If history is written by the victors (debatable), Kentucky bourbon beat rye in the U.S. whiskey wars. But as The Whiskey Wash’s Nino Marchetti explains, the mid-Atlantic states are taking a stand.

The new Whiskey Rebellion Trail, an effort that encompasses about 75 craft distilleries and cultural institutions in and around Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., aims to raise awareness of what organizers call the birthplace of American whiskey.

Was the Whiskey Rebellion really a thing?

Yes indeed. During the 1790s, distiller-farmers in the mid-Atlantic fought the whiskey tax floated by Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. treasury secretary. As protests grew, President George Washington sent 13,000 troops to Pittsburgh to arrest the rebels. Washington later spared two of their leaders from the noose.

The Whiskey Rebellion Trail covers museums as well as whiskey makers such as Dad’s Hat, Sagamore Spirit and Wigle Whiskey. Passes, good for anywhere from a day to a year, go for $17 to $359. Does that include tax?🥃