Since we were staying in our motorhome for this trip, and the other couple traveling with us was staying in a travel trailer, we were able to ride along with them in their comfy 4-door pick up for our daily touring. It was sooo nice to not have the big house-on-wheels (we still haven't named it - suggestions welcome) to worry about driving around. Thanks to Christopher and Stefanie for their superb chauffeur services!
So for our second day, we began by driving (and driving, and driving), on mostly unmarked, narrow roads through a beautiful Western Kentucky countryside to the Maker's Mark Distillery. For us, this was the holy grail of distilleries because Maker's has always been my husband's favorite. I haven't mentioned this yet, but we were touring in late July . . . . in Kentucky . . . which means it was H.O.T. and H.U.M.I.D. We got an early start for the Maker's Mark tour because we knew it would be a little bit of a drive, and it was a more complete facility tour, not just a tasting, so there would be a bit of walking and we didn't want to be walking through a hot factory at midday. The morning tour seemed a bit less crowded compared to later tours we saw as we were leaving, so good planning on the men's part for making us start here early.
The Maker's tour guide was really cool and fun. He was a teacher and worked as a tour guide in the summer, so maybe that's why we liked him immediately. I can't recall his name, but maybe if Ken, Stefanie, or Christopher remembers it, I'll update it here. Anyway, he did a great job showing us around the distillery starting with the mash vats and explaining the different stages, how the yeast was added to the corn and wheat mash and then aged and fermented before sending it to the still to process out the alcohol. We were able to stick our fingers in the different vats to taste the mash at different stages, which was interesting, but kind of gross too. After learning about the fermenting and distilling process, they showed us the Maker's Mark White, or pure alcohol that comes out of the still before it's barreled and aged. Maker's White is for sale in the gift shop - essentially it's a high grade moon shine, so we purchased some to auction off at our family reunion (we bought it for $42.95 and it sold at auction for $100!) Once we were through the distilling process, we went to bottling and saw the workers on the line dipping bottles of Maker's 46. We also saw the small printshop which still makes all of the Maker's Mark bottle labels. The label design is an interesting story - which also shows the role that the founder's wife played in this company. She was instrumental in almost every phase of the making of this bourbon - from selecting the location of the distillery, to designing the logo, and handwriting the labels herself. The label today is still the original logo and label that she wrote by hand.
The Maker's Mark grounds are immaculate and beautiful with gardens and gorgeous detailing on all of the exterior buildings. It was a very peaceful place to walk around. In the tasting room, we were able to taste Maker's White, Marker's Mark, Maker's 46, and a Keeneland Racecourse Private Select recipe (which is a secret recipe bourbon only available for sale at the Keeneland thoroughbred racecourse - cool!) We learned about the different barrel char levels here, and that bourbon can only be aged in brand new, pure white oak barrels. Used barrels are then sold to other distilling industries for use in aging wines and other spirits. After the tasting, we hit up the gift shop to purchase some gifts. In addition to the Maker's White, we purchased a bottle of Maker's Mint Julep for my boss, Ken's bottle of Maker's that he dipped himself, a Christmas ornament, a glass, and a wall sign for either the basement bar or the motorhome (right now it's currently still sitting in the dining room).
Here's an Amazon link to the glass we purchased - we've just become Amazon Associates, so if you'd like to help support our site and keep it going (it's free and costs you nothing!) anytime you buy something on Amazon, you can click through our Amazon link and we get a few cents from your click!
After Maker's Mark, we headed back to our campground for a quick lunch - then on to our second tour - here's the map!
Our second tour of the day was the Jim Beam Distillery. This was a much larger facility than we had seen previously, as it is the world's largest bourbon distillery. The tour was of a small batch distillery and bottling area, where Christopher and Ken were able to process their own personal bottles of Knob Creek Single Barrel Bourbon from sanitation, to bottling, to sealing with wax and imprinting their own fingerprints in the wax.
As with some of the other distilleries, we were able to tour one of the rickhouses where barrels are stored up to 7 stories high and up to 50,000 barrels per building. At Jim Beam, we were able to see the lid to their 13 MILLIONTH barrel as well as the Mila Kunis "Devil's Cut" barrel. At Jim Beam's cool, high-tech, self-serve tasting room, we tasted Basil Hayden, Jim Beam Black Label, Baker's, Knob Creek Single Barrel, and Jim Beam's Apple Whiskey. Since it was self-serve, some of the others tried some different things, but these selections are what Ken and I shared and tasted. Of course, we purchased Ken's Knob Creek Single Barrel that he processed himself.
After the Jim Beam tour, we went back to the campground and grilled steaks and baked potatoes for dinner. Afterwards, we enjoyed some of our spirits and played a hilarious round of Cards Against Humanity.
