Whiskey Business How Small-Batch Distillers Are Transforming American Spirits

Discover the underdog story of the improbable rise of small-batch distilling in America. This bracingly written, fast-paced work traces the relationship of Americans to spirits such as bourbon, scotch, vodka, gin, and rum. And it presents the full story of a plucky band of entrepreneurs who disrupted the nation’s conception of how those libations could appear and taste—and how much they could cost. Acitelli weaves the unlikely triumph of the small-batch distilling movement into other major trends, including a neo-Prohibitionism that nearly croaked the entire thing, America’s re-embrace of cocktails, and the twin rises of craft beer and fine wine. He also expertly delves into the controversies currently wracking American spirits, ones that threaten to tank the movement at the moment of what should be its greatest triumph.

Tom Acitelli, a 2016 James Beard Award finalist who has written about alcohol for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Bloomberg View, is the author of the acclaimed beverage histories The Audacity of Hops and American Wine. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.