As the one distillate we can call our own, Bourbon most certainly has its place in American history. That’s why we were excited to read Bourbon: The Evolution of Kentucky Whiskey by Sam K. Cecil. As a whiskey man since 1937, Cecil has more than just a little memory to draw on… hell, he was there for the transition whiskey made from local moonshine to national business. He joined Makers Mark before it even was Makers Mark (Still Samuels Distillers), retired from there in 1980, and has many a story to tell about the Kentucky whiskey business.

Cecil starts with an introduction of what whiskey is, its origins and how it got to Kentucky. He also includes a list of all the registered distilleries in the 5th district of Kentucky right around 1899, and if you skim through it you’ll see some familiar names. He then dives into Prohibition, how it happened, how the country reacted and its effect on whiskey production. There’s even a bit about how moonshine met its eventual demise.

The majority of the book is taken up by an extensive list of Kentucky distilleries, by county, each one with its own history: how it began, tracing it through the years, and where it is today. Full of facts and figures, you can follow each distillery as it is bought, sold, burned (as a number of them did), swallowed up by neighboring distilleries or swept away by Prohibition, never to be heard from again.

Bourbon is not a riveting tale, and it reads more like an encyclopedia than a yarn of days past. But for bourbon buffs it won’t matter, there is enough history in here to keep them busy for days, not to mention a healthy list of more reading sources specifically about alcohol during and after Prohibition.

Bourbon is a must read for Bourbon history aficionados, and a good reference for those of us who always want to know more about where the tipple in our glass originated from. It’s fascinating stuff, and it’s a side of American History that you are never going to learn in school.

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