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Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, An American Heritage by Michael Veach. Notes, documents, photographs, bibliography, and index. 140 pages

Michael Veach recognized the need to create a history of bourbon and the industry it spawned. Bourbon is a product of the United States and its history should be documented. Veach was an archivist at United Distllers and is an Associate Curator of Special Collections at the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky. These positions provided access to historical documents specific to bourbon and the bourbon industry. He is a member of the Bourbon Hall of Fame and has been lecturing and teaching people about bourbon for quite some time. His passion for bourbon, history, and contacts within the bourbon industry qualified him to write this book.

The book provides an interesting chronological history of bourbon from early distillation of whiskey that evolved into bourbon and the impressive industry that resulted. We are taken through all of the critical periods in US history up to the present day. Veach provides interesting information and commentary about the impact of whiskey and bourbon on wars, taxation, prohibition, and the Great Depression. He discusses how the industry changed during those periods. In addition, the author provides documentation that dispel a few myths concerning bourbon. There is a detailed bibliography which can aid those in search of more details concerning various topics covered in the book.

The book is well organized, clearly written, informative, and concise. It holds the reader's attention as he is taken through significant historical events in US history which were impacted by the bourbon industry. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in bourbon and our American heritage.

Thanks Doug for the review. I hope it will spark some interest here and people will discuss the book.

Does anyone wish to discuss the book? I would love to talk about the strong and weak points of the book and the history. It is interesting that Doug praises the orgnization of the history because a couple of the reviewers on Amazon say it is poorly organized. Bill Samuels pointed out that the 1950s may have been a "Golden Age" for bourbon consumers, it was a bad time for distillers because over production kept prices low and distilleries were being closed on a regular basis. Let me know what you think are the weak points of the book and why.

You can now get the audio book version on Amazon.

So, let me start by saying first that Mike is my younger brother and that this does not intentionally prejudice me.

I think some of the readers may be looking for a straight chronological history. That just doesn't happen. The history is indeed pretty chronological but the organization of the topics can require a little bit of a sidetrack occasionally. I'm not the literary type that Mike is and I favor Fantasy and Science Fiction books to history books but even I had no problem following the book. I learned a great deal from the book and I think I see a future for more in depth work on some of the topics but, I think they would be more along the lines of research topics in a journal. Why, for instance is Oak a better wood than another hardwood? How much whisky/whiskey is lost to the wood? I'd like to see something like a history of a barrel from sapling to Scotch.

However back on topic...
The book was an easy read and a wealth of information. I doubt it will win a Pulitzer but it will be a genuine benefit to any researcher doing a paper on Bourbon Whiskey. Mike presents the facts and documents them leaving the speculation up to the reader.

I like the book very much. I'm about half way through. What I find valuable is that many of the conversations/discussions Mike and I have had in the past are now in writing and in one place. My foggy memory can relax, as I have an official history in hand. Plus there is some new old stuff that I didn't know. I'll make more comments as I go along. I'm stuck in prohibition. Damn It!

Linn,
I look forward to hearing your comments. What do you think so far?

I finished the book a week or two ago. It was an easy read with a lot of good information. I thought it was arranged well and the topics, though not strictly chronological, were logical and did a good job telling about bourbon and it's history. Well worth the time and money.

I am happy to say that the book is one of the five finalist for the 2015 Kentucky Literary Award. It is going to be some tough competition with Race horse and bar-b-que in the mix.