Charles H. Bogart presents "Land and the Bourbon Industry: Kentucky during the late 19th and early 20th century, the center of the whisky industry in the United States"

The whiskey industry during this time depended on railroads to bring to them the raw goods needed to make alcoholic spirits and to carry the finished product to market. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad was a major player within the distillery industry in Kentucky. Coal may have been a seasonal king in Kentucky, but the distillery industry provided L&N with a steady year-round cash flow. We will look at how the production of whiskey developed and grew in Kentucky and examine several distilleries that produced these spirits and the part the railroads played in sustaining them. June 17, 2026