This source notes that the increased use of whiskey in early America was due to "a great abundance of corn, especially in the agriculturally rich Ohio Valley". It was easier to convert corn into whiskey than grain and easier to transport. This author compares that to the present when he says; "this economic situation resembles today's problem with obesity: agricultural overproduction, caused by deregulation during the Reagan era, forced manufacturers to find ways of more efficiently getting farm products, especially corn in the form of high-fructose sweeteners and feed for livestock, into the American diet".
(Source: "Gods Good Creature and Cold Water Armies: American drinking from Plymouth to Appmattox" Part Two. By Matthew Dikkari. Civil War Historian March/Ap 2007)
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