Basab Majumdar AMERICAN STILL LIFE The Jim Beam Story and the Making of the World's #1 Bourbon By F. Paul Pacult John Wiley & Sons Pages: 207; price: $24.95

ABRAHAM Lincoln, arguably America's most famous president, grew up in Knob Creek, Kentucky, where his father was a bourbon distiller. Later in life when his political career was still in its infancy, Lincoln applied for and received a state licence to sell liquor and he usually sold bourbon whisky in his taverns. In fact, even today, the 'Knob Creek' brand is the oldest bourbon whisky that one can buy. It is perhaps not surprising that the paths of Kentucky's two most famous icons should cross because the story of bourbon is intricately woven into the patterns of America's relatively short but tumultuous history.

The saga of America's most famous amber fluid is beautifully recounted by F. Paul Pacult in American Still Life, an engrossing tale in which Forrest Gump meets Roots. Pacult straddles a sweeping canvas in narrating the story of the Beam family, encompassing nearly every significant event that occurred in the 200 years of America's existence. For many of us raised on the notion that premium whisky essentially distils only in ye olde highlands of bonnie Scotland, the story of bourbon makes educative reading.

Bourbon takes its name from Bourbon county in Kentucky, where Jacob Beam's ancestors arrived with the Pilgrim Fathers. Even today, 90% of all bourbon is made in Kentucky. As with French appellation wines, there are strict laws governing just what a bourbon must be to be labelled as such. At least 51% of the grain must be corn and must be aged for a minimum of two years in new, white oak barrels that have been charred.

Bourbon is essentially a family business, where one Beam generation to another, one master distiller to apprentice, passed on the intricate skill of brewing. But it wasn't all smooth sailing. As early as 1790, George Washington's debt-ridden government passed a national tax on distilled spirits that threatened to cripple the fledgling industry. Farmer-distillers across the western states rose in revolt and Washington, realising the potential of the business, dealt with the rebellion with statesmanlike foresight and calm. The excise was gradually reduced and abolished by 1802 when Washington was enjoying happy retirement, as Pacult observes, as a "gentleman farmer and a country distiller"!

Bourbon whisky and the Beam family never faced another serious threat till the American Civil War. However, this is not to suggest that Pacult's recounting of the Beam tale in the 1800s is not interesting. On the contrary, the Beam story is often incidental to a fascinating perspective on middle American social history of the times - the Protestant ethic, the marriage customs, the mores of social interaction and, most importantly, the innate spirit of enterprise that was to be the engine for America's astounding march to economic prosperity. That was to be overtaken by the Civil War.

Between 1861 and 1865, the issue of slavery tore America asunder. By the time Lincoln's armies had forced General Lee's surrender at Gettysburg, the war had taken its toll with families ripped apart and destruction of countless farms and factories.

While the Beam family business survived, spiralling excise duties resulted in new threats: the rise of illegal distillers. At this juncture David Beam took two steps that were to eventually catapult his brand to national supremacy and eventual international success. First, he took distilling to new territories up the fertile Mississippi basin, where corn was aplenty and the economy still virgin. He also started grooming his third son, James Beauregard, to take over the family business.

The impact of the latter is best described in Pacult's words: "James Beauregard was said to wince anytime someone called him James or JB or worst of all, Jim Beau. He liked to keep things simple and straightforward. He made it known that he liked to be called Jim. Just Jim Beam... little did he know how far that name would carry him and his family's whiskey enterprise."

Jim Beam not only lent his name to what was to become a world famous brand, he also reorganised and grew the business. It is also in Jim Beam's time, that the distilling business faced its greatest threat, the prohibition laws. This episode contains many a lesson, especially for India, where political expediency and a false sense of moral rectitude has driven many states to adopt similar measures. The tragic fallouts, not just the economic but also the human cost of bootlegging are well documented by Pacult. Echoes of these can be seen in our frequent and all too fatal 'hooch' tragedies arising from illicit liquor consumption.

Basab Majumdar is with HSBC, Mumbai.

The end of World War II ushered in the era of Pax Americana, especially in Europe. With the New World firmly out of isolationism and the Marshall Plan at the vanguard of European economic revival, it was time for Beam also to launch itself as a global brand. The author seamlessly links the changing course of history to the shifting story of Beam's bourbon.

Small vignettes add to the wonderful mosaic of the book. There are sidebars at the end of every chapter enumerating significant events that occurred in the time-span that chapter straddles. These are varied from political, sporting and literary events and often serves like the soundtrack of Forrest Gump, providing a definitive socio-historic perspective to the bourbon story. There is also an appendix that lists the author's personal tasting notes on various bourbon offerings, which are guaranteed to get your buds tingling.

Strongly recommended. The book, like a glass of old bourbon, is to be savoured.

Chatterjee, who teaches leadership at IIM-Lucknow, has a highly individualistic writing style. Light The Fire... is a fast read that uses real-life incidents, parables and anecdotes to convey its theme: everybody can be a leader, one just has to go on a journey of self-awareness. Since the message is a platitude, it's a good thing the writing itself isn't a jaded clone of countless other books.