Test bottles of sustainable varietand ies (like Wapsie Val- whiskey bourbon at ley Corn) yield only Kings County Distillery in 60% of genetically modified, chemically Brooklyn, NY dependent corn. For farmers, growing corn is a bulk business, and there isn’t enough profit or predictability in small-batch organic growing. Genetically modified corn is plentiful, cheap, and profitable for farmers large and small. And the makers of GMO seed and chemicals have a powerful voice in a federal government intent on maintaining the status quo. Some distillers are beginning to grow their own open-pollinated corn, and others are paying a premium to have local farmers grow organic corn for them. We asked some of the country’s artisanal distillers to create recipes for Leaf readers using un-aged corn whiskey. Perhaps our love of a good cocktail will inspire open-pollination among large, traditional corn producers. LEAF MAGAZINE
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Photo courtesy of Kings County Distillery
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orn whiskey holds a special place in American folklore and economic and political history. The spirit conjures up images of tax avoiding, gun-toting distillers making moonshine deep in the woods, or cars careening down dark, country roads filled with contraband during Prohibition. As early as 1791, during the Whiskey Rebellion, small distillers throughout the country rose up and violently protested a tax on their products. That politics, economics, and whiskey are strange bedfellows is no different today. White whiskey made from corn is now fashionable. It is made legally and with care and imagination in artisanal distilleries north and south of the Mason-Dixon line, and east and west of the Mississippi. Corn is the top cash crop in the United States, and according to the Center for Food Safety, more than 85% of it is genetically engineered. Specialty, smallbatch distillers who are trying to create full-flavored, complex whiskies as well as bourbon—corn whiskey’s aged sibling—have tried to convince farmers to grow organic, heirloom, open-pollinated corn. According to Brian Lee of Tuthilltown Spirits, organic, heirloom corn creates more complex flavors. Heirloom varieties (non-GMO and
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