Category: History

By Patrick Evans-Hylton 

Despite the devil-may-care attitude at the end of the 19th century, which included the first golden era of the cocktail, a storm was brewing on the horizon. Across Virginia, and across the whole country, a call for temperance rose from a few meetings of the like-minded who thought alcohol consumption should be curbed to a national movement that was calling for complete prohibition. 

In 1901, the Virginia Anti-Saloon League was founded at a meeting in Richmond. The Virginian-Pilot (dated June 7, 1902) reported, “The Anti-Saloon League of Virginia is preparing to establish temperance saloons in various portions of the state. They will consist of reading rooms, parlors and soft-drink counters. Several have already been established, and there has been a decrease in drunkenness in those localities.”  

Going Dry

Four years before the national ban on alcohol sales, Virginia went dry on November 1, 1916, with the Mapp Law, thanks to the efforts of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. Laws like the 1903 Mapp Law and 1908 Byrd Law set many industry-killing restrictions in place.  

This affected a wide group of Virginians: most bar and saloon owners, brewers, distillers and winemakers were forced out of business if they were not able to adapt to another line of business. It also affected restaurant owners, who had to forfeit alcohol on their menus. The Mapp Law was strict, defining “ardent spirits” as “alcohol, brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, wine, porter, ale, beer, all malt liquors, absinthe and all compounds or mixtures of any of them.” 

On the last day before Prohibition, folks made one last effort to stock up at home, says the Alexandria Gazette on Oct. 31, 1916: “With but a few hours left in which intoxicating beverages may be sold legally in Virginia, reports from all parts of the state tell of vast quantities of the liquor being stored away in the homes of citizens for further use. 

Neighboring states like Maryland had yet to go dry, and those that lived close to the border procured alcohol there, too.  

The alternative was to drink nothing at all, or, perhaps, one of the many soft drinks that proliferated during this time. If one product blossomed during this time of temperance, it was bubbly, carbonated, sugary drinks. 

Fast forward a few years… on Jan. 17, 1920, the whole nation went dry with the enactment of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors in the United States.  

“Dry’s Dream Comes True After Fight For Years,” was a headline in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Jan. 17, 1920. It continued, “Nation-Wide Prohibition Effective at Last by Decision of Forty-Six Sovereign States.” 

Consumption Continues

Interestingly, the law did not prohibit folks from drinking alcoholic beverages, but it made it nearly impossible to legally get them. Alcohol flowed.  

In homes and in the back of businesses, speakeasies – serving spirits on the sly – popped up everywhere. Many roads in Virginia were rural and much of the coastline in the eastern part of the state was desolate, making transportation, especially at night, difficult for authorities to prevent smuggling. 

Smugglers brought in contraband from the sea. Folks had doctors write prescriptions for whiskey for various ailments. Some folks turned to making small batches of alcohol in their homes, and others had larger-scale operations. Some turned to moonshine.  

From stills in the marshes and swamps of Coastal Virginia, to deeply wooded areas through the Piedmont and Northern Virginia, to the hollers and valleys of the mountains, moonshine in Virginia hit its peak during Prohibition. By the 1930s, Franklin County became known as the Moonshine Capital of the World, producing far more of the spirit than anywhere else in the country.  

Prohibition Repeal to Today

Then, nearly fourteen years later, it was over. 

“What America needs now is a drink,” said President Franklin Roosevelt, echoing the sentiments of many as the 18th Amendment establishing Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933 by the 21st Amendment. It is the only constitutional amendment to be repealed in its entirety.  

Virginia voted by a 63% margin for Repeal. 

Immediately following Repeal, America had to catch up with its liquor production. In Virginia, that began with A. Smith Bowman. 

A. Smith Bowman established the 7,200-acre Sunset Hills farm in Fairfax County in 1927 to operate a dairy and granary. The rich fields yield a lot of grain, and Bowman needed a use for the excess. 

The answer came in 1934 when he built a distillery on the farmland and crafted Virginia Gentleman; until the 1950s, A. Smith Bowman Distillery was the only legal producer of spirits in Virginia. The distillery relocated to Fredericksburg in 1988. 

A legacy of Prohibition remains in Virginia today: the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), established on March 7, 1934. 

