ARUN RATH, HOST:
Even though it can trace its name back to French royalty, American bourbon isn't usually thought of as fancy stuff. But times have changed and bourbon is booming thanks to the popularity of small craft brands and new markets in Asia. It's been great for Kentucky - 95 percent of the world's bourbon comes from the state. And aspiring distillers are going to Louisville to learn the trade at a place called Moonshine University. Rick Howlett of member station WFPL paid a visit.
RICK HOWLETT: Bartender Joy Perrine pours a glass of Russell Reserve for a customer at Jack's Lounge in Louisville.
JOY PERRINE: We have some wonderful bourbon cocktails we also offer. We offer flights, you know, we offer just tastes. If you just want to taste one bourbon, you know, we can do that, too.
HOWLETT: Perrine is pouring a lot of bourbon these days. And the drinks popularity is luring entrepreneurs who want a piece of the surging market. Across town, on a recent afternoon, about 30 students gather in a classroom with five whiskey barrels on the floor and dozens of liquor bottles on shelves. In the next room, there's a working still. These students are learning how to make bourbon, which has specific requirements for ingredients, aging and alcohol content. The school, which calls itself of Moonshine University, charges students about $6,000 each for a five-day course. Some of the top experts in the industry are on the faculty. Moonshine U was started by Dave Dafoe, who owns a beverage development company called Flavorman.
DAVE DAFOE: And we get people to actually do things. I mean, we have people milling grain and, you know, pouring the grain into the cooker, you know, and taking measurements and doing those kinds of things because there's really no better way to learn than to actually do it.
HOWLETT: Dafoe says in order to conduct the classes he has to follow strict federal rules to keep the moonshining legal.
DAFOE: So everything we make, after we, you know, let the students taste it and make it and, you know, learn from it and check the proof and, you know, all the kinds of things we do in the class, we actually dump it down the drain.
HOWLETT: One of the students is 30-year-old Tim Penney of Denver, who wants to open a distillery with a business partner in Austin, Texas.
TIM PENNEY: We kind of see it happen - or saw it happen in the last - I don't know, maybe five, 10 years with craft breweries, and we felt the next kind of step is, you know, craft whiskeys.
HOWLETT: There's been an influx of new bourbon makers in Kentucky over the past few years. Just down the street from Moonshine U., a new distillery with an old name has just begun production.
CORKY TAYLOR: I'd like to welcome everybody to the grand opening of Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company.
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HOWLETT: Kentucky Peerless is a long-dormant brand brought back to life along Louisville's waterfront by Corky Taylor, whose great-grandfather founded the original business.
TAYLOR: This is the first time at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company's been open in 98 years.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: One more, we're happy to be here (takes photograph) yeah.
HOWLETT: At Moonshine University, Tim Penney and his classmates gather for a group photo as they prepare to take their new distilling skills into the marketplace.
PENNEY: This is pretty cool. It's been a - it's been a fun experience. It's - I feel like we came into the right place to really learn about it.
HOWLETT: Penney and his business partner are kicking around some possible brand names for their Texas whiskeys. They'll draw on Penney's training in Kentucky, where bourbon production is up 150 percent since 1999 and distillers are expected to fill some 1 million barrels this year. For NPR News, I'm Rick Howlett in Louisville. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
