Presidents often have an influence on the Bourbon Industry. Most recently, Donald Trump’s tariff created a trade war that hurt Kentucky’s Bourbon industry in a bad way as countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on Bourbon. But not all Presidents had a negative effect on the industry. The prime example of this William Howard Taft.

In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed and it quickly led to the question “What is Whiskey?”  Was whiskey a straight product or a blended product with neutral spirits? President Theodore Roosevelt left the decision to the courts and there were legal battles for several years in the courts. The decision made by his chief chemist in the Department of Agriculture was that only straight whiskey could be called whiskey and everything else had to be labeled “imitation whiskey”. Roosevelt left office and William Howard Taft became President of the United States. Taft came from a legal background as his father was a judge in the federal court system and William became a lawyer. When he was elected President, he knew that the Pure Food and Drug Administration consisted of people appointed by the President, so the decision on whiskey was ultimately in his hands. 

President Taft took office in March of 1909. He decided that the decision of “What is whiskey” was his to make. It was a decision of international importance. As Taft entered office, the British and Canadians were exporting whiskey into the United States and the standard of that time required their whiskey to be called imitation whiskey. Taft listened to both sides of the issue and on December 27, 1909, he issued his opinion on whiskey. I like to think that it was the correct decision, if for no other reason, neither side of the issue was happy with the decision, but both sides accepted it. The rectifiers thought the decision was too harsh and the straight whiskey producers thought it was too lenient. The decision was that whiskey could be a blended product, but had to be labeled as a blended whiskey. The decision defined what we now call “straight whiskey”, “blended whiskey” and “imitation or artificial whiskey”. 

The Taft Decision on Whiskey was an important step in creating what we know as Bourbon today. Before this decision, people were bottling blended whiskey and calling it Bourbon. For this reason, I am naming President William Howard Taft as a Bourbon’s Unsung Hero.

Taft

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller