Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.15 29 Prohibition killed bourbon in Louisville, as four of the coun- try's six exempted-to-make- medicinal-alcohol companies were in our town. Today, with so much national attention, even locals who don't drink bourbon have a sense of pride. As one local Baptist minister recently said: "In Louisville, even Baptists have made peace with horses and bourbon." Louisville's bourbon industry currently brings in $263 million in payroll and $32 million in tax revenue. Almost 30 percent of Kentucky Bourbon Trail visitors choose to stay here, and, with our current stock of internationally recognized bars, restaurants and hotels, it's easy to see why. Of America's 60 best bourbon bars chosen last September by industry publication The Bour- bon Review, Louisville is home to eight: Proof on Main, Bour- bons Bistro, Charr'd Bourbon Kitchen and Lounge, the Monkey Wrench, Down One Bourbon Bar, St. Charles Exchange, Haymar- ket Whiskey Bar and the Silver Dollar. There is a group called Bourbon Brotherhood, one called Bourbon Women. There is a Bourbon Society. There are prod- ucts, such as bourbon-themed socks at Regalo and "I'd rather be drinking bourbon" mugs at Louisville Stoneware. Bourbon candy. Bourbon soap. Art made from bourbon barrels. Entire bars made from bourbon barrels. Forecastle Festival has a bourbon lounge, and last year's inaugural Louder Than Life hard-rock festival celebrated "the culinary capital of bourbon country." Charities draw people to their benefts events by auctioning bourbon packages. Bourbon Bar- rel Foods sells bourbon-smoked sea salt. Bourbon Built sells cufinks made from old bourbon barrels. Louisville will also host two major bourbon events this year: The Bourbon Classic, which happens later this month at the Kentucky Center and features educational sessions and tastings with distillers and chefs; and the Kentucky Bourbon Afair, a fve-day event in June that includes distillery tours, make-your-own small batch and culinary pairings. Last year, the Mayor's Ofce started the Bourbon and Food Work Group, which includes business executives, chefs, distillers and tourism leaders. = = Bourbon History Distilled 1791 After a federal excise tax is levied on the distilling of liquor to help pay of Revolu- tionary War debt, the Whiskey Rebellion creates havoc for tax collectors until President George Washington calls out the militia in 1794. The tax ends, for the time being, in 1802. 1810 An estimated 2,200 dis- tillers, turning out two million gallons of whiskey a year, are operating in Kentucky, accord- ing to U.S. Census records. That includes just about every farmer growing grain. 1817 The frst large-scale whis- key maker, the steam-powered Hope Distillery, opens at 15th Street and Portland Avenue, turning out 1,200 gallons a day. 1826 The vanguard of the U.S. temperance movement, the American Temperance Society, is founded in Massachusetts, reaching a membership of 1.5 million within a decade. Also, the frst written mention of char- ring a bourbon barrel appears. 1849 Brothers William and Charles David Weller start W.L. Weller and Sons, liquor brokers and wholesalers, on Main Street between Sixth and Seventh. 1870 To ensure a consis- tent product, distiller George Garvin Brown decides to sell his bourbon only in sealed bottles, which presages the 1897 Bottled-in-Bond Act. 1872 Brothers Philip and Fredrick Stitzel open a distillery at West Broadway and 26th Street. Seven years later, Fred- rick invents and employs a new warehouse racking system that allows full air circulation around each stored whiskey barrel. The business will be absorbed by the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, at 1033 Story Ave., in 1918. A noncomprehensive list of some whiskey years to remember. 1904 The frst automatic bottle-making system is introduced. 1908 Partners Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle and Alex T. Farn- sley (uncle of future Louisville Mayor Charles Farnsley) join George Weller to oversee W.L. Weller and Sons, which will buy the Old Fitzgerald brand in 1922. 1910 George Garvin Brown pens and publishes a pamphlet titled "The Holy Bible Repudi- ates Prohibition." 19 19 Before the 18th Amend- ment kicks in, the federal Volstead Act exempts the spirits of six companies for sale to churches, doctors and dentists, bakers and pharma- cies. The lucky six include four with ofces and/or warehouses in Louisville: Brown-For- man, Frankfort Distilleries, Glenmore Distilling and W.L. Weller and Sons, with distilling by A. Ph. Stitzel. 1933 The 18th Amendment is repealed. By 1940, Louisville will be dotted with distilleries, including the merged Stit- zel-Weller Distillery in Shively. 1964 Congress declares bour- bon to be the country's "native spirit" and prohibits use of the word for any product made outside the U.S. 1970 Jim Beam becomes (and remains today) the top-selling straight bourbon in the world. 1984 Blanton's becomes the frst single-barrel mass-pro- duced bourbon. 1988 Jim Beam master distiller Booker Noe introduces the concept of "small batch" bourbon with Booker's, soon joined by Knob Creek, Baker's and Basil Hayden's. After meeting and brainstorming ideas for what else the city can do to make Louisville a bourbon destination, the group released a report last summer. Ideas include beefng up bourbon's airport presence to lure in tourists the moment they step of the plane; hosting a New Year's Eve "barrel drop"; and installing a "pub- lic signature piece of art that becomes a 'must have' picture for tourists, much like the giant Louisville Slugger bat." An idea to create a certifcation program to recognize servers, bartenders and other hospitality workers as bourbon experts is already un- derway with the Stave and Thief Society at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter on Eighth Street. City ofcials want to host a bourbon and food event akin to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. As Mayor Fisch- er has said numerous times in his "bourbonism" campaign: "We can be to bourbon what Napa is to wine." The bourbon industry itself sees Louisville as proftable. In addition to Brown-Forman (which makes Old Forest- er and Woodford Reserve), Stitzel-Weller (which houses the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience), and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience (a Heaven Hill brand) on Whiskey Row, others are popping up like dandelions. Angel's Envy plans to open an urban distilling and visitors' center across from Slugger Field. Peerless Distilling, which was originally in Hender- son, Kentucky, closing shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, plans to open a distillery at 10th and Main streets. Michter's, a Shively-based distillery, is planning a micro-distillery at Eighth and Main streets. Old Forester announced it will return to its Whiskey Row roots with a distillery and visitors' center. Jim Beam, which was acquired by Japanese company Suntory last year, has announced plans to scoot on in to Fourth Street and open what it calls an "urban stillhouse." These are some big- time investments, but if current patterns say anything, the consumers will gladly foot the bill. "In some instances, money isn't an object," Gregory says. "It cracks me up, people buying 30 bottles and waiting for the bour- bon apocalypse. If you've got it, drink it and enjoy it. There's going to be more."