Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Kentucky's bourbon trail hopes to attract tourists as Napa valley wineries do

Kentucky hopes that its bourbon trail will attract tourists as successfully as do Napa valley wineries, the second leading tourist attracts (after Disneyworld) in California.  For more, see here.

Whiskey and wine (books)

Elizabeth Downer briefly reviews Kate Hopkins, 99 Drams of Whiskey:The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for a Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink (St. Martin's) and Vivienne Sosnowski, When the River Ran Red: An Angry Story of Courage and Triumph in America's Wine Country (Palgrave Macmillan). The latter book deals with northern California winemakers during National Prohibition.  For more, see here.

White Liquor and Red Clay (moonshine and NASCAR)

For a discussion of the forthcoming (February 2010) book by Dr. Dan Pierce, White Liquor and Red Clay: NASCAR in the Time of Big Bill Franz, see here.  The article does not mention the publisher; the book's title may be inexact.

Japanese whiskies better than Scotland's?

According to a taste test in Glasgow (of all places) Nikka's 1987 Yoichi was the best single malt in the competition, while rival distillery Suntory's 30-year-old Hibiki was the best blended whiskey.  For more, from the (London) Guardian, see here.

Exhibition for Kentucky distilleries and whiskey (review)

Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr., exhibition review for "Heaven Hill Distilleries and Bourbon Tasting Tour: Kentucky Culture and History in Bardstown's Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Center," in Public Historian 30.4 (Nov. 2008): 112-115.

Micro-distilleries to parallel success of micro-breweries?

The Boston Globe looks at the rise of micro-distilleries in Massachusetts and puts this phenomenon in the larger story of the growing number of micro-distilleries throughout the USA.  About thirty new micro-distilleries open each year in the United States.  For more, see here.

Making whiskey in West Virginia during prohibition

Ben Crookshanks, "Making Whiskey in Greenbrier County," Goldenseal 34/2 (2008): 58-62.

Social history of drinking in Edinburgh, Scotland (book)

Joyce Miller and Miles Tubbs, Here's Tae Us: A Social History of Drinking in Edinburgh (Edinburgh: Living Memory Association, 2007).

New "green" distillery built in Scotland

A giant new environmentally sound, distillery has built on Speyside at Roseisle.  Although the USA is a major importer of Scotch whiskey it buys only slightly more than does Spain and much less than does France.  For more, see here.

Maureen Ogle comments about recession's impact of alcohol and high-end coffee sales

Re. your question (rhetorical though it might have been...): near as I can tell, beer is fairly recession-proof. For an interview I did a few months back, I checked sales and per cap consumption back to the 1870s. During the worst economic times (eg, the 1870s, 1890s, 1950s), beer sales/consumption remain steady and, if anything, will rise a bit.

 

But I think that's because there are so many options: eg, people can buy cheaper beers, and they can drink it at home (less expensive than going to a bar). I suspect that spirits are almost as recession-proof and for the same reasons.

 

 I haven't checked, but I'm guessing that wine is the alcoholic beverage that is least recession-proof. It's harder to drink "down," because there are fewer price points to choose from.

 

Anyway, I think this economic upheaval will hurt craft brewers (and hurt them badly, because they don't have much variation in their price points) and help the mainstream brewers. That's been the historical trend.

 

And I don't see how the coffeeshops can weather the storm: as you say, carrying coffee in a thermos is much cheaper. On the other hand, if people yearn for community in hard times, they'll seek out bars and coffeeshops, but just drinker cheaper (eg, plain coffee instead of a frappowhatever with tons of expensive stuff added.)