This was 1860, Neil - I missed the first paragraph - he says "...in the beginning was the wort-and the wort was a gruel of coarsely-ground maise and malted barley fermenting in a huge tub beside the still. Before sundown if all went well, the wort would become spirit. And the spirit, after a period of aging in an oaken cask, would be variously received among men as whiskey, bourbon whiskey-a reddish-amber distillate possessing the power to soothe, cheer, exhilarate, confuse, befuddle and stupefy." I'm not sure I understand wort, I thought I was following the process pretty well. In his bio in the back of the book it says he lived in NY and prided himself on his woodmanship, on his handling of small craft and on the fact, that at 62 he could still break 89 out of 100 clay pigeons. He wrote several books, should be found in a good library. I also forgot to mention the recipe for "Jugaree, a marvelous thirst quencher compounded of molasses, vinegar, ginger and water, cooled in a stone jug" which sounds like something a woman would make in the kitchen. I'd like to have this recipe with measurements if anyone ever runs across it. Yes, this is an interesting author, he probably has many more tidbits of historical trivia in these pages. Warm regards, Norma macbd1 wrote: > > Thanks, Norma, for sharing this valuable and interesting history info. I've never read a better description. Can you please check to confirm the 40 gallons of distillate from 10 bushels of corn and small grains? This seems a rather high yield but I've never made any. (I can 'dowse' for water in underground veins and lines.) What was the time-frame or setting for this book? This is needed for the following exercise. ><snip>