Kentucky Education Television (KET) in partnership with the
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries and
Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA) have released a one hour documentary titled Kentucky Bourbon Tales: Distilling the Family Business. The documentary is streamed
here and is quite informative. It captures an oral history of several of the leading families in the Kentucky bourbon industry as well as documenting the entire whiskey process. These families include the Beams at
The Jim Beam® Distillery and
Heaven Hill Distilleries; the Russells at
Wild Turkey; the Samuels at
Maker's Mark Distillery; the players behind the Brown-Forman
Early Times Distillery; Master Distiller Jim Rutledge at
Four Roses Distillery; and Master Distiller William Pratt at
Michter’s Distillery, LLC.
You will also need to read this
critique by Chuck Cowdery on a few major missing players: Sazerac's
Buffalo Trace,
Pappy Van Winkle, & Elmer T. Lee
. Regardless, the documentary is highly recommended for those interested in all things bourbon.
Update: The
Buffalo Trace Oral History Project includes several videos of the families not included in the KET video also hosted through the
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
