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Apparently is is about the whole western frontier, not just Kentucky, as William Crawford died in Wyandot County, Ohio. Crawford County, Ohio, named for him, is near there and also very near where I grew up. This is in north-central Ohio, far from the Kentucky border.
It's a fascinating period, the history of our own native soil, and not so terribly long ago. The town where I'm writing this, Mansfield, Ohio, was a significant settlement during the War of 1812 and the lead-up to it. There were several blockhouses in the area (the primary type of frontier fortification) and troops in transit or on patrol often chose those locations to set up camp, since they could usually get access to food and other supplies, including liquor. We had a couple of small distillers, as did every frontier community.
bourbonv wrote:Welcome aboard and enjoy the site. I do have a question for you that you are more qualified to answer since this early settlement history is your field. Do you think that I am right saying that Rum was a general term for all spirits in the late 1700s?
bourbonv wrote:im Holmberg seems to think it may be significant that that :Taffa" may be made with something other than rum. I am inclined to believe that it was made with corn whiskey that the settleres were simply calling "rum". In my opinion,there was too much of it traded for it all to be made from New England rum and the settlers probably had the attitude that the Native Americans did not know the difference anyway, so why not make it with corn whiskey.
gillmang wrote:Where taffia comes from, the etymology, is hard to say. I wonder if it is from the French "tot-fait" (quickly made), which is the origin of the confectionary term toffee, apparently. Both would share an origin in sugar, yet tot-fait refers to the rapidity of production, not the source materials as such.
Tafia is a kind of cheap rum made from sugarcane juice. It is typically unaged.
The history of rum dates back to the 17th century on vast sugarcane plantations established in the West Indies. In the colonial era, rum trade became very lucrative along the existing trade routes and rum production also became a component of slavery.
In the making of rum, the juice from sugarcane is boiled down to syrup. This syrup is briskly stirred until crystals form. When the crystal layer is removed, the remainder - molasses - is boiled again and water and yeast are added to the molasses and water mixture and allowed to ferment. The fremented mixture is then distilled. The distilled product is colorless until it is aged in wooden barrels and other natural ingredients like caramel are added.
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