American Still Life

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The untold story of the world's premier bourbon and the familythat made it #1 American Still Life tells the intertwined truestories of America's favorite whiskey and the family dynasty thatproduces it to this very day. Jim Beam is the world's top-sellingbourbon whiskey, with sales of over five million cases per year.Not a day has passed in the 207 years of Jim Beam's existence whena Beam family member has not been master distiller. Dedicated toquality, and dedicated to the family legacy, the Beams haveshepherded their particularly American spirit to the top of theirindustry. And they've done it in an industry beset by challenges,from government regulation and prohibition, to changing consumertastes, to fierce new global competition. By creating a brand ofunparalleled quality and consistency, and by tying the success oftheir product with the good name of the family, the Beams haveestablished a lasting legacy as perhaps one of the greatest familybusiness dynasties in American history. Not just a simple historyof "America's native spirit" (so named by an act of Congress in1964) or a simple family history, American Still Life is a story ofbusiness success based on quality and attention to detail, constantinnovation, revolutionary branding and advertising, and adaptationto the business environment. F. Paul Pacult (Walkill, NY) is recognized the world overas his generation's most accomplished and respected authority onbeverage alcohol. He has written for many magazines, includingPlayboy, Wine and Spirits, Connoisseur, Whisky, Drink, Men'sJournal, Cheers, Country Inns, Travel and Leisure, Bon Appetit,Decanter, and Food and Wine. Among his manyaccomplishments, he has hosted and coproduced two syndicatedtalk-radio programs and served as the primary expert on whiskey,beer, and wine for the History Channel documentary AmericaDrinks: History in a Glass.

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F. Paul Pacult

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How does a sour mash corn whiskey brand go from being a Kentuckyfamily's "adjunct farming activity" to founding a corporation thatships over five million cases worldwide each year? Pacult(Kindred Spirits: The Spirit Journal Guide to the World'sDistilled Spirits and Fortified Wines) extensively researchedthe story of the Beam family, which is just as much a 19th-and20th-century American history. The young country's struggles withslavery, Prohibition and war, its sociopolitical maturation and itsshift from the agricultural to an industrial economy all come intoplay. A prolific spirits writer, Pacult has an expert's grasp onthe topic, which carries the book through its slow periods.Upstanding citizens to a man, the Beams don't always make forscintillating reading - no scoundrels, no scandals - and only JimBeam's grandson Booker Noe, the refreshingly blunt, six-foot-four,360-pound former master distiller, emerges as a character with anycolor. Trying to keep all the Beams straight might make readersfeel like they've just downed a few shots of the bourbon itself.Most interesting is Pacult's examination of American popularculture and its effect on the bourbon business: how bourbon becamedéclassé in the 1970s, the venerable spirit losing out tosexy newcomer vodka (and its inadvertent pitchman, James Bond), andhow scotch whiskey's rising popularity in the 1980s fueled theproduction of bourbon's answer to the single-malt, the small-batchbourbon. The book could use a few more colorful details, however,such as the bit about temperance activist Carry Nation and her axattacks on taverns. (Aug.) (Publishers Weekly, June 16,2003) "...It's a fascinating glimpse of American political history..."(Drinks International, December 2003)
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