Author name: Chuck Cowdery

Baudoinia: the Fungus that Is Hard to Beat in Court

 Heaven Hill maturation warehouse at the former Beam and Hart Old Tub Distillery (c. 1892), on Old Nazareth Road near Bardstown.This is Part 7 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis, the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Pa…

Baudoinia: the Fungus Is a Bad Neighbor

 This demolition-in-progress in Louisville shows a maturation warehouse’s internal honeycomb structure.This is Part 6 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis, the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here, Part 4…

Baudoinia: the Fungus with a Drinking Problem

 Maturation warehouses at Stitzel-Weller in Louisville.This is Part 5 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis, the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here, Part 4 is here.Baudoinia compniacensis isn’t dang…

Baudoinia: the Fungus that Even Grows in Canada

 Baudoinia compniacensis. Scary, right?This is Part 4 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis, the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here.The new fear of toxic molds that arose in the late 1990s happened to coincid…

Baudoinia: the Fungus You Can Blame on France

 Cognac wears Baudoinia proudly.This is Part 3 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis, the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here.The American whiskey industry is in the midst of an expansion going into its third decade. One…

Baudoinia: the Fungus that Moved 185,000 Barrels

 Some of Diageo’s Orphan Barrel bottlings.This is Part 2 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis. the whiskey fungus. Part 1 is here.When whiskey maturation warehouses began to fill up with the current bourbon boom, Ba…

Baudoinia: the Fungus that Stopped Jack Daniel’s

 Baudoinia on a Heaven Hill whiskey maturation warehouse in Bardstown, Kentucky.This is Part 1 of a 9-part series about Baudoinia compniacensis. the whiskey fungus.“Whiskey Fungus Fed by Jack Daniel’s Encrusts a Tennessee Town,” was the …

Memphis Minnie, the Chicago Years

 Release date Oct 15, 1930After she moved to Chicago, Minnie became a major star in the stable of Lester Melrose, who produced most of the blues recordings made in the United States between 1934 and 1951, usually with the same core group of musici…

Memphis Minnie, Life on the Road

 Record company publicity photograph, 1930s.Playing the blues in barrel houses and juke joints was dangerous. Memphis Minnie’s solution was twofold. She always traveled and performed with a male partner, a husband for most of her career, but she a…

Memphis Minnie, Defier of Taboos

 From R. Crumb’s “Heroes of the Blues”Why did so few women follow the life Memphis Minnie chose? The answer lies in the sexual mores of the time. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, show business was not considered a respectable occup…

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