This state agency regulates all aspects of alcohol sales in the state, even running all the retail liquor stores across Virginia, although beer and wine can be sold in shops such as convenience stores and supermarkets. The liquor sales extend to Virginia’s restaurants, too: all spirits must be purchased through Virginia ABC.  

The agency also restricts the amount of alcohol a restaurant can serve based on a formula of how much its overall sales include food and regulates the marketing of alcoholic products.  

Following Repeal, some areas of the state remained dry, although that number has decreased over the decades. Nine Virginia counties do not or have limited permits of alcohol sales – although beer and wine may be served – according to a report from Virginia ABC in 2021.  

What began as America’s “noble experiment,” largely ended in failure, hence the burgeoning Virginia Spirits scene today.  

Patrick Evans-Hylton is a Johnson & Wales-trained chef, food historian and award-winning food journalist covering tasty trends since 1995. He is the author of  Virginia Distilled: Four Centuries of Drinking in the Old Dominion. Visit VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com  for more. 

By Patrick Evans-Hylton 

There’s always been a place where Virginians could gather and enjoy a drink or two. But in our 400-plus year history, the bar (if you will pardon the pun) has been raised.

Taverns were well established in England prior to colonists coming to Virginia, so it makes sense that they would become part of the landscape here, as well.

Early Beginnings

Tavern is a term that grew in favor in the late 17th century to describe a place to grab a bite to eat and a drink. As the colony, and later towns like Williamsburg and Norfolk, grew, taverns multiplied – oftentimes popping up next to courthouses, where folks would come from all over to conduct business. 

Some taverns offered overnight accommodations, but increasingly the word “inn” was used to differentiate between a waypoint for eats and drinks and one for lodging. Another early term for taverns was “ordinary,” and the two were generally used interchangeably.

A feature of many taverns was a cage, used as a barrier between the tavern keeper and consumer, where orders were placed and prepared, as opposed to the long bar that is familiar today. Many folks frequented taverns, including women and children.

The bill of fare was largely dependent on what was available to the establishment owner. They may make their own beer, cider or wine. If they were lucky, they could get a hold of rum, maybe even from a Virginia distillery. 

Early cocktails comprised rum by the drink or in punches, or wine turned into sangrias or sangarees. What is known largely comes from advertisements, court records such as legal actions and licensing, and diaries. 

At the time, the prices of beverages were regulated by the county court. According to Norfolk County records, patrons would have enjoyed:

  • Rum, priced at 6 shillings per gallon
  • Punch, “if made good,” at 16 pence per quart
  • Cider, 12 pence per gallon
  • Small beer (a lower alcohol brew), 7-1/2 pence per gallon
  • Madeira, 22-1/2 pence per quart
  • Milk Punch, 7-1/2 pence per quart
  • Claret, 3 shillings, 3-1/2 pence per quart

By the early part of the 19th century, true restaurants would emerge, and taverns and ordinaries would begin to more closely resemble the types of Virginia bars and other watering holes enjoyed today.

The Rise of the Bar

While the terms tavern, inn and ordinary are still sometimes in use, often in relation to an establishment that has some age to it, a new term rose to popularity in the 18th century. Bars, sometimes called a saloon or pub, emerged as a place to spend leisure time, particularly enjoying alcoholic beverages. 

The etymology of the word bar is pretty simple. As the design of drinking establishments shifted to include a long barrier, or bar, between the patrons and persons serving the drink, the name stuck. Folks no longer ordered their drinks and walked them back to tables; they sat at the bar on stools and engaged the person making the drink, or the bartender.

Saloon was another word that grew in popularity as well, the Anglicized version of the French word salon. These weren’t the saloons you think of in the western frontier. Saloons in the east were often larger than bars and more often found in hotels. 

Taverns Today

While Virginia bars and restaurants are certainly more commonplace today, there are still plenty of historic taverns serving up period dishes and drinks in charming, reconstructed 18th century buildings. Here are some of my favorites:

Red Fox Tavern in Middleburg, VA

Photo: Red Fox Tavern

The Recipes

MILK PUNCH

The English had a tradition of mixing alcohol with milk, such as with the posset and syllabub. Another offering was milk punch, a highly spirited mixture of milk, sugar, vanilla extract and a spirit, be it brandy, rum or whiskey. Milk Punch was on John Redwood’s tavern’s bill of fare in Norfolk in 1693.

