Mother of Bourbon

The Greatest American Whiskey Story Never Told

By: Eric Goodman, Kaveh Zamanian - contributor

Narrated by: Angela Juarez

Born in 1859 to Irish immigrants, Mary Dowling arrived at the height of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic fervor in America. The hardscrabble life her family led provided the foundation of grit and determination that would serve her well. She married the enterprising John Dowling. He offered her oversight of their burgeoning bourbon company's financial books and sought her insight as they grew from distillery investors to sole proprietors of Waterfill and Frazier.

Mary's first trials arrive in a series of tragedies that leave her widowed and with a business no one wants to support. Steering the lives of her eight children, she bucks up against a male-dominated bank and distributor that drop her to align herself with progressive partners. She scales to ever higher heights, becoming an influential member of Lawrenceburg society while achieving immense wealth. When Prohibition arrives with its animosity toward immigrants and Catholics, Mary is forced into semi-retirement—until the federal government comes after her on charges of bootlegging. Only then does she bite back, determining that if she is going to be treated like a criminal, she will behave like one.

Mother of Bourbon is the story of a pioneering and visionary woman who achieved success in a system designed to suppress her, and against a government that strived to repress her.

©2025 Mary Dowling Company, LLC (P)2025 Tantor Media

A Tribute to Women- skill, determination, strength and tenacity

Mother of Bourbon is a remarkable, well researched and told story about Mary Dowling. It chronicles not only her story but many of the major historical and cultural events that influenced her life and times. It doesn’t whitewash the prejudices and injustices that she and others encountered and survived. I’m betting there could be hundreds more stories told of remarkable women who persevered the burdens of prejudice against the abilities of women to do more than bear children and run households. Like Mary, they did that and so much more. I hope the authors will pursue many of those stories including those of women of color. Mother of Bourbon is a marvelous example of historical fiction. It is intriguing and easy to read or listen to. And I learned a lot!

A disappointing listen

I was expecting an entertaining and informative book about prohibition and whiskey making. It's a novel that focuses more on an Irish Catholic mother who takes over her late husband's enterprises, than on the whiskey making itself. It's very loosely based on a real figure in history, but many of the facts are inaccurate and poorly researched. The story is lacking and the characters are poorly developed. The narrator's delivery doesn't help the listen. If you want a more informative historical fiction book about alcohol, I would recommend The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo or The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius by Bob Batchelor.