Alcoholic beverage production in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States has recently begun a resurgence, particularly from producers looking to engage with traditional regional beverage styles. Artesan beverages are being recreated, rediscovered, and reinterpreted by new producers with an eye to historical antecedents— but these are often interrupted histories. Thus fragmentary conceptions of the past and creative interests connected to more recent histories come together to create a backdrop that defines experiences of producers. The reinvention of the industry, however, does frequently lead to a set of questions that may seem foundational, but which are actually far more emergent than they appear at first glance. Against largely lenient regulatory structures, the idea of how to define what certain beverages are— and are not— can be contested by producers seeking to set standards, align production with their personal values, and make a profit.
This paper will look to some of those processes of definition and the value(s) and costs of constructed meanings in the context of the MidAtlantic alcoholic beverage industry, looking primarily to cider, rum, and rye whiskey producers in Maryland and neighboring states. It will consider the ways in which setting standards and boundaries helps producers meet one set of goals, while also exploring the value of the undefined in these sociocultural circumstances. Definitions serve to regulate, define, and demarcate, but less fluid signifiers can leave a socially valuable ability to reshape some narratives, as area producers imagine histories that both contend with ideas of controls over production and simultaneously take advantage of repurposing what categories mean in relation to both the past and the future.
About the presenterErica A Farmer
Dr. Farmer has an interdisciplinary background in anthropology, law, and cultural heritage. She is especially interested in how social structures, institutions, and systems impact the choices of individuals and groups, and the ways communities built around specific activities function and define themselves. Her primary research interests are in cultural heritage and cultural property, intellectual property in social context(s), culture and language, material culture/museum anthropology, anthropology of food, and intersectional identities in the contemporary world.