NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For all you whiskey fans, there's a man who is just as enthusiastic about the history of Tennessee's spirit.
If you've dabbled with any whiskey-related podcasts, you may have heard of this host before. Drew Hannush goes beyond the simple story in his podcast titled "Whiskey Lore", but he's also a best-selling author.
Hannush's latest book is called "The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey." His passion for learning about the history drove him to get to the bottom of the truth within that history.
It brought him to the Robertson County Archives for research. Hannush said he would go on distillery tours in Kentucky and Tennessee, but hear conflicting stories. For example, he recalls hearing the name bourbon comes from New Orleans, but another distillery saying it came from Bourbon County, Kentucky.
That's one reason he became fascinated in getting to the bottom of the truth.
Hannush visited other county archives, state archives, and even the National Archives all to look at newspapers and documents to learn the original history. His book is like a textbook, focused on the earliest involvement of Tennessee whiskey, Prohibition, the politics behind the spirit, and the beginning of the state's biggest brands.
"You can sort of start piecing things together," Hannush said. "Then you find stories that haven't been told that are even more interesting then the stories that you went in to initially research."
To learn more about the book and where you can get a copy, click here.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