Simple Syrup Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

Cocktail Ingredients

  • 3 ounces milk
  • 1-1/2 ounces spiced rum
  • 3/4-ounce prepared simple syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Freshly grated nutmeg
  • Cinnamon stick

Method

Make the simple syrup by adding the sugar and water to a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bringing to a boil, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Add to a sealable glass jar and refrigerate until use, up to 1 month.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add milk, spiced rum, simple syrup and vanilla extract and shake vigorously until the drink is chilled. Strain into a Collins or martini glass and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

Makes one (1) cocktail. 

SANGAREE

Like so many imbibes in colonial Virginia, sangaree is a type of punch. The name comes from the Spanish word sangre, meaning blood, for its blood-red hue. It’s a precursor to the more commonly known sangria.  

My version enhances the drink with a spirit like gin or rum; we like gin with this drink as a nod to the “London gin craze” of the era.

Cocktail Ingredients

  • 1 lemon wedge
  • 1/4-ounce simple syrup or 1/2 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar
  • 1-1/2 ounces Virginia red wine, preferably port style
  • 1 ounce gin or rum
  • 1 lemon slice
  • Freshly grated nutmeg

Method

In a cocktail shaker, squeeze the lemon wedge and toss in. Add the syrup/sugar, wine, gin or rum and ice. Shake and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon slice and a dusting of nugget.

Makes one (1) cocktail. 

 

Patrick Evans-Hylton is a Johnson & Wales-trained chef, food historian and award-winning food journalist covering tasty trends in broadcast, electronic and print media since 1995. He is the author of Virginia Distilled: Four Centuries of Drinking in the Old Dominion. Read his work at VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com. 

By Patrick Evans-Hylton 

In 1606, London was crowded with taverns, offering up pewter mugs of beer, cider, and wine. There was drink meant for heartier souls too, including genevere, a gin-like, juniper-centric liquor, and a somewhat ubiquitous distilled spirit known as “aqua vitae”. 

On December 20 of that year, three small ships were docked in the east part of town, the Discovery, the Susan Constant, and the Godspeed with 144 boys and men aboard. Perhaps they had visited some of those taverns to gather liquid courage before setting sail to their destination on the other side of the Atlantic. Four-and-a-half months later, on April 16, 1607, after stopping in the Canary Islands and the West Indies, the ships anchored at Cape Henry, in present-day Virginia Beach. A few days later, the ships made their way up the James River and established Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World.  

Raise a Porcelain Cup to Jamestown 

Historic Jamestowne says that as early as 1607, the early colonists were drinking aqua vitae, more than likely informed from the Netherlands. Aqua vitae, also spelled “aqua vita,” comes from the Latin for “water of life” and was a term used from the Middle Ages on for a period to describe many distilled spirits, including brandy. It would have been a bracing liquid, burning as it went down, and warming the body from the inside out.  

John Smith also mentioned, in his Generall Historie of Virginia, aqua vitae in the possession of colony president Edward Wingfield, in addition to other alcohol like beer and port wine, then called sack. 

But as Jamestown grew, not all spirits were imported. Because of spotty records, and records lost over time, exactly who was distilling what and when in Jamestown is elusive. But excavations at the historic site have yielded some clues. One is of a building known as the Factory, located at the perimeter of a fort addition. Historic Jamestowne says the building, which included three brick hearths, was large enough to have several uses, including a trading post with Native Americans, a storehouse, and a place for metallurgical processes. Excavation revealed several artifacts leading to another use, perhaps: distillation of spirits, including “a glass alembic [a domed vessel used in distilling], a distilling flask, crucibles, and distilling dishes,” the foundation says.  The glass alembic was probably used in distilling alcohol, says Historic Jamestowne.  

Other excavations throughout the space revealed items such as a fine Chinese porcelain cup in a “flame frieze” decoration, which Historic Jamestowne noted was “probably used by the colony’s gentlemen to drink their distilled spirits (aqua vitae)”; it was found in a circa 1610 part of James Fort. 

