The book's corn-drink quotation and still inventory do not by themselves establish that the drink was distilled, aged, or bourbon. Preserve attribution to Huckelbridge; do not promote this into a proven invention.
Huckelbridge infers a corn spirit from a corn-drink reference and still inventory. These pieces of evidence do not independently prove their combination, aging, or a modern bourbon process.
Using Virginia Company evidence and an estate inventory, the book argues that George Thorpe distilled a corn-based spirit at Berkeley Hundred before his death in 1622.
PDF sheet 31
PDF sheet 23
Chapter 1 — George Thorpe
2026-09-29: fresh supplied-copy review covered all 320 sheets and 87 enlarged visuals. This entry is checked for fidelity to the cited passage, not independent truth. Copy lacks at least endnotes 39–56; earlier complete-source wording is superseded. The book's corn-drink quotation and still inventory do not by themselves establish that the drink was distilled, aged, or bourbon. Preserve attribution to Huckelbridge; do not promote this into a proven invention.
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