Bourbon: The Complete Guide to the Essential American Spirit

A visually stunning illustrated guide to the history, craft, and appreciation of Kentucky bourbon

Bourbon, we soon realized, was not just a good drink. It was a drink with a story, from a place, with an unbreakable tie to the people and the land that produced it.

Whiskey expert Clay Risen explores the origins, history, and evolution of America's distilling craft and culture in this luxurious boxed set. From boom to bust and back again, Risen tells the engrossing story of Kentucky whiskey, using interviews, photographs, and archival material to illuminate the singular region where bourbon was born. This meticulously researched book details how bourbon is made, how best to enjoy it, and how to build your own collection, along with profiles of the distilleries and makers that form the landscape of bourbon country.

Clay Risen is a reporter at The New York Times and the bestselling author of Single Malt: A Guide to the Whiskies of Scotland; American Whiskey, Bourbon and Rye: A Guide to the Nation’s Favorite Spirit; and The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century. A graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and the University of Chicago, he grew up in Nashville and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two young children.