There has been other potential evidence of early distilling at Carter’s Grove near Jamestown. It’s believed some plantation owners along the James River would import small distilleries from the Old World for personal use. 

The Birthplace of the American Spirit

Distilled spirits like aqua vitae were supplied to early settlers, but a little more than a decade into the colony, a true American spirit was first crafted. Virginia began her growth radiating out from Jamestown, including north along the James River. About 20 miles upstream from the original fort, between present day Williamsburg and Richmond, settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred and established one of the first plantations in America.  

Thirty-eight folks arrived in 1619 on the ship Margaret with the supplies needed to get things started, including “[s]ome fifteen gallons of aqua vitae, five-and-a-half tuns of beer, and cider.” 

The next year George Thorpe came to Berkeley and was appointed to the colony’s Council of State and put in charge of land set aside for a college and school for Native Americans. The statesman also farmed and dabbled – and failed – in viticulture (grape growing).  

But it was with spirits that Thorpe succeeded. In a letter to colleague John Smyth dated December 19, 1620, Thorpe wrote: 

“Wee have found a waie to make soe good drink of Indian corne I have divers times refused to drink good stronge English beare and chose to drinke that.” 

The creation was most likely white dog, a clear, un-aged, raw whiskey that, with a little time in charred barrels, would turn golden and have its edge taken off. It was more akin to moonshine, and not exactly bourbon, but it was the first documented start to crafting truly American whiskeys.  

Corn-based whiskeys would become a hallmark of Virginia, and the developing nation. Many farmers found they could make more money from a bushel of corn by distilling it than selling it at market. Plus, it was easier to transport, and had a relatively indefinite shelf life.  

Following Thorpe’s death, an inventory of his belongings noted “item, copper still, old,” and “ 3 runletts (casks) Virginia” – perhaps his corn whiskey – “which were drunke out among the people that fetcht downe his goods.” 

In 1964, congress recognized bourbon as “America’s native spirit.” 

Colonial Expansion

As the young colony expanded and towns were separated by some distance, the need for inns, ordinaries, and taverns grew. Even a 10-mile journey may require an overnight stay, and basics like food, drink, and lodging were offered to the traveler.  

Ordinaries and taverns also appeared in population-rich areas like Norfolk and Williamsburg where locals could stop by for a drink or two, and exchange ideas, information, and news. Ales and other styles of beer, hard ciders, wine, spirits, and early cocktails were among the tipples.  

Rum was popular, with imports coming from the Caribbean, but crafted in the colonies, too. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation says that by 1770, there were more than 140 rum distilleries making about 4.8 million gallons annually across the colonies.  

The Virginia Gazette ran an ad on April 21, 1775 for a new distillery in Alexandria that promised their rum to be “equal in quality, either in strength, agreeable smell, and good flavour, to any made on this continent” 

Rum was an essential ingredient in the very popular punches of the day. According to the Norfolk County court, punches, “if made good” were regulated to be sold at ordinaries and taverns at 16 pence per quart, such as was the case at Redwood’s Ordinary in Norfolk in 1693. 

Punches were boozy and ubiquitous in Virginia, with potency masked by fruit juices, spices, and perhaps some loaf sugar.  

Made Good Punch Recipe

Ready to try your hand at something our early colonists may have enjoyed? Here’s a recipe for Made Good Punch inspired by Barbados-born John Redwood’s 17th century tavern:

Ginger Simple Syrup Ingredients

  • 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

Cocktail Ingredients

  •  2 cups dark or spiced rum
  • 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1 cup ginger simple syrup
  • sparkling water
  • freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Make the simple syrup by peeling the skin from the piece of ginger and slicing into thin disks. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, add the ginger, sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Strain, add to a sealable glass jar and refrigerate until use, up to 1 month.

In a punch bowl, add the rum, lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice and ginger simple syrup. Serve half a cup of punch, top with sparkling water and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Yields 12–16 cocktails.

 – 

Patrick Evans-Hylton is a Johnson & Wales-trained chef, food historian, and award-winning food journalist covering tasty trends in broadcast, electronic, and print media since 1995. He is the author of Virginia Distilled: Four Centuries of Drinking in the Old Dominion. Read him at VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com