Louisville has a very robust bourbon culture. Many of the industry’s best writers live or work in the vicinity, and you can run into them just about anywhere in town. Here are some of the bourbon writers whose work you should put on your summer reading list:
1. Mike Veach, writer of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage, is also the Filson Bourbon Academy’s official historian.
2. Frek Minnick, writer of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story Of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey, is also the Bourbon Authority for the Kentucky Derby Museum.
3. Fred Noe, author of Beam, Straight Up: The Bold Story of the First Family of Bourbon, is also the seventh-generation Master Distiller of Jim Beam.
4. Bernie Lubbers, author of Bourbon Whiskey-Our Native Spirit, is an international brand ambassador for Heaven Hill and is known as “The Whiskey Professor.”
5. Chet Zoeller, author of Bourbon in Kentucky: A History of Distilleries in Kentucky, co-founded Jefferson’s Reserve with his son.
6. Tim Laird, author of That's Entertaining! with Tim Laird, is Brown-Foreman’s Chief Entertaining Officer.
7. Susan Reigler, author of Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide, was a bourbon writer for the Courier-Journal for 15 years.
8. Joy Perrine, the “Bad Girl of Bourbon”, co-wrote The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book with Susan Reigler.
9. Albert Schmid, author of The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook, also teaches at Sullivan University.
10. David Domine wrote Splash of Bourbon: Kentucky's Spirit: A Cookbook as well as numerous books about hauntings around Louisville.
An important part of being a citizen bourbon ambassador is learning the entire history surrounding Kentucky’s native spirit. Try to get as many of these books worked into your summer reading list as possible. With time, you will understand the importance of bourbon to Louisville’s culture in a way no one else can.
Special thanks to @CoachBourbonUSA for the story idea.
Images Courtesy of Amazon.com
