Tales of the Bourbon King

For George Remus, the path from German immigrant to the bootleg king of the Jazz Age began humbly, as his near-destitute family first set foot in America. Within a decade, with the family disintegrating, young George -- barely a teenager -- took on the mantle as main breadwinner and support system. What initially seemed like the American dream of success via hard work and determination was planted in Remus. At the same time, howeve...

Millions of immigrants arrived in America in the late nineteenth century at Castle Gardens, the precursor to Ellis Island. While many people today might imagine Castle Garden as a safe haven after the arduous Atlantic crossing, there was a dark underbelly to the immigration story that opens us to the sordid history of the era.

It is 1882 – As waves of newcomers from Europe arrive on American shores, they are greeted not by ticker-...

Before there was a "Bourbon King," George Remus's family had to immigrate to the United States, just as countless millions had before them. In this episode, we will explore the journey of Carl Franz Remus and Marie Louise Karg, the parents of notorious bootlegger George Remus, as they came to America in June 1882.

Despite the challenges of the journey, Carl and Marie arrived in America with hope for a brighter future....

Bootleg King George Remus believed that the Eighteenth Amendment was an immoral law – against the will of the people. In Remus’s mind, any law that was corrupt could be broken…and break Prohibition he did…on a grand, gaudy scale.

What set the Bourbon King apart from other criminals, bootleggers, and crooks who were trying to make a killing off booze boils down to two words: “Kentucky Dew.”

Kentucky Dew was the name given to Kentu...

Prohibition has often been romanticized as a time of speakeasies and flappers, fun-filled nights dancing and partying without a care in the world. People get images of booze-filled parties and glamorous couples gathering poolside from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby or romantic notions of beautiful women with bobbed haircuts and blaring jazz music playing into the wee hours of the morning. It is called "The Roaring Twen...

George Remus was a lawyer turned criminal who became known as the “King of the Bootleggers” during Prohibition. He made hundreds of millions of dollars by exploiting loopholes in the Volstead Act, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States. Remus was not the only bootlegger during this era, but he was one of the most notorious and colorful figures of the age. A contemporary of New Yor...

The Jazz Age was ruled by notorious bootleg barons, none bigger than the “Bourbon King” George Remus. His larger-than-life tale brings the 1920s and Prohibition to life, an era filled with love, murder, political intrigue, mountains of cash, and rivers of bourbon!  

“Tales of the Bourbon King,” hosted by award-winning cultural historian and biographer Bob Batchelor (author of The Bourbon Kind: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, P...