Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/453014
28 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.15 Pop goes its culture: Major TV bourbon exposure on (clockwise from top left) Mad Men, House of Cards, Justifed and Saturday Night Live. Louisville's Whiskey Row Rises — Again Latest victum of U.S.- Russia tensions may be Kentucky bourbon drink that fell from favor during the counterculture days of the Vietnam War become so… posh? Bourbon historian Michael Veach tells the narrative in his book Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. In the decades following bourbon's decline, vodka, tequila, wine — everybody wanted those, not some mass-produced domestic product. Exotic was in. Maker's Mark, the easier-to-drink, smaller batch, wheated bourbon with the signature red wax, distin- guished itself in 1959 and has since attracted a small, loyal customer base despite the overall industry slump that followed its release. Blanton's Single Barrel, distilled at what is now Bufalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, arrived in 1984. (Single barrel means just that: bourbon from one barrel instead of a mixture of lots of barrels. It yields subtle favor diferences from barrel to barrel.) By 1992, Jim Beam had released its four small-batch bourbons: Booker's, Baker's, Basil Hayden's and Knob Creek. (No law defnes the parameters of small batch, but the bourbons on the market labeled as such are made by mixing anywhere from nine to 20 barrels.) Of course the most sensationalized story is that of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve bourbons ( just check prices on the secondary market). Authentic — as opposed to commercial — is now a selling point. And waiting years for the best stuf is half the fun. Chris Poynter, director of communica- tions in the Mayor's Ofce, says, "You can't just go make bourbon like you make a hamburger." "If you had told me fve years ago that we'd be making favored bourbon, I would have laughed at you. But there are some good ones out there and they're getting people interested in bourbon," Gregory says. "Also, the cocktail culture. It's the Mad Men efect. You see Don Draper order an Old Fashioned and suddenly everyone starts ordering those. That's happening all around the country." Mad Men, Justifed, House of Cards. The list of bourbon appearances in pop culture goes on. Go to Woodford Reserve's website. You won't see a wood-pan- eled study with an old dapper man drinking the stuf. You will see a bunch of 20-somethings who look like they live in Brooklyn. But who's to say bourbon's popularity won't fade? For one thing, Gregory says, the global thirst for bourbon is just beginning. China, India and Russia (to name three) now buy America's native spirit. "We've barely scratched the surface," Gregory says. New free- trade agreements have allowed bourbon to do well overseas. "In all sincerity, our distillers have teams of people a lot smarter than me. They wouldn't be spending this amount of money if they thought it was only a trend," Gregory says. "Six hundred and thirty million dollars over the next fve years? I actually think that's a low estimate. Kentucky bourbon has a long shelf life." Louisville businesses, Metro Government and the industry itself are working to get our city more of its angel's share of tourism and revenue. Top bars and restaurants aside, our city's history sets us apart not only from the rookies making bourbon in Texas and Oregon but also from other areas in the state. W hen Louisville was settled in 1778, bourbon played a huge role in the economy. In The Encyclopedia of Louisville, Veach writes that many people were farmer-distill- ers who made small amounts of alcohol to barter or sell. In 1783, Evan Williams began making bourbon in the city and is credited with being Kentucky's frst distiller, though we have no way of knowing for sure. Following the Civil War, Louisville had become a prime spot for large-scale whiskey-making, as its proximity to railways and steam- boats allowed companies to easily ship products. Veach calls this time "the golden age for Louisville's dis- tilling industry. Louisville was the bourbon capital of the world." With distillers and rectifers from around the state choosing to headquarter and store bourbon on Main Street, the strip became known as Whiskey Row. Local innovations also gave the city an edge. George Garvin Brown, who founded Old Forester (the name used to be Forrester) and Brown-Forman, came up with the idea to bottle and seal his bourbon, so he could provide a consistent product that doctors could pre- scribe to their patients. Frederick Stitzel, of Stitzel Bros. Distillery, didn't like how barrels were stored on top of each other, so he patented a rack system for aging. Not even Whiskey Lovers Stock Basement Bunkers; Searching for Elmer T. Lee The billion-dollar bourbon boom McConnell: 'Bourbon Summit' With Obama Will Happen "Six hundred and thirty million dollars over the next fve years? I actually think that's a low estimate. Kentucky bourbon has a long shelf life."