Idiot Wind.

Look, everyone -- Mayor Greg Fischer is becoming famous for incompetence all over the world!

Bourbonism know longer means what you thought it did, but it raises an interesting point, because if Louisville becomes known for less savory conditions than an $8,000 bourbon flight at the new Churchill Downs steakhouse, and the mayor becomes a liability v.v. tourism, does he quit then?

Breonna Taylor killing: call for justice intensifies after months of frustration, by Josh Wood (The Guardian)

  ... Now, there are calls for Louisville’s mayor, Greg Fischer, to resign, amid anger over the city’s reaction to protesters, the failure to fire police officers and a feeling that it took Breonna Taylor becoming a household name to get the city to start taking things seriously.

In a speech on Thursday, Fischer said he was “incredibly frustrated with the slow pace of justice in Breonna’s case”. He also announced that in future officer-involved shootings in the city, the Kentucky state police would be tasked with investigating instead of the LMPD investigating itself.

“Why does it take influencers waging a social media campaign for the mayor to step up?” said Drake. “That’s ridiculous. That shouldn’t be the case. You’re the leader. The fish rots from the head. And as the leader you did not lead this city, you failed this city.”

For those protesting, things in Louisville have to change and justice has to be served.

“There is no back to normal because black people have never known normal in Louisville,” said (Hannah) Drake.

19th-century "bourbonism" mutation suggests it's time for Greg Fischer to resign.

Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.
-- Arthur Erickson

Did you know that "bourbonism" predates the term's recent use as an admittedly pleasant form of gastro/alco-tourism?

Wiki insight of the evening: "Bourbonism can be any extreme form of political conservatism; (in politics) Bourbonism may refer to Bourbon Democrat (1876–1904), a conservative or classical liberal member of the U.S. Democratic Party; initially used as a pejorative."

As it still is with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who has blithely restored the earlier "pejorative" meaning of bourbonism with his handling of protests in Louisville.

The more things change, the more they stay exactly the same -- and, it's time for Greg Fischer to resign.

While we're waiting, can any of you Kool Aid-chugging political partisans out there explain to me how police militarism advocated by Democrats AND Republicans is changing the hearts and minds of those like me who reject the two-party system?

A tale of two binders: Bourbons Bistro and Rich O's Public House.

During the course of chatting with owners and crew at Bourbons Bistro for a forthcoming profile at Food & Dining Magazine, I asked to see the legendary bourbon binder. It dates back to the establishment's founding in 2005 and is filled with tasting notes compiled at the time (and perhaps since) by Michael Veach.

Of course this reminded me of the then-Rich O's Public House binders from the long-lost period of 1997-1998. 

Jason Brauner mentioned that few customers ask to view the binder these days, and speaking for myself, twenty years ago at the Public House publications like this proved impossible to keep updated, so I quit trying.

Perhaps the modern world has made these relics obsolete. If so, something has been lost.

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Bibulous bourbonism.

It would take a lifetime for a single person to drink his or her way through the inventory at a moderate-sized package store, much less one the size of Liquor Barn -- and speaking only for myself, I'm not quite that bibulous any longer.

The adjective bibulous describes something that is highly absorbent, like a towel or sponge that soaks up liquid well. A bibulous person, however, is someone who likes to drink alcohol.

Bibulous, pronounced "BIB-you-luhs," comes from the Latin word bibere, which means "to drink." You may recognize this root in the verb imbibe, which often means "to consume alcohol." As it applies to people, bibulous means "likes to drink alcohol." So don't make the mistake of using it to describe someone who seems to soak up information or understand complicated ideas quickly.

Rather, let's consider the new usage of an old word, as it now describes one option for the bibulous.

Bourbonism is a word combining Bourbon Whisky and Tourism: "Bourbonism: The blending of bourbon and tourism. The act of visiting Louisville and Kentucky to experience the bourbon culture."

Yesterday was the "soft" debut of Rabbit Hole Distillery in NuLu, and Insider Louisville's Sara Havens was there.

Behold the Rabbit Hole Distillery, where modern meets tradition

Rabbit Hole Distillery, the first of three bourbon experiences to open this year in Louisville, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and first-look tour Tuesday morning for staff, industry representatives, city officials, business people and media.

Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, attended the event.

“The concept, the style with which this project was envisioned and completed and to where it’s going to go is something that puts a big smile on my face when I think about the future of our city,” said Fischer. “What’s so neat about bourbonism is we can go into beautiful, adaptive re-use buildings or have tremendous modern architecture jewels like this, but they all say the same thing: Welcome, come in, experience the best of what we have to offer.”

Correlation does not imply causation, but the use of the word "bourbonism" to describe bourbon whiskey-related tourism seems to have arisen within the past decade, corresponding with Fischer's two terms as mayor.

Consequently, it's deliciously ironic that there's an older (and also distinctly American) usage of "bourbonism" in the political realm.

Although the terms “Bourbon Democrat” and “Bourbonism” appear frequently in historical works, they are perhaps the most imprecisely used terms in southern politics. Emerging in the United States after the Civil War, the term came to define the most reactionary wing of the Democratic Party and the era in which they reigned.