Elijah Craig

Elijah Craig

Elijah Craig (* 1743 in Orange County , Colony of Virginia ; † 1808 ) was a Baptist pastor and preacher in Scott County , Kentucky . Craig was an inventor who introduced many gadgets to his area in the early days of Kentucky's settlement. Craig founded the first classic curriculum school in Kentucky, which later became part of Georgetown College . Legend has it that he founded the city of Georgetown in Kentucky and was also the inventor of bourbon whiskey .

inventor

Craig moved from Virginia to Kentucky in 1786. He followed Larry Craig. Like Elijah, Larry was a Baptist minister. While Baptism was officially approved in Virginia at this time, its practical exercise was subject to numerous opposition from the Anglican Church, which dominated the politics of Virginia. For example, Elijah Craig was jailed twice for preaching against the law. Larry Craig moved with his congregation, the so-called Traveling Church , over the mountains to the as yet undeveloped Kentucky and established a new congregation there away from civilization. Elijah followed him a year later and developed an extraordinary thirst for action in Kentucky. He was pastor of the ward for five years until he was temporarily expelled from the ward due to an argument. He was later resumed.

Contemporaries claimed that Craig founded the first fulling mill , the first paper mill and the first rope mill .

bourbon

A bottle of Elijah Craig 12

Craig is said to have been the first to distill whiskey in Kentucky, and thus the inventor of bourbon whiskey. However, no contemporary sources can be found for this claim. There is not even clear evidence that he burned alcohol at all; the first sources for this only exist decades after his death. Craig was first mentioned as the first bourbon distiller in Richard Collins' History of Kentucky , published in 1874, under the heading Kentucky Firsts . There, the first Bourbon Craigs distillery is attributed in a one-sentence statement without going into further detail or specifying where the statement came from. In contrast, there is now known evidence that whiskey production took place in Kentucky before Craig moved there. The legend of Craig as the inventor of bourbon did not emerge until the late 19th century, when the abstinence movement took hold in the United States. Presumably, as the forefather of whiskey, a preacher should refute the moral arguments of the often religiously motivated teetotalers.

A premium whiskey from Heaven Hill Distillery is named after Craig . One of the most famous bottlings is Elijah Craig 12 , a Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey that has been stored for twelve years .

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} J. H. Spencer: A History of Kentucky Baptists
2. ↑ Georgetown / Scott County Tourism: History of Georgetown / Scott County ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Michael R. Veach: Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage . University Press of Kentucky, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8131-4165-7
4. ↑ CK Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 . P. 23