Cooking With Fire

Summer is officially here. With temperatures in the 90s we’re spending more and more time at the pool with our kids, and the smoke is rolling off of the patio for long portions of the weekend as we grill, smoke, and roast our meals over live fires. But soon enough a different kind of smoke will be floating overhead as my neighborhood fills with kids shooting off fireworks and running around throwing firecrackers at squirrels, and, invariably, each other. And to be clear, I love both kinds of smoke. In fact, the Fourth of July is arguably my favorite holiday. I love cooking food for large crowds and shooting off fireworks to entertain the family, but most of all I love to celebrate our country's history with a glass of our national spirit: bourbon. In 1964 Congress made a ruling on bourbon, dictating not only which products could be labeled as such, but most importantly that it was a distinct product of the United States. But this was not the first ruling on spirits Congress had made.