Great Western Distillery
The Great Western Distillery was a whiskey distillery in Peoria , Illinois . At the time of its construction in 1881, the distillery was the largest whiskey distillery in the world. Its founder, Joseph Greenhut , built on their success the Whiskey Trust , which dominated the US whiskey market at the turn of the 20th century. Today the agricultural company Archer Daniels Midland produces industrial alcohol and fuel there, but also neutral alcohol, which is processed into well-known vodka and gin brands, among other things .
history
An alcohol industry developed in Peoria from the middle of the 19th century, which at times made Peoria the whiskey capital of the world. The tax revenue that the USA received from Peoria exceeded that of any other city, and between 1837 and 1919 a total of 73 different distilleries worked in the city. The immigrant Joseph Greenhut from Austria moved to this city to open his own distillery. Greenhut had the Great West Distillery built in 1881. In 1887 this merged with 65 other distilleries to form the Whiskey Trust of which Greenhut became president. The trust dominated the market for several years, forcing numerous competitors to close down. While the trust's existence was still legal at the time - the Sherman Antitrust Act didn't come into effect until 1890 - many of its business practices were not. Among other things, a noticeable number of distilleries that refused to join the trust burned down. Due to the trust's legal and financial difficulties, Greenhut left the company in 1895, but not without having made significant changes to the American distillery landscape.
After the end of Prohibition in 1933, the Canadian company Hiram Walker & Sons bought the distillery. The Canadians tore down the original distillery building, and the new building was again the largest distillery in the world. Archer Daniels Midland acquired the distillery building in 1982.
Remarks
- ↑ Holly Jessen: Ethanol to Drink , Ethanol Producer Magazine June 10, 2010
- ↑ a b Jerry Klein: Made In Peoria: The Birth of Industry , Peoria Magazine January 2011
- ^ Reid Mitenbuler: Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey Penguin, 2015 ISBN 0698145402
- ↑ a b Chuck Cowdery. The Whiskey Trust. Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time , The Chuck Cowdery Blog February 12, 2014