Kentucky's landscape is punctuated by landmark structures that signpost bourbon's venerable story: distilleries long-standing, relict, razed, and brand new, the grand nineteenth-century homes of renowned distillers, villages and neighborhoods where distillery laborers lived, Whiskey Row storage warehouses, river landings and railroad yards, and factories where copper distilling vessels and charred white oak barrels are made. During the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Distillers often operated at comparatively remote sites—along the "backroads"—to take advantage of water sources or river or turnpike transport access. As time passed, steam power and mechanization freed the industry from its reliance on waterpower and permitted distillers to relocate to urban and rural rail-side sites. This shift also allowed distillers to perfect their production techniques, increase their capacity, and refine their marketing strategies. The historic progression produced the "fine" Kentucky bourbons that are available to present day consumers. Yet, distillers have not abandoned their cultural roots and traditions; their iconic products embrace the modern while also engaging their history and geography. Blending several topics—inventions and innovations in distilling and transport technologies, tax policy, geography, landscapes, and architecture—this primer and geographical guide presents an accessible and detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry and explains how the industry continues to thrive.

Part I of this book is a geographic history of Kentucky's distilling industry, focusing on the nineteenth century. Kentucky distillers have produced alcohol spirits, bourbon, and rye whiskeys for more than two centuries. This part examines the change from craft distilling practiced by farmers and millers to large-scale industrial distilling using mechanized processes and refined production techniques. The nineteenth-century temperance movement eventually led to national Prohibition, which was in effect from 1920 to 1933. A small number of distillers survived by making medicinal whiskey. Part II consists of three chapters that outline the concentration of industrial distilling in the Inner and Outer Bluegrass regions as well as in Ohio Valley cities.

While other industries chase after the new and improved, bourbon makers celebrate traditions that hearken back to an authentic frontier craft. Distillers enshrine local history in their branding and time-tested recipes, and rightfully so. Kentucky's unique geography shaped the whiskeys its settlers produced, and for more than two centuries, distilling bourbon fundamentally altered every aspect of Kentucky's landscape and culture. Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky illuminates how the specific geography, culture, and ecology of the Bluegrass converged and gave birth to Kentucky's favorite barrel-aged whiskey. Expanding on his fall 2019 release Bourbon's Backroads, Karl Raitz delivers a more nuanced discussion of bourbon's evolution by contrasting the fates of two distilleries in Scott and Nelson Counties. In the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry. The resulting infrastructure—farms, mills, turnpikes, railroads, steamboats, lumberyards, and cooperage shops—left its permanent mark on the land and traditions of the commonwealth. Today, multinational brands emphasize and even construct this local heritage. This unique interdisciplinary study uncovers the complex history poured into every glass of bourbon.

Kentucky's landscape is punctuated by landmark structures that signpost bourbon's venerable story: distilleries long-standing, relict, razed, and brand new, the grand nineteenth-century homes of renowned distillers, villages and neighborhoods where distillery laborers lived, Whiskey Row storage warehouses, river landings and railroad yards, and factories where copper distilling vessels and charred white oak barrels are made. During the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Distillers often operated at comparatively remote sites—along the "backroads"—to take advantage of water sources or river or turnpike transport access. As time passed, steam power and mechanization freed the industry from its reliance on waterpower and permitted distillers to relocate to urban and rural rail-side sites. This shift also allowed distillers to perfect their production techniques, increase their capacity, and refine their marketing strategies. The historic progression produced the "fine" Kentucky bourbons that are available to present day consumers. Yet, distillers have not abandoned their cultural roots and traditions; their iconic products embrace the modern while also engaging their history and geography. Blending several topics—inventions and innovations in distilling and transport technologies, tax policy, geography, landscapes, and architecture—this primer and geographical guide presents an accessible and detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry and explains how the industry continues to thrive.

