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| That's a wrap. |
Some of you figured this out before I did. The last post on this blog was August 4th, more than two months ago. I've never posted on a regular schedule, but two months is a long break. I knew I was wrestling with some things and didn't know what my next move would be. I don't have all the answers, no one ever does, but here is what I know now.
I am discontinuing The Bourbon Country Reader, effective immediately. The last issue was Volume 23, Number 2, dated June 2025. That's 134 issues over 30 years. It was a good run.
I am also getting out of the books business. I have liquidated all remaining copies of my 2014 book, Bourbon, Strange. I am no longer supplying Amazon with copies, but they have some in inventory. When they're gone, they're gone. I liquidated them to some of my industry friends, who will make them available in some form. I'll let them tell you about that.
Bourbon, Strange will continue to be available on Amazon as a Kindle e-book.
My other two bourbon books, Bourbon, Straight (2004) and The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste (2012) will continue to be available, but only from me via PayPal, and maybe at some point via some of those friends mentioned above. Click on the links above if you're interested. As with Bourbon, Strange, both of them will be available from Amazon until their inventory is exhausted, and both will continue to be available as Kindle e-books.
When the current inventory is gone, that's it. I don't intend to reprint any of them. All three, as well as my blues book, Blues Legends (1995) are readily available from used book sources, though I'm told many used copies of Blues Legends don't include the CD, which is a shame.
The significance of the August 4th blog post to all this is that I stopped selling DVD copies of "Made and Bottled in Kentucky" a few years ago but only got around to digitizing it and putting it online on that date. I discovered I had, in fact, sold every DVD I had, and it took me a while to find the DVD master. I'm not, I'm afraid, very well organized. I feared it was lost. That started this whole soul-searching project.
The documentary was made in 1992 and launched me on my bourbon journey. At this point it's a historical document in its own right, featuring interviews with Booker Noe, Elmer T. Lee, Dixie Hibbs (who died last week), and others who are no longer with us. The long moribund Kentucky whiskey industry was just beginning to show signs of revival. The 30+ years that followed saw American whiskey production and sales grow dramatically. While there is no reason to believe those gains will be lost, the much touted "bourbon boom" has ended. It was one hell of a ride.
Back to The Reader. Because I didn't know, back in June, that I was ending the newsletter, I sent renewal notices, and many people renewed their subscriptions. I don't intend to take your money without giving you something. In the coming months I will write and publish a series of essays. Every current subscriber, regardless of the status of your subscription, will receive all of them. I haven't written them yet, but I expect they will be about my bourbon journey of the last 30+ years.
My intention is to make all Reader back issues available online in some kind of archive, but that's a future project and I'm not quite sure how to go about it. It's on the "to-do" list.
I also will continue to write the "Straight Talk" column in Whisky Advocate for as long as they'll have me.
As for "The Chuck Cowdery Blog," it's not going away. If I have something to say, about bourbon or something else, I'll say it here. I've been writing since I was in third grade, so that won't stop. That's who I am. Part of the reason for these changes is to clear the deck for what comes next, whatever that might be. In the interim since that August post, I had another birthday. I'm now 74-years-old. Some changes need to be made, not because I am stopping but so I can keep going.
So, I'll leave it there for now. I have more to say but I'll say it in those post-Reader essays, and I'll be here as well. Thanks for taking this ride with me. I'm not going away, just moving on.
16 comments:
Best wishes in changing direction. Looking forward to the essays, but don't feel compelled to write them if life suggests otherwise. Thanks for your work over the years!
As you mentioned, it was a great run. Always enjoyed your work
Thanks for the update Chuck. Hope this change of pace is beneficial for you. I look forward to whatever you decide to make available going forward. Take care my friend!
Legend! I always appreciated your writings. Wishing you all the best in your next chapter.
Big love to you, Chuck! You are - and will always be - THE man!
I just renewed my subscription and your fulfillment solution is good by me. You could always go Substack. Alternately, Thank God you didn't go Substack ;-)
Thank you for helping to educate me in Bourbon history with the books, blog, and the Reader!!
Thank you for helping to educate me in the world of bourbon with the books, the blog, the Reader, and the video that I first saw about 17 years ago!
Always appreciative of your seemingly endless knowledge , historical insight, and wisdom. Your voice will continue to inspire with or without the Reader. Thank you for everything Chuck! You are truly one of a kind!!
Thanks for everything, enjoy the next phase. Best wishes!
Thank you for the posts Chuck! We have enjoyed them a great deal!
I've been reading your content since the mid 2000s, so thanks for two decades of insights, news and all the rest. Looking forward to your upcoming essays and best wishes for many more years of life's enjoyments.
I'm late to the party here as I was on vacation when you posted this. Others have already expressed most of what I would say, but I will pile on.
Of the many things I appreciate about your whiskey writing is that you "keep it real". I've been drinking bourbon since before I was 18 years old and I'm now 68. The snobbery that took hold of bourbon writing and videos since the boom reminded me of some of the pretentious drek being spewed by wine professionals for many years. Newbies chasing the most recent (or oldest) unicorns, paying secondary prices (for bourbon for Christ's sake!) and discrediting older, established, solid juice in order to praise the newest craft/allocated product seemed to spread like an epidemic.
You were always the exact opposite to me. Straightforward evaluations recognizing the new while maintaining your love and praise for the established stalwarts. You always recognized that "bottom shelf" didn't always translate to "bottom quality".
In particular I was impressed that you held the "distillers" to being honest and transparent. And reminding them, and the consumers, of the regulations that require certain information on their labels. I am far more educated in the world of bourbon that I was before discovering your writings.
I admit my bathroom time will miss the day or two of reading the Country Reader every couple months (or thereabouts). But I'll muddle through I suppose. I may have to buy one of your books/ebooks to fill the void.
Best of luck in whatever the future decides for you, Chuck. I guess the value of any future writing you chooses to do will increase greatly. Leave it to a marketing guy to understand the impact of a limited supply of an in-demand product. Thank you for the ride, so far.
Tempora muta, nos cum illis - times change, us with them. As the world of whisky changes, you too are also adapting - pleased to learn your bourbon voice will continue to be heard
All the best going forward, Chuck. It's been a joy reading your thoughts and historical insights on the bourbon sphere "lo these many years". I can't think of any other commentator with the depth of your knowledge and love of bourbon.
Love you Chuck and appreciate everything you've given to all of us. I look forward to your essays and whatever you care to share going forward.
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