(Danville, Illinois)
David Christenson, as told to me by Ken Christenson
"It was 1953 or maybe 1954 that, although he denies it now, my first cousin, Jerry Kagels, and I hatched a sure-fire, full-proof plan to make, bottle & perhaps sell to our friends, our very own Raisin-Jack Whiskey.
The basement of my house at 509 Grant Street was more of a root cellar than an honest basement.
Directly below the kitchen on the back side of the house, it was just one small room with cinder block walls, an outside wooden stair way with a big heavy door at ground level like Dorothy's in Wizard-of-Oz -, and a single light bulb hanging on a cord from the unfinished ceiling.
An opening in the southwest corner provided access to the crawl space under the rest of the house and was mostly blocked with discarded, but too good to throw away, junk like outgrown toys, boards that had been cut too short for whatever project, a broken but fixable wooden chair and lots of spiders.
A few sagging shelves were attached to the west wall and a small window faced the alley on the north side. It was perfect.
We gathered the necessary equipment and supplies, cleaned the basement to a suitable condition and got down to business.
The recipe for Raisin-Jack is pretty simple; water, raisins, sugar, corn meal and yeast. Additional fruit may be desirable for flavor, oranges work well, and two appropriate sized wooden barrels.
Cook the raisins in enough water to cover until tender, then cool.