74 GUNSOFTHEOLDWEST
ifewasroughintheOld West. After a
hardday’swork,men liked to gather
fora drink.Without whiskey, the
Westmayneverhave been won. Early
Westernsaloonswere little more than
tentsthatservedhomemadewhiskey. As people trav-
eledwestwardandtownsgrew,saloons became more
elaborateandoftenfeaturedimported whiskey.
Althoughmanymoderndistillers capi-
ta lizeon OldWestnostalgia,most of
today’swhiskeybrandswouldnot
havetastedveryfamiliarto cowboys
backthen.The qualityandflavor of
thewhiskeysof theperiodvaried
greatly.Cowboysalsodidn’t have
thereputationof beingverysophis-
ticatedwhiskeyconnoisseurs,and
suchliquorservedto fuelthesaloon’s
otherentertainmentvenues.Adrunk
cowboywas morelikelyto partwith
moreof his hard-earnedcash.
Thewhiskeyindustrywasalso rid-
dledwithdishonestbehavior.Itwas
hardto knowexactlywhatyouwere
buying,andadulterationwascom-
monplace.It wasn’tuntilthepassage
oftheBottled-in-BondActof 1897
thatanyfederalqualitystandards
wereestablished.Moreregulations for
AFTER HOURS
WHISKEYS
Five OldWest
whiskeys that you
can still drink today
By EUGENE NIELSEN
L
