Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape

by Karl Raitz

Overview

With more than fifty distilleries in the state, bourbon is as synonymous with Kentucky as horses and basketball. As one of the commonwealth's signature industries, bourbon distilling has influenced the landscape and heritage of the region for more than two centuries. Blending several topics—tax revenue, railroads, the mechanics of brewing, geography, landscapes, and architecture—this primer and geographical guide presents a detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry.

Nineteenth-century distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Distillers often operated at comparatively remote sites—the "backroads"—to take advantage of water sources or transport access. Some distillers adopted mechanization and the steam engine, forgoing water power—a change that permitted geographical relocation of distilleries away from traditional sites along creeks or at large springs to urban or rural rail-side sites.

Based on extensive archival research that includes private paper collections, newspapers, and period documents, this work places the distilling process in its environmental, geographical, and historical context. Bourbon's Backroads reveals the places where bourbon's heritage was made—from old and new distilleries, storage warehouses, railroad yards, and factories where copper fermenting vessels are made—and why the industry continues to thrive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813178424
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	1,044,929
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Karl Raitz is professor emeritus of the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on the geographical history of the American landscape with an emphasis on infrastructure development, technology applications, and cultural heritage. His most recent book, Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road, was coauthored with historical archaeologist Nancy O'Malley.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Kentucky's Distilling Heritage
Distilling's Backstory: The Prerequisites
Distillery Configurations
Applying Technology
Complementary Industries
The Inner Bluegrass Region: Remnants and Contemporary Distillery Works
The Outer Bluegrass Region: Railroads and the Transition to Industrial Drilling
Distilling in the Ohio River Valley
Epilogue: Backroads and the Reservoir of Tradition

What People are Saying About This

Geoffrey L. Buckley

"Raitz leaves no stone unturned as he explores the social, cultural, economic, and technological settings that enabled the bourbon industry to flourish in nineteenth-century Kentucky. Meticulously researched, authoritative, and highly readable, Bourbon's Backroads does more than tell the story of whiskey production, however. It throws open a window on nineteenth-century America, offering insights into our past that only a gifted and seasoned writer like Raitz can impart."

Paul F. Starrs

"From the 1700s through the 2010s, Raitz brings us through the technical, financial, transportation, artisanal, and industrial techniques that make Kentucky bourbon whiskey what it is. He tracks a shift from a farm-based craft tapping limestone-filtered waters to the steam-powered industrial distillation of bourbon whiskey. No surprise that the innovations owe much to Kentucky's location and geography. Here's something more than worth a read, especially given the rich illustrations and annotations. Granted, not everyone's a tippler. But this book gives us something to read and relish, ideally with an appropriate tumbler of the subject at hand."

Warren R. Hofstra

"In this age of craft distilling and artisan whiskey, Kentucky bourbon stands out as an icon of American taste and culture. What Karl Raitz demonstrates in this superb volume is that bourbon is also an expression of a cultural landscape and historical geography that is as deep, rich, and complex as the whiskey that has made Kentucky famous. Geographers, historians, and whiskey aficionados will want to savor this book."

From the Publisher

"From the 1700s through the 2010s, Raitz brings us through the technical, financial, transportation, artisanal, and industrial techniques that make Kentucky bourbon whiskey what it is. He tracks a shift from a farm-based craft tapping limestone-filtered waters to the steam-powered industrial distillation of bourbon whiskey. No surprise that the innovations owe much to Kentucky's location and geography. Here's something more than worth a read, especially given the rich illustrations and annotations. Granted, not everyone's a tippler. But this book gives us something to read and relish, ideally with an appropriate tumbler of the subject at hand." — Paul F. Starrs, author of Let the Cowboy Ride: Cattle Ranching in the American West

"In this age of craft distilling and artisan whiskey, Kentucky bourbon stands out as an icon of American taste and culture. What Karl Raitz demonstrates in this superb volume is that bourbon is also an expression of a cultural landscape and historical geography that is as deep, rich, and complex as the whiskey that has made Kentucky famous. Geographers, historians, and whiskey aficionados will want to savor this book." — Warren R. Hofstra, Shenandoah University in Virginia

"Raitz leaves no stone unturned as he explores the social, cultural, economic, and technological settings that enabled the bourbon industry to flourish in nineteenth-century Kentucky. Meticulously researched, authoritative, and highly readable, Bourbon's Backroads does more than tell the story of whiskey production, however. It throws open a window on nineteenth-century America, offering insights into our past that only a gifted and seasoned writer like Raitz can impart." — Geoffrey L. Buckley, coeditor of The American Environment Revisited: Environmental Historical Geographies of the United States

Editorial Reviews

From the 1700s through the 2010s, Raitz brings us through the technical, financial, transportation, artisanal, and industrial techniques that make Kentucky bourbon whiskey what it is. He tracks a shift from a farm-based craft tapping limestone-filtered waters to the steam-powered industrial distillation of bourbon whiskey. No surprise that the innovations owe much to Kentucky's location and geography. Here's something more than worth a read, especially given the rich illustrations and annotations. Granted, not everyone's a tippler. But this book gives us something to read and relish, ideally with an appropriate tumbler of the subject at hand.

Paul F. Starrs

Raitz leaves no stone unturned as he explores the social, cultural, economic, and technological settings that enabled the bourbon industry to flourish in nineteenth-century Kentucky. Meticulously researched, authoritative, and highly readable, Bourbon's Backroads does more than tell the story of whiskey production, however. It throws open a window on nineteenth-century America, offering insights into our past that only a gifted and seasoned writer like Raitz can impart.

Geoffrey L. Buckley

In this age of craft distilling and artisan whiskey, Kentucky bourbon stands out as an icon of American taste and culture. What Karl Raitz demonstrates in this superb volume is that bourbon is also an expression of a cultural landscape and historical geography that is as deep, rich, and complex as the whiskey that has made Kentucky famous. Geographers, historians, and whiskey aficionados will want to savor this book.

Warren R. Hofstra

"It is exceptionally researched and immediately captivating for those wishing to get into the finer points of bourbon's rich history of technical innovation and adaptability." — DrinkHacker

"[Raitz's] extensive research details how geography, landscape and architecture led to the development of Kentucky's distilling industry over two centuries. The book is recommended for geographers, historians and bourbon lovers." — The Kentucky 100

From the Publisher

"a rich narrative both in history and geography that can be enjoyed by the fire or as you traverse the backroads of Kentucky.

Dawn M. Drake

Karl Raitz's Bourbon's Backroads is a great read for bourbon fans who want to dig deep into the history of Kentucky's signature spirit. Fascinating and revealing.Raitz's book (is) an important contribution to typical writing on bourbon history, which often rehashes the same, rather tired nostalgia and stories of frontier distilling, great whiskey innovators and namesakes, Prohibition-era struggles and hijinks, and the industry's recent resurgence since the 1980s. Bourbon's Backroads is dense with rich detail that will titillate bourbon history buffsa great book for people who consider themselves to be emerging bourbon aficionados who are starting to study bourbon history and heritage. If you have taken distillery tours or have started reading up on bourbon in the press or in books, you will love (this book).

Bowling Green Daily News

[Raitz's] extensive research details how geography, landscape and architecture led to the development of Kentucky's distilling industry over two centuries. The book is recommended for geographers, historians and bourbon lovers.

The Kentucky 100

Exceptionally researched and immediately captivating for those wishing to get into the finer points of bourbon's rich history of technical innovation and adaptability.

DrinkHacker