What might have been? A brand new distillery, shuttered by its lenders.Kentucky’s best source for dependable bourbon news is the Lexington Herald-Leader, but they put some noses out of joint with a recent article about four unrelated but negative…
Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Cowdery, July 1, 1950.My mother’s family was Roman Catholic and devoutly so. My father’s family was, as he described it, “vaguely Protestant.” They didn’t go to church and didn’t talk about religion. He had, however, been bapti…
Denver’s Leopold Bros is an example of a successful, independent craft distillery.Many new non-distiller producers want to become distillers, or at least say they do. Some eventually build or buy a distillery, but many don’t. The term “non-distil…
The former Seagram’s Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana was the source of many “craft” whiskeys.Craft distilling grew through the 80s and 90s, but slowly. It took off as the 20th century transitioned into the 21st. Other related phenomena w…
This booklet was published by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy in 1982.According to the American Craft Spirits Association, there are 3,069 active craft distilleries in the U.S. That number has grown about 10 percent per year for the past…
Screenshot from the Binny’s website, 5/2/2025.Traditionally in the whiskey world, a “unicorn” is a whiskey that is highly sought but rarely seen. Usually, the term is applied to high end limited releases like the Van Winkle line, Buffalo Tra…
The seven popes so far in my lifetime.My first pope was Pius XII. He died a few months after I took my First Communion. Our catechisms were old and the picture on the title page was of Pius X (1903-1914), but we also saw pictures of Pius XII and …
American malts from the biggest producers.America has always been able to make malt whiskey, we just didn’t. But with the bourbon boom maturing, American distillers have branched out. One branch, rye whiskey, nearly dead when the bourbon boo…
The New Reader is on its way to the Post Office.The Bourbon Country Reader is a one-of-a-kind newsletter from the same source as this blog. But it is not the same content. The Reader is news, history, and analysis of American whiskey yo…
Spring is one of whiskey’s two seasons, fall is the other one.One little-known aspect of the bottled-in-bond rules is that the whiskey must be made by one distiller at a single distillery in one season. One distiller and single distillery are pre…
