Books about Distilling from Amazon.com



Moonshine: Recipes * Tall Tales * Drinking Songs * Historical Stuff * Knee-Slappers *How to Make It * How to Drink It * Pleasin' the Law * Recoverin' the Next Day
Now here’s a volume you can really drink to!  Something’s brewing in these pages, and it’s moonshine—a word that evokes fascination, curiosity, and a warm sense of nostalgia Never before has there been such a richly illustrated, thorough, and entertaining celebration of the history of making fine distilled spirits. Take a trip through moonshining’s past: travel from its beginnings as a pioneer staple to the dark days of prohibition, from quickly produced urban rotgut to today’s carefully handcrafted artisanal libations. Get in on the fun with how-to instructions that take into account all legal regulations and requirements before covering ingredients, building a still, basic distilling techniques, and dozens of recipes, all adapted for the beginner. Whiskies, brandies, grappa, schnapps: they’re all here, along with dozens of page-turning quotes, song lyrics, and vintage photographs and illustrations.
“Making whisky or brandy is not the least bit difficult. Making something you’d want to drink…well, that may take some practice.”   —Matthew B. Rowley
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Price: $8.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]


The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story
Based on the true story of Matt Bondurant's grandfather and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. Forrest, the eldest brother, is fierce, mythically indestructible, and the consummate businessman; Howard, the middle brother, is an ox of a man besieged by the horrors he witnessed in the Great War; and Jack, the youngest, has a taste for luxury and a dream to get out of Franklin. Driven and haunted, these men forge a business, fall in love, and struggle to stay afloat as they watch their family die, their father's business fail, and the world they know crumble beneath the Depression and drought.

White mule, white lightning, firewater, popskull, wild cat, stump whiskey, or rotgut -- whatever you called it, Franklin County was awash in moonshine in the 1920s. When Sherwood Anderson, the journalist and author of Winesburg, Ohio, was covering a story there, he christened it the "wettest county in the world." In the twilight of his career, Anderson finds himself driving along dusty red roads trying to find the Bondurant brothers, piece together the clues linking them to "The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy," and break open the silence that shrouds Franklin County.

In vivid, muscular prose, Matt Bondurant brings these men -- their dark deeds, their long silences, their deep desires -- to life. His understanding of the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of this world is both heartbreaking and magnificent..
Price: $16.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]



Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey
Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey, follows the trail of America whiskey-making from its 17th century origins right up to the present day. In it, readers will discover the history of the American whiskey industry, how American whiskey is made and marketed, the differences among various types of American whiskey (bourbon, rye, Tennessee) and how they compare to other world whiskies.

Readers also will meet the many fascinating characters who have made American whiskey what it is today, whether they be famous, infamous or largely unknown.

All major producers and brands are discussed. The book includes a complete tasting guide with 35 detailed product reviews.

Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey, is for fans of American whiskey, but also for readers who just enjoy a good tale steeped in American culture and heritage.

Bourbon, Straight is richly detailed, clear, authoritative, insightful, independent and fun to read..
Price: $22.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]



Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine)

Alchemy can't be science--common sense tells us as much. But perhaps common sense is not the best measure of what science is, or was. In this book, Bruce Moran looks past contemporary assumptions and prejudices to determine what alchemists were actually doing in the context of early modern science. Examining the ways alchemy and chemistry were studied and practiced between 1400 and 1700, he shows how these approaches influenced their respective practitioners' ideas about nature and shaped their inquiries into the workings of the natural world. His work sets up a dialogue between what historians have usually presented as separate spheres; here we see how alchemists and early chemists exchanged ideas and methods and in fact shared a territory between their two disciplines.

Distilling Knowledge suggests that scientific revolution may wear a different appearance in different cultural contexts. The metaphor of the Scientific Revolution, Moran argues, can be expanded to make sense of alchemy and other so-called pseudo-sciences--by including a new framework in which "process can count as an object, in which making leads to learning, and in which the messiness of conflict leads to discernment." Seen on its own terms, alchemy can stand within the bounds of demonstrative science.

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Price: $15.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]


Kentucky Moonshine
When the first American tax on distilled spirits was established in 1791, violence broke out in Pennsylvania The resulting Whiskey Rebellion sent hundreds of families down the Ohio River by flatboat, stills on board, to settle anew in the fertile bottomlands of Kentucky. Here they used cold limestone spring water to make bourbon and found that corn produced even better yields of whiskey than rye. Thus, the licit and illicit branches of the distilling industry grew up side by side in the state. This is the story of the illicit side—the moonshiners’ craft and craftsmanship, as practiced in Kentucky. A glossary of moonshiner argot sheds light on such colorful terms as "puker," "slop," and "weed-monkey." David Maurer’s tone is tongue-in-cheek, but he provides a realistic look at the Kentucky moonshiner and the moonshining industry..
Price: $9.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]


Manufacture & Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors by P.Duplais. The Most Important 19th Century Distilling Guide & The Bible of Absinthe Distillation. Facsimile of the 1871 English Edition.
Pierre Duplais' seminal "Traité de la Fabrication des Liqueurs et de la Distillation des Alcools" is the authoritative French distillation guide. It went through seven editions from 1855 to 1900 and is the basis of our understanding of 19th century French distillation techniques. A single English edition was published in Philadelphia in 1871, translated by M. McKennie. The special section on absinthe is of particular importance - this is our most accurate and comprehensive guide to the recipes and techniques used by late 19th century absinthe distillers, and is informally regarded as the "bible" of those seeking to duplicate their recipes today. McKennie's translation appears to have been issued in a very small print run, and surviving copies are extremely scarce. This new facsimile edition published by The Virtual Absinthe Museum has been painstakingly compiled from scans of a rare original copy. This perfect-bound PAPERBACK version is just under 700 pages..
Price: $78.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]


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