America’s First Commercial Whiskey?

In Southern Spirits: 400 Years of Drinking in the American South, I discuss in detail the rise of whiskey-making in the South. The practice got started in the colonial days, taking root first in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and later moving down through the Carolina backcountry and over the Appalachians into Tennessee and, eventually, Kentucky.

For many decades, whiskey was not an article of commerce. Instead, it was made by farmers or millers to supply their own families and perhaps barter with neighbors. But, in my research I did turn up one aspiring whiskey-maker very early on—and in a rather unlikely place.

In 1767, Henry Snow hung out his shingle in Savannah and advertised himself in the Georgia Gazette as a “Distiller from London” who made and sold a variety of liquors.

The End of a Savannah BBQ Legend—and a New Beginning, Too

Up next for the Daily South at Southern Living, a look at the final days of Johnny Harris Restaurant in Savannah, a historic barbecue restaurant that I've written about numerous times in the past—why it's closing its doors and the plans of some of the family behind it to carry on in a new enterprise.

The Platform Wars

Facebook and Twitter, Digiday reports, are now actively working to prevent publishers from using their platform to promote Snapchat—including disabling deep-linking and discouraging the use of "snapcodes" (scannable Snapchat icons) as their avatars.

Nothing new here, of course. (Remember when Twitter stopped allowing Instagram photos to appear in feeds?) But it does indicates that Snapchat has now started to reach scale beyond just a messaging platform. So I guess I've got to start Snapchatting now, too?