My bourbon journey started about 2.5 years ago, and to be honest if you had told me three years ago that whiskey would ever be my drink of choice, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. In college, I gravitated towards sweet cocktails, primarily rum and vodka based, like pineapple and Malibu. By my mid 30s, I had settled into gin as my preferred liquor, with gin and tonics being an easy make at home. I have always wanted to be more of a wine drinker – the stories, the history, the aesthetic, the vineyards and tasting – but my worst hang overs have all involved wine, it’s just not for me. You get a lot of those components with bourbon as well, and it’s through experiences and events that I first started getting into it. And it seems like it is one of those things that people can easily get really into once they start – just ask Jim Gaffigan or watch his recent Bourbon Set recorded at Old Forester.
Susan Reigler is a bourbon writer with multiple books about the spirit in her bibliography and an incredibly interesting background- music and zoology to food writer to bourbon writer and one time president of Bourbon Women, an organization I am a member of for women interested in bourbon. It’s a professional organization with many members from the industry as well as being a club where people can share their passion and interest in the spirit. While Reigler has a few books focused on bourbon and Kentucky, this book specifically highlights a selection of distilleries in Kentucky! It’s not complete because there are always more popping up (I also think the priority here was ones actually open to visit).
If you are interested in bourbon or visiting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, this book would be a great place to start learning more and helping to choose your adventure. Bourbon can only be made in the US and its history is closely tied to our nation’s history. Reading through this book, it is also fascinating to see how some names weave in and out of different narratives and how brands evolve, how mergers and acquisitions happen. Some distilleries are still family owned, other have long been sold off to international conglomerates and yet still remain very much steeped in local and family tradition. Jim Beam for example is owned by Suntory but is on its 8th generation of master distiller descended from the original Beam (though they are now Noes, descendants of Jim Beam’s daughter). Stitzel-Weller is still up and running but some of its most famous orginal offerings or brands (like Weller) are now produced by other distilleries, like Buffalo Trace.
There is also a sense of collaboration and community between the distilleries, even as they compete. It was women working for three different distilleries that came up with the idea of the KY Bourbon Trail as a way to increase tourism in 1999, with only 7 distilleries on the orginal trail. When a fire could have destroyed Heaven Hill, other distilleries offered up their stills to keep the production going while they rebuilt.
The book is organized based on the founding date of the distillery. Here again you can see how history impacts the industry, with the first few distilleries being founded in the late 1700s to 1800s, only for there to then be a gap until 1934. So many other distilleries had to close for Prohibition but many more recent brands still have ties to the older ones, beginning with Jim Beam, the first post-Prohibition distillery listed (its history is longer but it didn’t get one of the medicinal whiskey licenses and had to close down, hence the 1934 founding date). Then after several distilleries with founding dates in the ‘30s-‘50s, the next one has a 1989 date, reflecting the industry’s downturn of the ‘70s, with a true explosion in new brands and distilleries starting in 2010. Over half the chapters highlight these newer distilleries (though these chapters also tend to be shorter).
Even with these newer distilleries, it can be truly fascinating how they tie into the longer tradition. In some cases, we get stories like, “these two best friends or this former liquor store owner decided to start a distillery” but then you have ones like Peerless, where the founder decided he wanted to bring back his grandfather’s whiskey label/brand (because he was bored in retirement) – in this case, the grandfather was born in 1859 so I was trying to wrap my brain around that timeline. With so many distilleries and so much product, it always helps to have a memorable story to help stand out.
Within the pages, Reigler shares the history of the distilleries, highlights key figures in the histories and features other tidbits or unique points of interests. She gives credit to the women that have shaped the industry, and shares recommendations for bottles or pours from each distillery categorized into 4 price ranges. She also makes sure to mention which ones have cocktail bars, restaurants or other noteworthy experiences or tours (there are a few I have added to my list or moved up higher on my list to visit based purely on the food mentioned, like Willet and Bardstown Bourbon Company). One other thing that is fascinating is reading about the distilleries’ various efforts to engage with sustainability, something that is very important to them as it is closely tied to agriculture (plus the weather and climate have a huge impact on aging and taste as the liquid contracts and expands with temperature fluctuations, absorbing flavor from the barrels).
There are gorgeous pictures of the distilleries and surroundings throughout (I have been to Maker’s Mark and that campus is absolutely gorgeous, even having Chihuly art on the grounds) as well as a few distillery cats. She wraps up the book with some more details and recommendations for Louisville’s Whiskey Row and restaurants throughout the state.
Definitely a nice mix of coffee table book and useful guide!
I could spend a ton of time writing about my own experiences with bourbon but I will just quickly say, unrelated to this book, that my way into bourbon was very much due to a distillery in Nashville, TN. When I was in my 20s, I had traveled to Scotland and visited a distiller and the Scotch Experience in Edinburgh because food and drink are a big part of tourism for me, and I just didn’t think whiskey was my drink (turns out there is a huge difference between something that tends to be primarily malted barley and something that has to be at least 51% corn in the mash bill). Nelson’s Greenbrier Distillery changed so many of the preconceptions I had about whiskey – first off, the distillery space itself is incredibly welcoming and it’s a space that encourages and creates reasons to return. You aren’t just going to tour the distillery and restock bottles: they have one of the best cocktail programs in Nashville, a great restaurant and kitchen, and host local events (from weekly themed dinners on Thursday nights to Sip ‘N Shop on Small Business Saturday).
With Bourbon Women, I have now participated in their annual conference in Louisville twice and have had the opportunity to explore a few distilleries on my own in town, and participate in workshops and excursions as part of SIPosium that highlight the innovation of the distilleries and the types of experiences they are creating for their customers to make the visits memorable and worthwhile.