The Tree of Life, by Hugh Nissenson, was published in 1985. It was a small sensation in Mansfield, Ohio, my home town, because it is set there around the period of the War of 1812. When I read it back then, I knew about Jacob Beam of Kentuck…
The Blockhouse, South Park, Mansfield, Ohio (2009)(This post, and several others to follow, will be more personal than usual and only peripherally about bourbon. You have been warned.)I grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, the seat of Richland County. After col…
One of the warehouse receipts for the whiskey that became A. H. Hirsch Reserve.There is an old saying among card players. When you sit down to a game, if you don’t know who the mark is, it’s probably you. That’s not to say someone is always trying to r…
Despite its name, Bucket O’Suds owner Joe Danno claimed his joint on Cicero was a bourbon bar. I met him there in 1992, long before bourbon bars were a thing. The supporting evidence for his claim was convincing. If you ordered ‘bourbon,’ without…
Although the Federal Excise Tax (FET) on distilled spirits was lowered recently for small producers, it remains $13.50 per proof gallon* for most beverage spirits sold in the United States, a rate that was set in 1985. Raising taxes on bever…
WARNING: No Bourbon Content.Dana Jenney, photo by Lusha Nelson, Vogue 1937Dana Jenney Horvath (1914-1992) grew up in Shenandoah, Ohio, a tiny town 12 miles north of Mansfield (my hometown), where her parents ran a general store. I’ve driven past …
Stamping Ground is a small town in Kentucky’s Scott County, about 25 miles northwest of Lexington. It was named by its first settlers who saw herds of bison trampling the grass around a fruitful spring. Not long after the buffalo departed, the sp…
In 1982, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy teamed up to publish Fuel from Farms, a Guide to Small Scale Ethanol Production. This 168-page document encouraged farmers to set up small distilleries to produce ethanol from their grain or …
We are about 20 years into the ‘bourbon boom’ and craft distilling renaissance. Much has been said in that time about all the new brands and new producers who, according to some, are bound to replace the tired, old legacies. How is that going? Who hold…
