Civilization begins with distillation. William Faulkner (from today’s NYT Travel story about Oxford, Miss., his adopted hometown)

Earlier this week I mentioned The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book by celebrated Louisville bartender Joy Perrine and food-and-drinks writer Susan Reigler. Today I’d like to share Joy’s recipe for the Spiceberry, which she describes as her “drink for the holidays, Thanksgiving through Christmas, using…

There’s been a renewed interest in the cocktail culture in the past few years, but it’s nothing new to Joy Perrine. In her nearly 50 years of tending bar, 25 of them at Equus Restaurant and Jack’s Lounge in Louisville, she’s created dozens…

Hancock’s President’s Reserve 88.9 proof Aroma: Vanilla, nutmeg, light fruit, very sweet. Taste: Caramel, apricot, honey; sweet with a little spice at the front; smooth, lightly oaked finish. Verdict: This single-barrel bourbon was a special selection at the Liquor Barn…

UPDATE: The Speakeasies won the third annual Bourbon Chase, and they made it look easy, indeed, covering the 200-mile course in 19 hours and 35 minutes. That’s a pace of 5:52 per mile! Next year’s race is Sept. 28-29. Right…

I’ll admit I may have seen better days, but I’m still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut. Margo Channing (Bette Davis), “All About Eve” (1950). The great Bette Davis died on Oct….

Twenty-two U.S. presidents have visited The Homestead, a luxury resort in the bucolic town of Hot Springs, Va., and you can have a drink with all of them in the Presidents Lounge. This wood-paneled bar, with plush leather club chairs, soft lighting and…

The owners of The Blind Pig, a gastropub that opened in 2010 in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood, emphasize house-made European comfort food. They cure and smoke their meats and make their bitters and other cocktail ingredients as well. That includes the…

I’m going to agree with Bourbon Women Association founder Peggy Noe Stevens on this one: Carry Nation is our least favorite Bourbon Woman. A Kentucky native, Carry waged war against saloons and taverns in the late 1800s and early 1900s….

Work is the curse of the drinking classes. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), playwright, novelist, poet and editor