Barrel Strength Bourbon: The Explosive Growth of America's Whiskey

by Carla Harris Carlton

Overview

The art of creating and consuming bourbon is exploding, Carla Carlton's Barrel Strength Bourbon is a must read for all bourbon aficionados.

Barrel Strength Bourbon provides an in-depth examination of the bourbon industry in Kentucky, the creation of an American spirit, its resurrection following Prohibition, its astronomical growth in the past decade, and its potential for the future.
Readers will meet the colorful family of characters who craft bourbon by hand, visit the picturesque distilleries along rural backroads and urban centers, and learn the secrets of an American original.

The author, Carla Harris Carlton, gives readers:

• An up-close look at how bourbon is made
• A history on how the industry was built
• Information on how the close-knit families of bourbon crafters continue to grow a multibillion-dollar global industry while staying true to their Kentucky roots

Readers will learn how to nose, taste, and appreciate a spirit that, while created from time-tested recipes, is evolving so quickly that new varieties and brands appear weekly on liquor store shelves.

The author, a leading bourbon journalist who routinely helps select barrels for special edition bottlings and tastes new products before most bartenders do, takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of distilleries and rickhouses, shares anecdotes from her chats with bourbon legends, and provides insight on what to expect next from one of the fastest growing spirits on Earth.

Also available are two companion ebooks:

Spirited Perfection: Building Your Bourbon Bar (ASIN: B07333YXMM)
In the past 10 years, choosing a bourbon has gone from underwhelming to overwhelming and author Carla Carlton is here to help you navigate this boom. In this book, she offers tasting notes on various bourbons and rye whiskies so you know what to stock at home. Carlton also helps you choose the appropriate bar tools, glassware and mixers to have on hand.

Still Life: The Resurgence of Craft Bourbon (ASIN: B07335HMMM)
The art of creating and consuming bourbon is exploding. Today you will find craft bourbon distilleries in all 50 states. As mixologists and distillers find the space, market and financial success to fully explore their trade, the world is taking notice. It’s in the middle of this expanding industry that author Carla Carlton takes the time to connect all the dots for you, the bourbon enthusiast. She concisely maps out the seeds of the newest trends and shows why certain classic bourbon brands and bottles have grown while others have been washed away.

These special edition e-only books are a wonderful and informative read on their own, but are also the perfect chaser to Carlton’s Barrel Strength Bourbon, now out in bookstores and online everywhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578605750
Publisher:	Clerisy Press
Publication date:	06/20/2017
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,117,629
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Carla Harris Carlton is an award-winning bourbon journalist and speaker who writes regularly about bourbon in various newspapers and magazines. She also covers all aspects of the industry in her blog, which draws readers from around the globe. Her work has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, as well as in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Carla is a founding member and current board member of Bourbon Women, an organization begun in Kentucky in 2010 for women who are passionate about exploring bourbon and the culture that surrounds it. Bourbon Women now has more than 600 members in 23 states and three countries. Carla comes by her taste for whiskey honestly: Her grandmother worked the bottling line at Seagram’s in Louisville, Kentucky, in the late 1930s, and her grandfather grew his own mint for his yearly Derby Day julep. Her personal bourbon collection recently topped 100 bottles. Carla lives in Louisville with her husband, Chad, and their children, Harper and Clay, who know way more about bourbon than they probably should. Also available are two companion ebooks: Spirited Perfection: Building Your Bourbon Bar. In the past 10 years, choosing a bourbon has gone from underwhelming to overwhelming and author Carla Carlton is here to help you navigate this boom. In this book, she offers tasting notes on various bourbons and rye whiskies so you know what to stock at home. Carlton also helps you choose the appropriate bar tools, glassware and mixers to have on hand. Still Life: The Resurgence of Craft Bourbon: The art of creating and consuming bourbon is exploding. Today you will find craft bourbon distilleries in all 50 states. As mixologists and distillers find the space, market and financial success to fully explore their trade, the world is taking notice. It’s in the middle of this expanding industry that author Carla Carlton takes the time to connect all the dots for you, the bourbon enthusiast. She concisely maps out the seeds of the newest trends and shows why certain classic bourbon brands and bottles have grown while others have been washed away. These special edition e-only books are a wonderful and informative read on their own, but are also the perfect chaser to Carlton’s, now out in bookstores and online everywhere.

