The New Reader Is Here! The New Reader Is Here!

Yes, loyal subscribers, it has been a long time between issues, but never fear. The new Reader is here. Current subscribers should receive their copies in the next few days. New subscribers can get on the bandwagon by clicking here.

The Bourbon Country Reader is the oldest publication devoted entirely to American whiskey. It is a charming mix of news, history, analysis, and product reviews. Do you worry that advertising spending influences coverage in other publications? No chance of that here since The Bourbon Country Reader is 100 percent reader-supported. It accepts no advertising.

In this issue, we dive deep into a new project from Campari America, the company behind Wild Turkey. They are reviving two pre-Prohibition brands once made in Anderson County, Kentucky, where Wild Turkey is made today. One of them is Old Ripy, named for the family that started the distillery now known as Wild Turkey. The other is Bond & Lillard, one of Anderson County's oldest brands.

We also look at the recent burst of investments by major producers in smaller craft operations. The money is big, $160 million in the case of Constellation's acquisition of Utah's High West. All of this new money should help the small producers overcome one of their most formidable obstacles: whiskey aging.

Finally, we offer some thoughts on bourbon's only essential accessory: the glass.

To experience The Bourbon Country Reader for yourself, you need to subscribe. Honoring tradition, The Bourbon Country Reader still comes to you exclusively on paper, in an envelope, via the USPS.

A subscription to The Bourbon Country Reader is still just $20 per year for addresses in the USA, $25 for everyone else. The Bourbon Country Reader is published six times a year, more-or-less, but your subscription always includes six issues no matter how long it takes.

Click here to subscribe with PayPal or any major credit card, or for more information. Click here for a free sample issue (in PDF format). Click here to open or download the free PDF document, "The Bourbon Country Reader Issue Contents in Chronological Order." (It's like an index.)

If you want to catch up on what you've missed, bound back issue volumes are available for $20 each, or three for $50. Since the new issue is Volume 17, Number 6, that means Volume 17 is now available as a back issue volume.

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Don't Cry for Old Grand-Dad 114

Fans of Old Grand-Dad 114, this is for you.

The folks at Beam Suntory have been mulling over the fate of this small but beloved expression of their high-rye bourbon. Late last year, the word was that it 'probably' would be discontinued in 2017, but the final decision hadn't been made. Shipments from the distillery were stopped for a few months due to supply constraints while the number-crunchers worked out whether or not it made sense to continue the product going forward.

They decided that it does.

Shipments will resume shortly and availability should improve in the second quarter.

Nothing is forever, of course. They'll probably look at it again in a year or so. Supply will be a prime consideration. The high-rye recipe used for Old Grand-Dad is also used for Basil Hayden.

The widespread confusion and concern about 114 has led to rumors that the entire Old Grand-Dad line is being discontinued. There is no truth to those rumors. In fact, Old Grand-Dad is doing very well despite virtually no marketing spend.

Punch, the Ancestor of All Cocktails

Any deep rumination on cocktails leads back to the beginning and where it all begins is punch.

Although drinking from a communal bowl goes back to prehistory, the English word ‘punch’ is about 375 years old and describes a specific kind of drink, not just the practice of making a big batch of something and serving it in a bowl, although that was part of it too.

'Strong waters' (i.e., distilled spirits) as a beverage and intoxicant were just starting to emerge in Europe in the mid-17th century. It was then that a clear spirit, flavored with juniper and sweetened with another new vice, white sugar, first became popular. They called it gin. It also was the period when European colonists in the Americas first began to make rum; and when brandy shipped from the region of France now known as Cognac first began to be exported.

Europeans on both sides of the Atlantic were discovering the pleasures of distilled spirits.

In England, punch was the first big drink craze based on a distilled spirit. It was a custom the English brought back from their colony, India. One story says the name comes from the Hindi word for “five,” because punch always has five ingredients: alcohol, water, citrus fruit, sugar and spices. That story has been told for a long time even though it can’t be proved and has many doubters.

True or not, it was what punch drinkers in England believed. Punch had to be served from a communal bowl and it had to have those five ingredients, which left plenty of room for creativity.

Alec Waugh, brother of Evelyn, claimed that the classic formula for punch was one part citrus, two parts sugar, three parts spirit, and four parts water.

The alcohol of choice was Indian arrack, an un-aged distilled spirit, probably about 50% ABV, which though generally made from fruit or sugar cane could be made out of anything from coconut milk to mare’s milk.

As punch evolved, spices were the first ingredient to go. They had been things like nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and coriander. Indian-made arrack was replaced by brandy or rum. By the 19th century, gin punch was popular with the English literary set.

When it comes to punches, ancient or modern, recipes are merely suggestions. First, pick a spirit. Vodka is a good substitute for traditional arrack, but brandy and rum are popular, and whiskey, especially bourbon, is not unknown. Next, toss in some citrus juice; orange for body, lemon and lime for pucker, grapefruit, tangerine, whatever. Keep it simple. Give it some sparkle with seltzer or lemon lime soda. Taste often and make adjustments as necessary. Garnish it with fruit slices and keep it cold with a big chunk of ice.

A simple mixture of vodka, juice and ginger ale combines all of the elements–even a little spice–of the earliest punches. Substitute bourbon for more flavor.

Cocktails evolved from punch much the way birds descended from dinosaurs, or how the martini went from a specific drink to anything served in a martini glass. Although punch was their inspiration, the cocktails of the late 19th century began to use more local ingredients (brandy, rum, whiskey, gin), reduced the spices to a dash of bitters, and transformed the citrus juice into a twist of lemon skin. The water became bubbly and, sometimes, it had sugar in it.

Today, the popular cocktail that may best recall the taste of punch’s origins is the gin and tonic.

The trend to making drinks in glasses was inevitable in our individualistic culture, but something was lost. The greatest modern chronicler of punch history, David Wondrich, has called punch drinking a ritual of secular communion. He also describes such popular drinks as the whiskey sour, daiquiri, sidecar, cosmopolitan, and margarita, as “essentially, Punches cut to Cocktail shape.”