What term is used for wholesalers that purchased cheap spirits, colored and flavored them, then sold them as whiskey?

The correct term for wholesalers that purchased inexpensive spirits, added color and flavor, and marketed them as whiskey is "Rectifiers." This term historically refers to individuals or businesses engaged in the process of rectification, which involves altering the quality and characteristics of a spirit. By adding artificial colors and flavors to base neutral spirits, rectifiers would create products that could mimic the taste and appearance of more expensive whiskey without the lengthy aging process required for authentic whiskey production.

In contrast, distillers are those who create spirits through the fermentation and distillation processes, focusing on producing high-quality liquor straight from raw ingredients. Bottlers are entities responsible for filling and packaging spirits for sale but do not typically alter the products themselves. Producers is a broader term that could encompass both distillers and rectifiers but does not specifically describe the practice of manipulating cheap spirits into a whiskey-like product. Thus, "Rectifiers" is the precise term for this practice, making it the correct answer in this context.