"American Still Life" erz�hlt die Geschichte eines Familienunternehmens mit einer 200-j�hrigen Tradition: Jim Beam. Dieses Unternehmen hat es verstanden, den Herausforderungen der Zeit zu begegnen und sich st�ndig neu anzupassen - sei es an �ffentliche Regulierung, an die geschmacklichen Vorlieben seiner Kunden oder an die harte internationale Konkurrenz. Ausf�hrlich er�rtert werden auch Fragen zu Marketing und Markenbildung, Innovation, globaler Pr�senz und Wettbewerb, �ffentlicher Regulierung, Werbung und Akquisition. Jim Beam ist mit sagenhaften 5,1 Millionen Kisten weltweit der meist verkaufte Bourbon.
An interesting book for anybody who loves Kentucky bourbon. Though, even after reading it, I don't understand the success of Jim Beam. It's simply bad whisky. Compared to literally any other Kentucky bourbon, Jim Beam Original is the poorer choice. It boasts the quality of Old Crow but at two and a half times more money. A fifth of Evan Williams is priced ten dollars less than Beam and is a vastly superior bourbon.
Of course, the authors of the book aren't going to be honest and say how lousy their whisky is. Instead, they wax poetic about the quality and skill involved in creating such a fine, unparalleled whisky. (The authors are descendants of Mr Beam). The real missed opportunity here is the story of how their family has managed to not only sell a skunk-bad bourbon, but to make the Jim Beam name positively recognizable and desirable in the process. Nothing short of marketing genius.
This book provides a history of bourbon-making in America along with some of the variations I'd whiskey distilled in areas around what used to be Bourbon county in Kentucky (which covered a much larger section of Kentucky than present Bourbon county). It also included a rather extensive genealogy of the Beam family.
Overall, the book was mildly interesting...but seemed too "text bookish" for my tastes. There were occasional bourbon-related anecdotes, but no where near enough to satisfy someone with a decent understanding of bourbon,