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A True Local Approach KENTUCKY BEER AND FOOD TAKE CENTER STAGE AT CRESCENT HILL CRAFT HOUSE
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BY ROGER A. BAYLOR | PHOTOS BY ANDY HYSLOP
I t re m a i n s a g o l d e n a g e fo r c ra f t b e e r i n America, but while artisanal brewing continues to grow and prosper on Kentucky soil, another satisfying libation retains the bulk of bragging rights in the Commonwealth. It’s Bourbon, and Bourbon is ascendant. With considerable justification, Kentuckians view their native spirit not merely as intoxicating, but as representative of a local art form belonging uniquely to them. Strictly speaking, Bourbon is a process and not an appellation, and can be produced anywhere in America. However, don’t expect a Kentuckian to accept this fact without an argument. Verily, a Bourbon aficionado residing in Kentucky probably is the most rigorous practitioner of localism in all of these United States: educated on a specific distillery’s venerable layout, its historic pot still, a par ticular limestone water source, gentle aging in oak (from which preferred cooper’s grove?) and the comprehensive guiding intelligence of a wily master distiller, all combining to create a topographic, geographic and mythic elixir like no other. Yet it is rightly said that Bourbon is a form of distilled beer without the hops, and surely craft beer’s explosive Kentucky growth with hops is intriguingly comparable with Bourbon’s, but significantly, not always its acceptance as a manifestation of localism. It is depressingly common for Louisville-area craft beer enthusiasts to openly eschew locally brewed beers, reserving their fevered approbation for new and different beers coming into Kentucky and Indiana from far, far away. As such, 20 Summer 2015 www.foodanddine.com
Craft House’s Pat Hagan