Book Review: “Kentucky Bourbon: The Early Years of Whiskeymaking”
Kentucky Bourbon, The Early Years of Whiskeymaking
Henry G. Crowgey, 2008, University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 978-0-8131-9183-6
It’s rare for a scholarly treatise that tackles the labyrinthine murk of Bourbon history to end up being a good read, but that’s exactly what...
Book Reviews
Shots of Knowledge: The Science of Whiskey
Rob Arnold and Eric Simanek
Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2016
160 pages
ISBN: 9780875656540
$35.00
Rob Arnold and Eric Simanek are the authors of Shots of Knowledge: The Science of Whiskey. Arnold was born in Louisville and is...
American Amaro
Some flavors appear to appeal to us from childhood, from the salty snap of chips and pretzels to the luscious sweetness of fruit and chocolate. But as every espresso-sipping, kimchi-munching grownup can attest, some flavors take a while to...
Flavoring Whiskey
It takes years of aging to make whiskey in accordance with accepted definitions, so if you’ve done it right, why would you add anything else to it?
The simple answer: Because alongside rye whiskey, which has been in a barrel...
Distilling Research Grant Report: Bacteria in Rum Fermentations
As a rum distiller, I’m always on the lookout for novel production methods capable of increasing the organoleptic complexities of pot-distilled rum. Often you hear enthusiasts wax poetically about Jamaica’s famed dunder pits and their historic use, other fermentation...
Bring Back the Medicine
As imbibers, we saunter up to a bar and ask for our medicine with a sagacious smirk. The bartender knows what we mean. Libations have been affectionately referred to as “medicine” for as long as they have existed. From...
Desert Door Unlocks Secrets of Sotol for the U.S. Market
For ages, sotol has been the regional vaquero drink in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila while merely a popular style of moonshine in west Texas. Desert Door Distillery in Driftwood, TX, aims to change that by...
Often Forgotten Fermentables
Thinking about types of grain used to make whiskey — barley, corn, rye, wheat — is also a list of domesticated species that are the workhorses of agriculture and base spirit in North America and Europe. Similarly, fruits that...
Distilling Research Grant Report: Fermenting with Saltwater
In 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, narrowly escaped “Day Zero,” the point at which the city would run out of fresh water. In 2020, Sydney, Australia, implemented water restrictions. In 2023, about 51% of the continental United States is...
