All books reviewed by Drinkhacker involve careful thought, but this particular review requires a bit more reverence. In January 2025, Drew Hannush published Whiskey Lore: The Real Stories Behind the Biggest Myths and Legends. With the commonality of Lore, Hannush’s book is not to be confused with the December 2024 release of Bourbon Lore: Legends of American Whiskey, authored by Mason Walker and Clay Risen. As of this writing, I’ve completed 507 books on the topic of American beverage alcohol history. With full respect for the plethora of books in existence, I feel that Hannush’s Whiskey Lore is one of the two most important books currently available regarding the history of American whiskey. I’m frequently asked for my top book recommendation, and I always quickly reply with The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition, authored by William J. Rorabaugh and published in 1979. Drew Hannush’s book sits next to Rorabaugh’s book on my booze bookshelf.
Hannush arrived at this point by starting as a general travel writer and eventually transitioned to distillery travel. Like most of us who have been on a few distillery tours, he started noting discrepancies and hyperbole from one tour to the next. Rather than just accept the bluster and moving on, Hannush opted to dig into history and find the origin of the discrepancies, along with finding concrete evidence to sort out fact and fiction. However, rather than using the word fiction, Hannush refers to these stories as whiskey lore. It’s highly probable that every story that Hannush addresses in Whiskey Lore is a story we’ve all heard and mostly accepted as truth without question. I’m well aware that I’ve personally shared many of the stories as fact countless times. Throughout the book, Hannush provides evidence from numerous sources to either lend credence or poke holes in the validity of our favorite bits of whiskey chatter.
Early in my studies at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, Dr. Bill Garriott opened a lecture with the question “What is truth?” The discussion was summarized by urging student to realize that we always need to remain open to the fact that there is always potential for new evidence and information to come along that completely disrupts or destroys our current understanding of absolute truth. In his book, Hannush subscribes the same philosophy regarding whiskey lore. Looking back, I can identify numerous conversations in which I’ve flexed my knowledge amassed while reading hundreds of books, only to later realize that I was wrong. At the time, I was operating under truth as commonly understood, but new information eventually came along to disprove previous accepted understanding. Hannush cautions readers to be humble regarding their current knowledge because those absolute truths could all change tomorrow. Following this thought, the author details several podcasts he has recorded in the past which were based on what he thought was solid information, only to later discover that his well-thought-out discussions were full of holes and inaccuracies.
I fully enjoy the writing style of Hannush as he opens each chapter with an anecdote that seemingly has absolutely nothing to do with whiskey history, but then masterfully links the anecdote to some piece of popular whiskey lore. Completely novel to other whiskey books, Hannush also opens up each chapter by asking AI for its opinion on whether or not each piece of whiskey lore is true or false. In this current world, we frequently rely upon Google or similar internet resources to find any shred of information we seek. The AI responses provided to Hannush result from harvesting the wealth of information on the topic that exists on the internet to package a composite response to the question. As most now realize, AI has its shortcomings in that it doesn’t necessarily accurately grasp all words and concepts related to the question, often leading to wildly inaccurate responses and understandings. Furthermore, as AI mines much of the information found on the internet, it also collects information from resources that are simply wrong or incomplete. For some bits of whiskey lore, Hannush’s research found that AI was accurate, but for most, it was wrong. A good lesson in life and in whiskey: Everything you read on the internet isn’t necessarily true.
When it comes to choosing which bits of whiskey lore to address, Hannush focuses heavily on American whiskey. However, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland all find their way into the book, but disproportionately less. Whiskey Lore tackles some of the most beloved stories and ideas woven into the fabric of American whiskey history. Hannush is careful to never make absolute claims when the evidence is clearly not there. However, with surgical precision, Hannush presents the historical evidence to analyze each bit of whiskey lore. In this pursuit, the author offers contemporary sources related to the stories we all know and love. Frequently, Hannush found that sources tell a very different story or accounting in comparison to what marketing campaigns tell us today, and he seeks to create a timeline for where it all went wrong. In many instances, Whiskey Lore is able to document the snowballing effect regarding one bad or misunderstood event or bit of information leading to the next. The end result is that modern day legend ends up with ideology that is either blatantly false, only loosely true, or grossly blown out of proportion.
As Kentucky justifiably grabs most of the attention regarding bourbon history, Hannush also authored a book titled The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey: Heroes, Villains, and Legends from a Whiskey Story Time Forgot. Due to Hannush’s relatively recent deep-dive into whiskey in Tennesse, Whiskey Lore gives a lot of attention to Tennessee. Overall brilliant, the discussion on Tennessee whiskey also offers the singular weakness in the book. Throughout the book, Hannush makes it a point to operate fully on hard evidence that either adds validity or demonstrates likely falsehood to a story or belief. When it comes to Tennessee whiskey, Hannush breaks character and openly expresses a desire to “defend the honor of Tennessee whiskey” in relation to conversation regarding whether or not Tennessee whiskey is also a bourbon. When moving into the realm of defending honor, the book becomes not about facts and logic, but about emotions related to pride and ego. Every aspects of the federal government classifies Tennessee whiskey as a bourbon. Hannush even references a photo of a Japanese export bottle of Jack Daniel’s with the label clearly reading “Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey” that Jeff Arnett told me is likely from the 1970s. Hannush also references an unnamed “long-time Tennessee distiller” who openly says Jack Daniel’s is a bourbon. That unnamed distiller is Arnett, master distiller at Jack Daniel’s. When having the “Is Jack a bourbon?” conversation, when Arnett offers his insight, it would be a good idea to provide his name. Hannush makes no secret that he wants Tennessee whiskey to not be bourbon, but largely bases his belief on the fact Kentucky bourbon cannot be called Tennessee whiskey. However, Hannush neglects the fact that Jim Beam could choose to use the Lincoln County Process and still call it bourbon. On this one particular topic, Hannush allows emotion to supersede facts and evidence. Operating on emotions and defending honor is the same snare that leads so many to insist that bourbon must come from Kentucky.
While I stand firm in my assertion that Whiskey Lore is one of the two most important books on the market regarding American whiskey, it won’t be fully appreciated by those who are new to the world of bourbon. The true beauty of the book comes to those who are fully aware of these false narratives and have believed and repeated them for years. Readers won’t fully appreciate the truth of Whiskey Lore until being immersed in a world of falsehoods. In the pursuit of accurate history and appreciation for whiskey, Drew Hannush does the research to give enthusiasts the most accurate understanding possible, as of today. If you’re willing to put down preconceived notions and beliefs in light of new information based on clear documentation, Whiskey Lore is going to change a lot of your worldview regarding the history of the whiskey that is a distinctive product of the United States. Accurate knowledge is power, and it only serves to increase appreciation.
A+ / $26 [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
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