Bourbon, beer and rum
On her Eisenhower Fellowship, Imani Duncan-Price will be travelling to 10 cities in the United States to learn different approaches to developing thriving industries/clusters in music, sports, and entertainment tourism in Jamaica. As she visits these cities – Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Nashville, Louisville (Kentucky), Indianapolis, San Francisco, Colorado Springs, Sedona (Arizona), Bentonville (Arkansas), New York City – Imani will share with you, through The Gleaner, what she has learned.
APPLYING THE principle of focusing on what you are good at and where you are unique, drives Kentucky with the Bourbon Cluster.
Bourbon is a type of whiskey based on a minimum of 51 per cent corn (which Kentucky grows in abundance). Limestone, their surface rock, rids iron from their natural source of water, giving the bourbon a beautiful colour. To be called bourbon, it must be matured in new charred or toasted oak barrels.
While visiting Brown-Forman, one of the largest distilleries in Kentucky, I watched the beautiful creation and toasting of barrels. It intrigued and saddened me that they were automating part of the process to enable a better fit with the pieces of wood for each barrel, driving faster build and less wood waste. Oftentimes, technology improves productivity at the cost of jobs. However, the overall strength of the cluster will likely offset those job losses.
‘Imagine a ‘Sprits of Jamaica Trail’ with different types of rum and beer in a similar way. Easy to do; it just takes creativity and coordination.’