BRIDGEPORT — Drink up and learn something.
Maria's Community Bar is playing host to a whiskey history class presented by one of the country's up-and-coming whiskey purveyors from 7-9 p.m. Monday at the bar, 960 W. 31st St.
The "American Whiskey History and Modern Bourbon Marketing" class walks students through the history of American whiskey "from pre-Revolutionary War to Prohibition."
Participants will also learn the right way to read a bourbon label, some facts about the nation's biggest distillers and a crash course in bourbon marketing.
Casey Cora explains what exactly you might learn while drinking a little whiskey:
The session is hosted by Matthew Landan, founder of Haymarket Whiskey Bar in Louisville, Kentucky, a bar that boasts an impressive selection of about 200 whiskeys and 100 bourbons, earning it laurels from several spirit-themed publications.
(For perspective, Maria's, no slouch in the cocktail department, carries about 80 whiskeys, a mix of bourbon, American whiskey and rye.)
Landan, the teacher for the session, has an illustrious backstory.
A self-professed "Dead Head" with more than 100 Grateful Dead shows under his belt, he's worked as a reporter for an Italian daily newspaper and a translator for a tech company before taking PR gigs in Germany.
He later worked as a vendor at Wrigley Field before landing in Louisville and opening a funky artisan coffee bar, which later transformed into the bourbon bar.
Monday's event is free and reservations aren't required.
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