Author name: Chuck Cowdery

After 10,000 Years, Rye Is Having Its Moment

Göbekli Tepe is a Neolithic archaeological site near the city of Şanlıurfa in Southeastern Turkey.Humans began to collect and eat rye seeds about 10,000 years ago. The people who built Göbekli Tepe, the oldest known monumental structure on earth, …

Whiskey History and Why It Matters

 Keebler CEO Ernie Keebler, flinging fudge in front of his cookie factory.June, 2022, will mark the 30th anniversary of the premiere of “Made and Bottled in Kentucky,” the documentary about bourbon that I made for KET (Kentucky’s public television…

Why the George Remus Bourbon Brand Is a Terrible Idea

 Murderer George Remus and his victim, in happier times. (1907)This is a tease post for the latest issue of The Bourbon Country Reader, where we cover the Remus issue in some detail, but I won’t make you subscribe to get the payoff.George Remus wa…

Are Basil Hayden and Old Grand-Dad the Same?

 A little knowledge goes a long way. Are they? Short answer, no; but here is why this question is asked and why that ‘no’ is nuanced and will bear some explaining. (Fair warning: It may not need as much explaining as it’s about to get.)Basil …

Over the River and Through the Woods

 Edna Catherine (Schwartz) Bunsey (1904-1994)As a kid growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, I did not have to cross a river or go through a woods to get to my Grandmother’s house. Okay, I could go through the woods on my bike, and that route crossed a cr…

When Alcohol Was Money

A collection of pioneer stills at the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, Kentucky.Whiskey plays an outsize role in American history, largely because this continental nation had an active frontier for nearly 300 years and distilling was …

"That Night Was Scary." Pearl Harbor Remembered

 Curtiss P-40 WarhawkEighty years ago today my father, Ken Cowdery, was at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. He was a 21-year-old private in the United States Army, lined up for breakfast. Japanese bombers bound for Wheeler Field next door flew over h…

The World That Made Me: Nike Missiles

 Guarding a Nike Hercules Missile, Fort Barry, CA; c. 1970-71Nike was the Greek goddess of victory. Today it is a shoe company. Between those two uses, it was the name of an early missile defense system for the United States.In the immediate after…

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