Bourbon: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of an American Whiskey

247 Pages·2016·51 MB·English

by  Fred Minnick

BourboN

urb
o o
B N
The Rise, Fall, and rebirth
of an
American Whiskey
Fred Minnick
Foreword by Sean Brock
© 2016 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
Text © 2016 Fred Minnick
Photography © Fred Minnick except as otherwise noted.
First published in 2016 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group
USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 978-0-7603-5172-7
Digital edition: 978-1-62788-976-6
Hardcover edition: 978-0-76035-172-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Minnick, Fred, 1978-
Title: Bourbon : the rise, fall, and rebirth of an American whiskey / Fred
Minnick.
Description: Minneapolis, MN : Voyageur Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016009158 | ISBN 9780760351727 (plc)
Subjects: LCSH: Bourbon whiskey--United States--History. | Whiskey--United
States--History. | Whiskey industry--United States--History.
Classification: LCC TP605 .M567 2016 | DDC 641.2/520973--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016009158
Acquiring Editor: Erik Gilg
Project Manager: Madeleine Vasaly
Art Director: James Kegley
Cover Designer: Faceout Studios
Layout: Wendy Holdman
On the endpapers: shutterstock/Tischenko Irina
Printed in China
To OLM, and the geeks.
CONTENTS
Foreword 6
Introduction 8
Chapter 1 Father of Bourbon 12
Chapter 2 And the Bourbon Shall Flow 30
Chapter 3 Government: Friend and Foe 54
Chapter 4 “Whiskey Is the Devil’s Own Brew” 76
Chapter 5 The Fight for Prohibition’s Medicinal Whiskey 86
Chapter 6 Big Business: Post-Prohibition Growth 118
Chapter 7 Distillers vs. Nazis and US Government 138
Chapter 8 The Boom of the Bourbon Image 160
Chapter 9 Rise of White Spirits 176
Chapter 10 Success in a Red Dress 188
Chapter 11 To Beat Jack Daniel’s 198
Chapter 12 Bourbon’s Return and Potential Fall 212
Bibliography 236
Index 238
Acknowledgments 240
FOREWORD
By Sean Brock
James Beard Award winner and New York Times best-selling author
A
lmost a decade ago, the bourbon bug bit me: I had my first taste of Pappy Van
Winkle, and I haven’t been the same since.
Over the years, I’ve dedicated my career and life to studying and celebrat-
ing southern culture. My restaurant, Husk, serves as the church where we give our
daily sermons in the form of food and drink. We want to share all of the seminal
things that belong to the South with the rest of the world, like cornbread and fine
whiskey.
When I tasted twenty-year-old Pappy Van Winkle for the first time, the world
stood still. I was struck with an incredible sense of pride as a southerner. This stuff
is ours, I thought—it was born here and belongs here, and it is world class. My
mind started to ramble, and I realized I didn’t know anything about the history of
our great spirit or what contribution liquor had truly made to America. Its taxes
have helped build roads and schools, funded wars, and birthed our beloved sport
of NASCAR. I knew it was my responsibility to learn as much as possible about
a subject that contributed so significantly to our culture, so I started digging. I
bought every book I could find with the word bourbon in the title and sat in front
of my laptop Googling for hours and hours on end. I quickly realized that the story
of bourbon was as confusing and clouded as a presidential election.
Nearly every story I read seemed like a fairy tale made up for the sake of mar-
keting. That’s when I discovered Fred and his incredible passion, not to mention his
almost dangerous breadth of knowledge on these subjects. It takes a special person
to dig this deep and discover truths that so often seem to be hidden on purpose.
The book that you are about to read can easily transform you into a bourbon his-
tory buff. I read it in two days. I wish I could have had this information in front
of me ten years ago, but it simply didn’t exist before Fred poured it all out in this
all-encompassing bourbon encyclopedia. Within these pages are some facts people
don’t want to hear, like the story of the reverend Elijah Craig and how he invented
bourbon. It is filled with stories about the tangled history of whiskey production
that ultimately help us realize bourbon’s place in American history. Bourbon is not
just about getting intoxicated; its role in medicine, politics, society, and economics
6 FOREWORD
are important to our country. This is a textbook for those who have always won-
dered about the true history of bourbon and will serve as a foundation for those
who are interested in what the future holds. It provides a deep understanding of
how bourbon became the worldwide phenomenon it is today. It’s allowed me to
have a different respect for bourbon, caused me to take in the flavor a little slower
with every sip I take, and enabled me to speak with more confidence in spreading
the gospel. It occurred to me that Fred may have written this book so people like
me would stop texting him random bourbon history questions at odd hours of
the night.
Sit back, pour a healthy glass of liquid history, and soak up all this knowledge
that Fred so generously shares with us.
All of us bourbon lovers have our moment when the brown spirit captivated us, moved us, and brought us into the
fold. For renowned chef Sean Brock and many others, the Van Winkle bourbons were their first love. The bottles
pictured are supremely rare and tasty.
FOREWORD 7
INTRODUCTION
B
ourbon is more American than apple pie, existed before baseball, and has
built more roads, schools, and government infrastructure than any non-
petroleum domestic product. That’s saying a lot for a style of whiskey made
predominantly from corn. Since its birth, bourbon has transcended its status as
intoxicant liquor, has become an American symbol used in political circles and
popular culture, and has endured harsh economic times. From the statesman
Henry Clay saying he’d use bourbon to “lubricate the wheels of justice” to the
2015 Obama-McConnell saga known as the “Bourbon Summit,” bourbon is woven
into the dealings on Capitol Hill;
and through Paul Newman drinking
J. T. S. Brown on the Hustler and the
Saturday Night Live parodies using
the spirit, bourbon is embedded in
America’s pop culture.
Although bourbon’s American im-
portance is often relegated to its role
as nothing more than a drink, as you
will see in Bourbon: The Rise, Fall and
Rebirth of an American Whiskey, bour-
bon helped build the United States
of America. Today, 60 percent of
the average bottle goes to tax; thus,
bourbon builds schools, roads, and
government infrastructure. Health
groups and anti-drinking leagues
would vilify distilleries for saying
such, but I’m not affiliated with a dis-
tillery, so I speak the truth: bourbon
is good for America. And it’s time we
Sean Connery endorsed Jim Beam bourbons in the 1960s. understand the historic intricacies
Bourbon brands have enjoyed a rich history of paid and
that make it so unique.
non-paid celebrity endorsements. Ironically, Connery
played James Bond, who ordered a martini shaken and This book offers an illustrated
not stirred and impacted the white spirits movement. narrative to an iconic and under-
Starting in 2014, the company, now Beam Suntory,
rated spirit that has connections to
brought back its celebrity connections with actress
such celebrities as Mila Kunis, Sean
Mila Kunis. Beam Suntory
8 INTRODUCTION