Mother of Bourbon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mother of Bourbon: The Greatest American Whiskey Story Never Told by Eric Goodman and Kaveh Zamanian


G👀dreads About Summary

Born in 1859 to Irish immigrants, Mary Dowling arrived at the height of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic fervor in America. The hardscrabble life her family led provided the foundation of grit and determination that would serve her well. She married the enterprising John Dowling. He offered her oversight of their burgeoning bourbon company's financial books and sought her insight as they grew from distillery investors to sole proprietors of Waterfill and Frazier.

Mary's first trials arrive in a series of tragedies that leave her widowed and with a business no one wants to support. Steering the lives of her eight children, she bucks up against a male-dominated bank and distributor that drop her to align herself with progressive partners. She scales to ever higher heights, becoming an influential member of Lawrenceburg society while achieving immense wealth. When Prohibition arrives with its animosity toward immigrants and Catholics, Mary is forced into semi-retirement—until the federal government comes after her on charges of bootlegging. Only then does she bite back, determining that if she is going to be treated like a criminal, she will behave like one.

Mother of Bourbon is the story of a pioneering and visionary woman who achieved success in a system designed to suppress her, and against a government that strived to repress her.

Genre: Historical Fiction

The How/Why: Since I just read about whiskey, now I guess I need to read about bourbon... Because ALL BOURBON IS WHISKEY, BUT NOT ALL WHISKEY IS BOURBON!

Blame it on algorithms. I just (ish) finished Rumors & Whiskey (review >>>here) so it must think I'm in my Bourbon/Whiskey era! Plus they (those they people) know how much I like Historical Fiction. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes ➕

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖ Not necessary

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Yes ➕

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? None but Google mentions harsh historical realities such as Dïscrïmïinatï0n, Sɇxism, MiŞoǥyny

🌶 Spice? No, but on her wedding night 15 year old vïrgïn bride's take when the deed was done: "this can't be right"! 

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Good

💻 Tidbits ~ Oh what a life! Mary was the oldest daughter of 10. At 15 years old she became the wife of John Dowling at her parents insistence. He was more than twice her age. 
He was financially established and was in the Kentucky whiskey trade. When he asked her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage they saw it as a financial opportunity. 
John quickly discovered Mary's intelligence and brought her into his business operations. 

Mary was 44 when John suffered a stroke and died shortly thereafter, leaving her with eight children (4-27) and a business to run. Women didn't run business in 1903 so she was faced with a lot of resistance. She was completely capable and rebelled against the male-dominated whiskey elite with no apologies. She was a spunky one full of tenacity and gumption. 

She faced legal battles with federal agents during prohibition. She moved her distillery operations to Juarez Mexico to continue distilling bourbon. There she was respectfully dubbed Madre del Bourbon (Mother of Bourbon) by the local people she employed and trained into her business. 

After a lifetime of tragedy and triumphs she died in 1930 at the age of 71 from a severe kidney infection. Prohibition was repealed three years later. 

This book is historical fiction but reads like a biography. In the author's notes he says they labeled it HF because they have no actual words or journals of Mary Dowling's. The family members and court cases are strictly factual. They used census logs, newspaper accounts, court documents, and family antidotes from direct decedents. 

This is a fascinating story even if you don't know anything about bourbon or if you don't know if you like your whiskey neat, sweet, or forward. (Beverage preferences not discussed in the book.)

🎧 Narrator: Angela Juarez - adorable. At first I thought she was a little old lady. She's so not a little old lady according to her IG. Speaking of her IG, she also narrated a book Midlife Private Parts: Revealing Essays that Will Change the Way You Think About Age by Dina Alvarez and Dina Aronson. It's added to my TBR so when the time comes maybe I'll remember where I found it now that I wrote it out! 

🎧10.35 hours 🕮 312 pages

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