Kentucky Bourbon: The Early Years of Whiskeymaking

by Henry G. Crowgey

Overview

Bourbon whiskey is perhaps Kentucky's most distinctive product. Despite bourbon's prominence in the social and economic life of the Bluegrass state, many myths and legends surround its origins. In Kentucky Bourbon, Henry C. Crowgey claims that distilled spirits and pioneer settlement went hand in hand; Isaac Shelby, the state's first governor, was among Kentucky's pioneer distillers. Crowgey traces the drink's history from its beginnings as a cottage industry to steam-based commercial operations in the period just before the Civil War. From "spirited" camp meetings, to bourbon's use as a medium of exchange for goods and services, to the industry's coming of age in the mid-nineteenth century, the story of Kentucky bourbon is a fascinating chapter in the state's early history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813191836
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,150,220
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Henry G. Crowgey was professor of history at University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     xi
Thirsty Colonists     1
Distillers Move to Kentucky     21
The Product Improves     40
As Useful as Money     62
A Hateful Tax     83
Whiskey of Distinction     105
Bourbon Whiskey: Miracle & Myth     124
Bibliography     145
Index     165

Editorial Reviews

"When I began reading the book, I was a mere consumer of the brown substance known as whiskey. After reading this book I n not only have the pleasure consuming it, I know a little more about how the substance became what it is today. Consumers and historians alike would enjoy reading this book and making it an addition to their library." —William John McDaniel III, Kentucky Beverage Journal

From the Publisher