📙 S7:11 - When Whiskey Sparked a Riot: South Carolina's Forgotten War

In the 1890s, South Carolina became the center of one of the most controversial experiments in American whiskey history—a state-controlled liquor system that promised reform but delivered conflict, corruption, and bloodshed. In this episode, I dig into the rise of Governor Benjamin "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman, his political machine, and the dispensary system that turned whiskey into a battleground between state authority and personal liberty. We'll follow the Tillmanites and Bourbonites all the way to the 1894 Darlington Riot, in a story that shows how quickly reform can spiral into unrest when power, profit, and principle collide. It's a chapter of whiskey history rarely told, but one that speaks to the development of the alcohol control systems we live with today. Enjoy a fascinating episode of forgotten whiskey history.