Barrel Strength Bourbon. Carla Harris Carlton

      

      Barrels of bourbon age in a rickhouse at Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Kentucky. (Photo courtesy of Heaven Hill)

BARREL STRENGTH (ADJ.): Premium whiskey straight from the cask, uncut and unadulterated; experienced at its fullest potential and prized by connoisseurs; the real deal.

       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

       clerisypress.com

      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

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction

       Chapter 1

       Straight Talk: A Shot of Bourbon History

       Chapter 2

       Making Its Mark: The Rise of Premium Bourbon

       Chapter 3

       From Mash to Masterpiece: How Bourbon Is Made

       Chapter 4

       Make Mine a Double: The Big Business of Bourbon

       Chapter 5

       The Proof Is in the Pilgrimage: Bourbon Tourism

       Chapter 6

       “The Kentucky Chew”: How to Taste Bourbon

       Chapter 7

       Double-Barreled: Betting on Bourbon’s Future

       Appendix A

       From Alligator Char to White Dog: A Glossary of Bourbon Terms

       Appendix B

       Classic Cocktails: Recipes and Stories of the Old-Fashioned, the Manhattan, the Seelbach Cocktail, and the Mint Julep

       About the Author

      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