Read an Excerpt

EXCERPTS – CHAPTER 1

Big Names in Bourbon

Tracing the Kentucky bourbon family tree is a lot like looking up the bloodlines of Kentucky Derby winners: you’ll encounter the same names time and again. Many families have worked in the distilling business for generations, partly because people born in Kentucky rarely leave, and the few who do usually have the good sense to come back.

One especially legendary name, of course, is Beam. Beams have been making whiskey in Kentucky ever since German immigrant Jacob Beam sold his first barrel in 1795. Seven subsequent generations have led what is today the Jim Beam Distillery. But Beams have also worked for just about every other major distillery in the state, and two descendants are currently reviving their branch’s dormant legacy at a craft distillery they opened in 2011.

Now that you’ve wrapped your head around Noes distilling at Jim Beam, let’s talk about the Beams distilling at Heaven Hill. David Beam’s oldest son, Joseph M. Beam, had 14 children. One of them, Joseph L. “Joe” Beam, helped found the Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown after Prohibition.

Joe’s son Harry Beam was Heaven Hill’s first distiller; he was succeeded by Park Beam’s son Earl, who left the Jim Beam Distillery for the job. Earl was followed by his son, Parker Beam (namesake of the distillery’s annual Parker’s Heritage Collection); Parker and his son, Craig, were co–Master Distillers until Parker stepped down in 2012. (Parker passed away after a long battle with ALS in January 2017.) Craig Beam is now co–Master Distiller with Denny Potter. (Speaking of families, Heaven Hill is the largest independent family-owned and -operated producer and marketer of distilled spirits in the United States, having been owned by the Shapira family from the start.)

Joe Beam and his other sons also worked at various times for Four Roses and for Maker’s Mark. Joseph M. Beam’s oldest son, Minor Case Beam, owned a distillery in Nelson County in the early 1900s but sold it in 1910. He, his son, Guy, and his grandson Jack all worked at distilleries before and after Prohibition, but no one in that branch actually owned a distillery again until 2011, when Minor Beam’s great-grandsons, Stephen and Paul Beam, opened Limestone Branch in Lebanon, Kentucky. There, they honored the distilling heritage not only of their father’s family but also of their mother’s, the Dants, by resurrecting that family’s most famous brand, Yellowstone Bourbon.

Finally, David Beam’s youngest son, John “Jack” Beam, founded a distillery in Bardstown called Early Times. His son, Edward, was supposed to succeed him as distiller, but both men died in 1915. Brown-Forman eventually bought the brand name, and Early Times is still sold today.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1
Straight Talk: A Shot of Bourbon History

Chapter 2
Making Its Mark: The Rise of Premium Bourbon

Chapter 3
From Mash to Masterpiece: How Bourbon Is Made

Chapter 4
Make Mine a Double: The Big Business of Bourbon

Chapter 5
The Proof Is in the Pilgrimage: Bourbon Tourism

Chapter 6
“The Kentucky Chew”: How to Taste Bourbon

Chapter 7
Double-Barreled: Betting on Bourbon’s Future

Appendix A
From Alligator Char to White Dog: A Glossary of Bourbon Terms

Appendix B
Classic Cocktails: Recipes and Stories of the Old-Fashioned, the Manhattan, the Seelbach Cocktail, and the Mint Julep

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"This is the finest book about bourbon ever written. And I include Moby-Dick in that statement." —Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Barry

"One of the best and most accurate books on bourbon I've had the pleasure to read." —Master Distiller Jim Rutledge

"With a quality hardcover design, gorgeous photos, diagrams and large-type quotes, the book begs to sit out on a coffee table or bar. You can flip through it quickly, but there is a wealth of information here to spend time with. Also, where other books devote a majority of the pages to Bourbon reviews, Carla wisely provides the tools for you to do your own." —Brett Atlas, Bourbon & Banter.

“A must-have book for anyone who can appreciate bourbon and the fascinating growth of the industry”—Charlie Aesque, WKPT, an ABC Radio Network

From the Publisher