Saturday, November 17, 2007

The Bourbon Country Reader

Chuck Cowdery is a Chicago attorney who has a thing for Bourbon. Not only does he have a thing for it; he writes about it, and well. He is the author of Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey, an enjoyable compendium of Bourbon history, Bourbon opinion, and Bourbon reviews; the author, director, and producer of "Made and Bottled in Kentucky," a documentary about Bourbon that originally aired on public television; and a freelance contributer to such publications as The Malt Advocate and Whisky Magazine. He also publishes his own newsletter about Bourbon (well, American whiskey, really) called The Bourbon Country Reader. The current edition contains a story about the twists and turns through the years of the Camp Nelson facility (DSP-KY-69), which for many years was a full-blown distillery but currently only has warehouses aging Wild Turkey Bourbon; a mention of the retirement of Jerry Dalton, former master distiller of Jim Beam; a story about the seizure of a million dollars' worth of unlicensed Jack Daniel's whiskey in Tennessee; and a review of the new Russell's Reserve Rye. It's always enjoyable, very readable, and highly recommended.

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