I've got to say it probably wasn't a good idea on the government's part to tax whiskey as the first domestic product to be taxed. Not only were the states beginning to feel the financial pressure of being part of a Union, but they also felt like things were being dictated to them which of course helped lead to the Civil War. The tax was put in place to help pay off debt that our new nation had accrued to fight for independence.
Most of the trouble was coming from Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Tax collectors who were trying to get whiskey distillers and sellers to start paying the taxes were getting beaten up. It got so bad that President George Washington led a group of 13,000 soldiers to squelch the "Whiskey Rebellion." To this day, tax collectors are trying to put an end to black market distribution of whiskey. Some things never change.