Bourbon A History of the American Spirit

Description

Popular history with a whiskey-soaked edge: Bourbon is Dane Huckelbridges artful and imaginative biography of our most well-liked, and at times controversial, spirit, that is also a witty and entertaining chronicle of the United States itself.Few commodities figure as prominently or as intimately in the story of the nation as bourbon whiskey. Its primary ingredient was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Its recipe was perfected on the Western frontier. In 1964, Congress passed a resolution declaring it to be a «distinctive product of the United States.» First brewed by pioneers in in the backwoods of Appalachia, bourbon whiskey has become a modern multi-billion dollar international industry today. As Dane Huckelbridge reveals, the Kentucky spirit—the only liquor produced from corn is the American experience, distilled, aged, and sealed in a bottle.In telling the story of bourbon, Huckelbridge takes us on a lively tour across three hundred years. Introducing the fascinating people central to its creation and evolution, he illuminates the elusive character of the nation itself. Interweaving the development of bourbon to Americas own rise, his engaging and unique study is popular history at its best, offering a lively and informative look at our past through a hilariously thick pair of whiskey-bottle glasses.