Main description:

Popular history with a whiskey-soaked edge: Bourbon is Dane Huckelbridge's artful and imaginative biography of our most well-liked, and at times controversial, spirit, that is also a witty and entertaining chronicle of the United States itself.

Few commodities figure as prominently or as intimately in the story of the nation as bourbon whiskey. Its primary ingredient was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Its recipe was perfected on the Western frontier. In 1964, Congress passed a resolution declaring it to be a "distinctive product of the United States." First brewed by pioneers in in the backwoods of Appalachia, bourbon whiskey has become a modern multi-billion dollar international industry today. As Dane Huckelbridge reveals, the Kentucky spirit—the only liquor produced from corn is the American experience, distilled, aged, and sealed in a bottle.

In telling the story of bourbon, Huckelbridge takes us on a lively tour across three hundred years. Introducing the fascinating people central to its creation and evolution, he illuminates the elusive character of the nation itself. Interweaving the development of bourbon to America's own rise, his engaging and unique study is popular history at its best, offering a lively and informative look at our past through a hilariously thick pair of whiskey-bottle glasses.

Review quote:

“A wonderfully entertaining look at American history as seen through the lens of Kentucky’s famous brown water. A must read.”

Review quote:

“Made from New World corn and Old World techniques, Bourbon is the American Spirit. Fueled by more than a few tumblers of the stuff, Dane Hucklebridge takes readers on an intoxicating romp through the history of bourbon from its humble colonial origins to its craft-driven current revival.”

Review quote:

“Pour three fingers, crack open Dane Huckelbridge’s Bourbon, and prepare to be taken along on a strange tale of moonshiners, gun-slingers, hair metal bands, and Brooklyn hipsters. The results: smooth.”