April 2023 MBR The Wine/Beer/Spirits Shelf

The Wine/Beer/Spirits Shelf

Making Bourbon
Karl Raitz
The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
9780813197012, $40.00, PB, 656pp

https://www.amazon.com/Making-Bourbon-Geographical-Distilling-Nineteenth-Century/dp/0813197015

Synopsis: While other industries chase after the new and improved, dedicated bourbon makers celebrate traditions that hearken back to an authentic frontier craft. Distillers enshrine local history in their branding and time-tested recipes, and rightfully so. Kentucky's unique geography shaped the whiskeys its settlers produced, and for more than two centuries, distilling bourbon fundamentally altered every aspect of Kentucky's landscape and culture.

With the publication of "Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky", Professor Karl Raitz illuminates how the specific geography, culture, and ecology of the Bluegrass converged and gave birth to Kentucky's favorite barrel-aged whiskey.

Expanding on his fall 2019 release "Bourbon's Backroads", with the publication of "Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky", Professor Raitz delivers a more nuanced discussion of bourbon's evolution by contrasting the fates of two distilleries in Scott and Nelson Counties. In the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry. The resulting infrastructure (farms, mills, turnpikes, railroads, steamboats, lumberyards, and cooperage shops) left its permanent mark on the land and traditions of the commonwealth. Today, multinational brands emphasize and even construct this local heritage.

"Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky" is a unique interdisciplinary study that deftly uncovers the complex history poured into every glass of bourbon.

Critique: Informed and informative, comprehensive and detailed, and an absolute 'must read' choice for the legions of dedicated Kentucky bourbon enthusiasts, "Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky" is a significant and comprehensive history that is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections. Originally published in hardcover (University Press of Kentucky, 2020), this new paperback edition is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

Editorial Note: Karl Raitz (https://geography.as.uky.edu/users/gegraitz) is Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of Kentucky and the author of :Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape". He is also co-editor of "The Great Valley Road of Virginia: Shenandoah Landscapes from Prehistory to the Present" and co-author of "Rock Fences of the Bluegrass".

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