Barrels of bourbon age in a rickhouse at Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Kentucky. (Photo courtesy of Heaven Hill)
Barrel Strength Bourbon:The Explosive Growth of America’s Whiskey
COPYRIGHT © 2017 by Carla Harris Carlton
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print, facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed, without express permission of the copyright holder.
For further information, contact the publisher:
CLERISY PRESS
An imprint of AdventureKEEN
2204 First Avenue S., Suite 102
Birmingham, AL 35233
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Carlton, Carla Harris, 1966– author.
Title: Barrel strength bourbon : the explosive growth of America’s whiskey /
Carla Harris Carlton.
Description: Birmingham, AL : Clerisy Press, [2017]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016041259 | ISBN 978-1-57860-575-0
ISBN 978-1-57860-576-7 (eISBN)
Subjects: LCSH: Bourbon whiskey—Kentucky—History.
Classification: LCC TP605 .C28 2017 | DDC 663/.52—dc23
LC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2016041259
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Printed in China
First edition, first printing
Editor: Lady Vowell Smith
Project editor: Ritchey Halphen
Cover design: Travis Bryant
Text design: Steve Sullivan
Cartography: Scott McGrew
Proofreader: Susan Roberts McWilliams
Indexer: Ann Weik Cassar/Cassar Technical Services
Cover photos: front, © The Len/Shutterstock; back, Brown-Forman Interior photos: as noted on page and as follows: pages 10–11, Brown-Forman; pages 26–27, Beam Suntory; pages 30–31 and pages 54–55, Kentucky Distillers’ Association; pages 82–83, Heaven Hill; pages 106–107, Kentucky Department of Travel; pages 150–151, Carla Carlton; pages 162–163, Heaven Hill
DEDICATION
For my mother, who has listened to far more of my stories than I will ever write, and my father, who never drank anything stronger than black coffee but was proud of me anyway.
Write drunk; edit sober.*
*This quote has been widely attributed to Ernest Hemingway, but most fact-checkers now agree that the actual source was writer and editor Peter De Vries (1910–1993). In any case, it’s sound advice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Straight Talk: A Shot of Bourbon History
Making Its Mark: The Rise of Premium Bourbon
From Mash to Masterpiece: How Bourbon Is Made
Make Mine a Double: The Big Business of Bourbon
The Proof Is in the Pilgrimage: Bourbon Tourism
“The Kentucky Chew”: How to Taste Bourbon
Double-Barreled: Betting on Bourbon’s Future
From Alligator Char to White Dog: A Glossary of Bourbon Terms
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK IS the culmination of years of study—and I’m not just referring to research done while sitting at a bar.
I owe a debt of gratitude to the many folks in the Kentucky bourbon industry who let me tag along while they did their work and answered dozens of questions, among them Master Distillers Jim Rutledge, Jimmy and Eddie Russell, Chris Morris, Harlen Wheatley, Fred Noe, Charlie Downs, Parker and Craig Beam, Denny Potter, Wes Henderson, Steve Beam, John Pogue, and Paul Tomaszewski; Maker’s Mark’s Bill Samuels Jr. and Rob Samuels; Heaven Hill’s Larry Kass and Josh Hafer; Sazerac’s Amy Preske; and Four Roses’ Karen Kushner.
The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA), particularly president Eric Gregory and Adam Johnson, manager of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail program, provided invaluable data and insight. The Kentucky Bourbon Timeline commissioned by the KDA (tinyurl.com/kybourbontimeline) was also a great resource, as was Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage, by my friend Michael Veach.
Some