Author name: Chuck Cowdery

Online Sleuths Solve Bourbon Movie Mystery

 Warren William and Alice White in “Employee’s Entrance” (1933).”Pre-code” refers to movies made between 1927 and 1934, before strict enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code). Pre-code movies featured more se…

Can Whiskey ‘Go Bad’?

Image created with GPT-4Does whiskey ever ‘go bad’? It is a commonly asked question and people usually don’t get a satisfactory answer.

First, whiskey in the bottle is very sturdy stuff. It will remain unchanged indefinitely. It has only a few en…

The Genealogy Of Yeast

 Joseph Lloyd Beam, Master Distiller, Bardstown, Kentucky. (date unknown, probably late 1920s)Yeast, and the different characteristics a particular strain can impart during fermentation, is a fundamental part of bourbon-making. Today, most ye…

How Mushrooms Improve Whiskey

 Sautéed mushrooms, quickly cooked in butter and extra virgin olive oil, then finished with a flambé of bourbon.Mushrooms are tasty on pizza, battered and deep fried, or stuffed with crabmeat. Maybe you like grilled portabellas with polenta, or sh…

Latvia Is Russia’s Whiskey Mule

 Russia has its own whiskey, but they want ours.Despite sanctions intended to deprive Russia and Russians of any Western goods they may want, many things are getting through, including scotch and bourbon. The mule satisfying Russia’s whiskey jones…

My Louisville Beginnings, Part Two

 The building across 3rd Street from Ollie’s is now the Republic Academic Center, part of Spalding University.I never intended this to be a two-parter, but the original post got me feeling nostalgic about that time and place, now 46 years ago. Tha…

Remembering David Beam and the Michter’s Stills

 Daniel David Beam, 1941-2015I just happened upon this happy picture. It’s from 2014, I think. That smile belongs to David Beam, the last Beam distiller at Jim Beam. (The last one with the last name of Beam, that is.) The picture was taken at Tom’…

My Louisville Beginnings

 My first office in Louisville was on the top floor, left side. Right across the street was my favorite lunch place. Both are still there.My recent post about Five Brothers Bourbon and the early history of the Heaven Hill Company brought to mind m…

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