In Bourbon Country, Fall Begins Today

No, the leaves haven't changed and the thermometer tells a different story, but July 1 is the first day of the fall distilling season in America's whiskey distilleries.

Division of the year into two distilling seasons was codified in the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 and later incorporated into the Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits as Subpart B, Sec. 5.11 'Meaning of terms.'

The significance of this rule is shown in the photograph. For a distilled spirit to be labeled 'bonded' or 'bottled-in-bond' it must, among other things, have been entirely distilled within a single distilling season, either spring (1/1 - 6/30) or fall (7/1 - 12/31) of a given year. Although the law no longer requires disclosure of the distilling season on the label, it still obliges producers to adhere to that limitation.

Designating the two seasons as 'spring' and 'fall,' rather than in some other way, has even deeper roots. Traditionally, distilling was a seasonal enterprise, mostly taking place in the fall, after the harvest was in, when grain was most plentiful and cheapest, and when farmers were available to work as distillery hands. Distilling would then continue into the winter months, with a short break around Christmas and New Year, until the grain ran out or the weather got too hot, whichever came first.

As the research being done at George Washington's distillery at Mount Vernon has shown, distilling in those days involved a lot of very hard, physical labor. It was also hot work, from boiling water to cook the mash, which had to be stirred by hand, to the hot copper stills themselves, distilleries were hot and smoky. Better to do that sort of thing in the fall and winter than in the heat of summer. Also in those days, without the technology to control fermentation with chilled water, the yeast had a tendency to work too fast in hot weather, leading to lower yields.

Today, although technology makes it possible to distill all year, and the current high demand for American whiskey makes it an economic necessity, distilleries still typically take a summer break—usually in August—to give workers a vacation and to clean, maintain, and upgrade the equipment.

If you plan to tour a distillery this summer, check first to make sure they will be operating during your visit.

So while it is too early to break out the candy corn, you may want to raise a glass to the new distilling season that starts today.