"For more than two centuries, Kentucky distillers have produced alcohol, maintaining their revered traditional distilling techniques. They follow proven recipes and brand their whiskies as "Old," as in Old Times and Old Log Cabin, or allude to historical places and personages such as Rolling Fork and Evan Williams. While many consumer goods manufacturers market their products as "new and improved," modern bourbon sales campaigns continue to emphasize a tradition and heritage that hearkens back to the original frontier craft. In Making Bourbon, Karl Raitz examines Kentucky's bourbon history through the synthesis of three perspectives: making, historical ecology, and landscape. All industrial regions are comprised of intricately layered and interrelated elements but, Raitz argues, Kentucky's nineteenth-century distilling landscape was especially complex. Raitz not only considers the geographical history of the nineteenth century when distilling transformed from artisanal craft to large-scale industry, but also how bourbon makers created the signature distilling landscape that remains at the core of the contemporary industry's identity. The cultural, historical, and geographic history of the region converge to create bourbon's unique story and birthplace. Rural distilleries stood beside springs or creeks and processed grain from surrounding farms. Urban distilleries drew water from rivers or wells and patronized rail lines, which delivered their grain and shipped their product. Skilled coopers and coppersmiths found work supplying barrels and still equipment. The farms and mills, the lumber yards and cooperage shops, and the turnpikes, railroads, and steamboats, contributed elements to this distilling landscape. Today, we are left with land that carries on the imprint of these traditions, and bourbon makers who benefit from a heritage so intricately linked to the hills of Kentucky"--

The art of creating and consuming bourbon is exploding, Carla Carlton's Barrel Strength Bourbon is a must read for all bourbon aficionados. Barrel Strength Bourbon provides an in-depth examination of the bourbon industry in Kentucky, the creation of an American spirit, its resurrection following Prohibition, its astronomical growth in the past decade, and its potential for the future. Readers will meet the colorful family of characters who craft bourbon by hand, visit the picturesque distilleries along rural backroads and urban centers, and learn the secrets of an American original. The author, Carla Harris Carlton, gives readers an up-close look at how bourbon is made, how the industry was built, and how the close-knit families of bourbon crafters continue to grow a multibillion-dollar global industry while staying true to their Kentucky roots. Readers will learn how to nose, taste, and appreciate a spirit that, while created from time-tested recipes, is evolving so quickly that new varieties and brands appear weekly on liquor store shelves. The author, a leading bourbon journalist who routinely helps select barrels for special edition bottlings and tastes new products before most bartenders do, takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of distilleries and rickhouses, shares anecdotes from her chats with bourbon legends, and provides insight on what to expect next from one of the fastest growing spirits on Earth. Also available are two companion ebooks: Spirited Perfection: Building Your Bourbon Bar (ASIN: B07333YXMM) In the past 10 years, choosing a bourbon has gone from underwhelming to overwhelming and author Carla Carlton is here to help you navigate this boom. In this book, she offers tasting notes on various bourbons and rye whiskies so you know what to stock at home. Carlton also helps you choose the appropriate bar tools, glassware and mixers to have on hand. Still Life: The Resurgence of Craft Bourbon (ASIN: B07335HMMM) The art of creating and consuming bourbon is exploding. Today you will find craft bourbon distilleries in all 50 states. As mixologists and distillers find the space, market and financial success to fully explore their trade, the world is taking notice. It’s in the middle of this expanding industry that author Carla Carlton takes the time to connect all the dots for you, the bourbon enthusiast. She concisely maps out the seeds of the newest trends and shows why certain classic bourbon brands and bottles have grown while others have been washed away. These special edition e-only books are a wonderful and informative read on their own, but are also the perfect chaser to Carlton’s Barrel Strength Bourbon, now out in bookstores and online everywhere.

He bought the car a dozen years ago. Together, they traveled every mile of every road on his highway map, a 250,000 mile journey to discover the real America beyond the interstate. Real people. Obscure places. Forgotten facts. His story unfolds in Missouri, but it could be about any state, any traveler who drives into America's hidden heart.