to the colonies; the colonies would produce rum to consume and trade with Europeans; and Europeans exchanged rum with slave traders in Africa to supply a workforce for sugarcane plantations. This dark network of commerce thrived until the Revolutionary War, as rum had a better shelf life and was more affordable than other drinks. This engraving shows enslaved people in the West Indies completing the many steps associated with sugar-making, as it was their hard work that made rum accessible on both sides of the Atlantic.
