Cheers, Virginia!

Virginia’s early colonists, including children, drank alcohol heavily – three times the amount, per person, consumed by adults in the state today.

The reason for that was the local water supply was poor and alcohol was safer to drink, explained Hailey Fenner, manager of digital learning at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond.

She shared an overview of the history of alcoholic beverages in the commonwealth in a recent presentation of AARP Virginia’s Virginia Treasures series. The talk covered the practices of the first settlements through the growth today of vineyards, breweries and distilleries.

There is no specific evidence that indigenous people created and consumed alcohol, said Fenner, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t do so. Historical evidence indicates that alcoholic consumption began with European settlers in Jamestown in the early 1600s.

The water from the James River was either salty or full of silt, making many colonists sick. Alcohol was safer. Even children drank diluted versions of what the adults drank.

A 1622 broadside notice in England provided a list of recommended supplies for people planning to come to Virginia, including one gallon of spirits per person, per year. Fenner suspects that, given the poor water quality in Virginia, the amount listed probably wouldn’t have been adequate.

Historic artifacts suggest that in the 1600s, women were the primary producers of alcohol. Cookbooks from the period include recipes for growing corn and distilling and brewing.

Some of the museum’s artifacts from the period include jugs used to store and transport drinks and an early corkscrew. Other items include decanters for wine, which, said Fenner, was shipped in barrels and needed decanting to remove sediment from the barrels before drinking.

Alcohol in colonial Virginia included beer, wine, and fortified wine. Rum, made from fermented molasses from sugar cane harvested on plantations by enslaved Africans, was popular. Colonists also drank brandy, a fortified wine. Most wine was imported, as grapes were hard to grow in early Virginia. Colonists made brandy from other fruits.

Virginia was the birthplace of distilled spirits in America, said Fenner. By 1810, Virginia boasted over 3,500 registered distilleries, mostly small, household operations. Today, there are just 45 legal distilleries in the Commonwealth. The industry took a hit from Prohibition laws in the early 20th Century and has only recently seen renewed growth.

One of Virginia’s most historic distillers was George Washington, who established his Mount Vernon Distillery after leaving the presidency in 1797. He assigned six enslaved men to work the distillery, which continued production until an 1814 fire shut it down. Today, the distillery has been reconstructed and is open to the public.

Virginia is also notorious for its moonshine history. “A moonshiner is a distiller who chooses not to license their distilling operation, meaning they do not pay tax on their whiskey,” said Fenner.

Moonshining, so named because operations took place under the cover of darkness, occurred mostly in the mountain regions of southwest Virginia. Franklin County was known as the “wettest county in the world” during Prohibition because of the sheer number of still operations and the amount of alcohol produced.

During Prohibition, said Fenner, 3,909 stills were destroyed by agents in Franklin County alone. They made 1,699 arrests, seizing over 130 gallons of alcohol. Illegal moonshining still takes place in Virginia, but, said Fenner, “it isn’t talked about.”

Virginia’s winemaking industry dates to Jamestown, with Governor Thomas Dale planting a three-acre vineyard in 1611. In 1619, the House of Burgesses, Virginia’s governing body, passed a law requiring every male householder to plant 10 acres of European grapes to boost Virginia’s winemaking industry.

Unfortunately, most of those early efforts were unsuccessful. It wasn’t until the 1830s that Richmond horticulturalist Dr. Daniel Norton developed a disease-resistant hybrid grape and successfully produced flavorful red wine. Named the Norton grape, it put Virginia winemaking on the map, and the commonwealth was the third top producer of wine in the nation prior to Prohibition, said Fenner.

Prohibition set back the wine industry in Virginia, just as it did with distillers. But today, Virginia is fifth among states in wine production, with over 300 wineries.

The way wine is consumed has changed over the years. In the 1700s, wine glasses were largely a luxury only the wealthy could afford. A typical wine glass from that period contained about a 2 ½-ounce serving of wine. As glassware became easier to produce, it became more affordable, and larger. Today’s standard wine glass serving is about 15 ounces.

Thomas Jefferson was one of the early advocates of Virginia’s wine industry, working with an Italian merchant and horticulturalist to import European vine cuttings to Virginia. His efforts were significantly curtailed by the Revolutionary War.

In the late 19^th Century, however, wines produced in the Monticello area using Norton grapes, while not directly associated with Jefferson’s estate, were so successful that additional wineries arose in the vicinity. Today, the Charlottesville region remains the heart of Virginia’s wine country.

One of Virginia’s historic winemakers was John June Lewis, Sr., who operated the Woburn Winery in Clarksville from the 1940s to the 1960s. Lewis was the first African American winemaker in the United States.

Gabriele Rausse, who began making wine in the 1970s, is considered the father of the modern Virginia wine industry, having helped establish dozens of wineries. He continues his craft today, which includes work with some of the varietals established by Jefferson.

Beer was a popular thirst quencher and dietary supplement in colonial Virginia because the water was so unsafe to drink. Children drank “small” beer, which contained just a small amount of alcohol. Beer has a shorter shelf life than wine or spirits, so production was a constant activity.

Early settlers grew corn, barley, hops, wheat, and malt for beer production. While originally beer making was a household task performed mostly by women and servants, it later grew to large-scale production with commercial breweries.

One early commercial brewery was the Home Brewing Company of Richmond, which produced Richbrau, a German-style beer, from 1933-1969. Today’s Virginia craft beer industry is filled with men and women creating both large and small batches of beer.

The Virginia Treasures series explores Virginia’s historic landmarks and cultural institutions. For information about upcoming programs, click here.