Carol Peachee is a fine art photographer and cofounder of the Kentucky Women’s Photography Network. She has published several books and is the winner of the 2010 Elizabeth Fort Duncan Award in photography from the Hopkinsville Art Guild. Jim Gray is a combat veteran and Retired Special Warfare Combat Craft (SWCC) Master Chief with 22 years' experience in Combatant Craft Operations. He served on both active and reserve duty, including service in the Northern Persian Gulf. Upon retirement, while working with Vantage Systems Incorporated, he sailed high-risk waters as a maritime security specialist, protecting multimillion dollar yachts and crew while at sea and pierside from the threat of pirates.
"Peachee's stunning photos of historic distilleries capture the
rich heritage of our native spirit." -- Kentucky Monthly
"Beautiful photography of rust, crumble, abandon... this would make
a thoughtful holiday gift, especially if included with a bottle of
something crafted in Kentucky." -- Southern Jewish Life
"Peachee captures the vibrant and haunting beauty of the
distilleries. The Birth of Bourbon is a tour of Kentucky bourbon
heritage that might have otherwise been lost if not for Peachee's
determination to save it. The results not only document what
remains, but they also showcase the beauty of these sites through a
meditation on impermanence, labor, time, presence, and loss." --
Broadway World
"This beautiful collection of amazing photos is wrapped up in a
fascinating coffee-table book. With more than 200 photos, this book
will interest bourbon lovers, photographers and artists as well as
those who savor history." --
" The Birth of Bourbon: A Photographic Tour of Early Distilleries
[...] is an evocative exploration of bourbon's past. Peachee, a
fine art photographer and cofounder of the Kentucky Women's
Photography Network, has documented what's left of lost
distilleries like Buffalo Springs and Atherton to the current
renewal of the Old Taylor and James E. Pepper facilities. It's a
very handsome book with more than 220 photographs." -- Louisville
Courier-Journal
"[A]ward-winning photographer Carol Peachee takes readers on an
unforgettable tour of lost distilleries as well as facilities
undergoing renewal. The pictures in this book speak more than a
thousand words each. The author takes the idea of a private tour of
a distillery to a whole new level. [She] approaches the subject of
bourbon from a very different perspective and reminds the reader
that the fashion of bourbon is not a new idea but is fragile." --
Distillery Trail
"Bourbon is a worldwide phenomenon, with drinkers as far away as
Japan and Australia. But there's also a homegrown market for people
interested in bourbon, and The Birth of Bourbon taps into that.
Peachee's obvious talent and eye for lighting, contrast, detail,
and framing make each picture captivating." -- Andrew McMichael,
professor of history at Western Kentucky University
"Carol Peachee has done an excellent job of preserving glimpses of
America's distilling heritage. Many of the old distilleries
depicted in these images are long gone, while others are being
repurposed, but changed. These images preserve the past as the
future changes the distilling industry." -- Michael Veach, author
of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage
"Like an archaeologist with a camera, Kentucky-based photographer
Carol Peachee has been on a mission to document a spirited slice of
Bluegrass history. [Her] photos do more than capture industrial
artifacts -- they also stand as a testament to generations of life
and livelihood." -- Garden & Gun
"Peachee provides valuable glimpses into the social, economic,
cultural, and historical situation of these distilleries and their
workers. This book serves as a valuable addition to the history of
Kentucky, the bourbon industry, industrial archaeology, and
photography." -- Kentucky Library Association
"The pictures in this book speak more than a thousand words each.
The author takes the idea of a private tour of a distillery to a
whole new level. The Birth of Bourbon approaches the subject of
bourbon from a very different perspective and reminds the reader
that the fashion of bourbon is not a new idea but is fragile. A
must for bourbon history enthusiasts." -- Albert Schmid, author of
The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook
"The story of distilling, like the story of America, starts with
the human need to secure a place that can produce enough to feed
and shelter a family, the willingness to do hard work, the
cleverness to do it efficiently, and the desire to do it well. It
is America's story from its beginning to this moment." -- Sarah
Tate, founding partner of Tate Hill Jacobs Architects, Lexington,
Kentucky
"With plentiful limestone-filtered springwater and an ideal
climate, your old Kentucky home was God's gift to whiskey makers,
and early settlers put grain to copper still and bourbon soon ran
from it. But Prohibition cut the number of distilleries from more
than two hundred to sixty-one, stranding scores of warehouses,
grain hoppers, barrel rooms, boiler houses, and other grand relics
that dot the Bluegrass State even today. The 238 mesmerizing,
richly saturated color photos in this abandoned-distillery tour
offer Americana at is best." -- Foreword Reviews
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