After Almost 80 Years, The Pogues Are Distilling Again.

I am going, I am going
Any which way the wind may be blowing
I am going, I am going
Where streams of whiskey are flowing

"Streams of Whiskey," The Pogues (1984)

Sorry, wrong Pogues.

The whiskey-making Pogues are a family from Mason County, Kentucky, whose whiskey roots go back to the establishment of the Commonwealth. They were major producers until Prohibition. Afterwards, the distillery and name came back, but without the family.

Decades passed until in 2004, the family reentered the whiskey business with Old Pogue Master's Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The Pogues had become whiskey sellers again but not quite whiskey makers, as their whiskey was acquired from a distiller and marketed by the family. No matter. It was very good whiskey and prospered.

Earlier this year, the Pogues became distillers again by opening a micro-distillery at the old family home in Maysville. Earlier this month, they joined the Kentucky Distillers' Association.

There is more to tell about how the Pogues reclaimed they whiskey heritage and you can read all about it in the new issue of The Bourbon Country Reader, which dropped last week. You really should subscribe. The September, 2012 issue of The Bourbon Country Reader is Volume 14, Number 5. In it, we also explain how complicated it can be to buy a drink or bottle of bourbon in the state where it's made, and we welcome I. W. Bernheim to the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.

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