Trip to Kentucky - The Bourbon Trail (Makers Mark!)

 Ok I really love bourbon, in case you are living in a hole and did not already know that. My all time favorite bourbon is Maker's Mark. I'm actually a lifetime Ambassador, which I signed up for in 2014. You get your name on a plaque on a barrel and when your barrel matures, you can go and bottle the bourbon from your barrel! And THEN you can hand dip your very own bottle in the famous red wax!

But. My barrel matured in the summer of 2020. Wah wah wah. So, to say the least, I did not fly to Kentucky to visit Makers Mark back then. In fact, they weren't even open for tours or visitors, obviously.

So fast forward to today, and here we are!

We were up early to head over to Makers Mark for a 9:30 tour. I did NOT get a picture of the French toast with a bourbon caramel swirl that I had at the Old Talbott Tavern where we had free breakfast - it was TO. DIE. FOR. I'm pretty sure I inhaled it, so I did not get a chance to take a picture!

I still could NOT believe I was here!

There has been a distillery on this property since 1805 (although it's only been known as the Maker's Mark distillery since the Samuels family bought it in 1953.)

They have a lot of beautiful hydrangea on the property.

I FINALLY GOT MY GOLDEN TICKET!

Not only did I get my Golden Ticket, but they gave me a cool Ambassador pin and a nametag. Maker's Mark REALLY makes your day and tour so special.

We waited around in the very cold lobby of Maker's Mark where they feature some different types of art work, including that huge Chihuly glass chandelier. 

And they do NOT waste any time getting you that first pour! Our guide Chris introduced himself and bam... he had a bottle in his hand!

We visited a lot of distilleries in the few days that we were in Kentucky and I don't know if any were as beautiful as the Maker's Mark property.

Look at that huge Chihuly piece in the distance!

Me and Todd, ready to go into the building where they actually distill Maker's Mark bourbon!

Whoa. Is this heaven?

Chris gave us a little White Dog, which he told us went by many other names, such as white lightning, white whiskey, hooch, and our personal favorite, corn squeezin's. White dog is just an unaged bourbon - so that's "bourbon" before it goes into the barrel. Many people also know this as moonshine! This was 130 proof and you could definitely tell.

Makers Mark does their mashing and fermentation in cypress barrels - but not the barreling itself, which is done in new white American Oak charred barrels. They were not fermenting/distilling at this point in the summer because of the heat and so they can do maintenance and repairs on the equipment. A large operation like Maker's Mark can do this because they have enough production throughout the rest of the year to make up for the summer pause.

They have the most beautiful stained glass in the Maker's Mark distillery! The star symbol is for "Star Hill Farms" which is the property that this distillery sits on. The S is for "Samuels" - the family name of the Maker's Mark brand. The IV is for Bill Samuels, the founder of Maker's Mark, who was a 4th gen bourbon maker.  Turns out he's actually 6th generation but eh, what are you gonna do at this point? We're not changing the logo! And interestingly, the three breaks in the red circle around the S-IV indicate three dark times in American history. The Civil War, World War I and of course, prohibition.

The signs at Maker's Mark were very hilarious!

This section of the Maker's Mark property is pretty close to the floodplain on the maps. But they said they didn't flood in the recent bad floods earlier this year in Kentucky. They did have to close, however, because the road into the property flooded.

The buildings at Maker's Mark were so beautiful.

We even got to visit the room where they cut all of the famous labels that they put on the bottles. Can you believe there's just one lady in here doing this?

This building also exhibited some of the unique bottle labels that have been printed over the years.

I imagine on a nice summer evening, they're selling Maker's Mark drinks out of that little stand. Also, I kind of want one of those.

In areas where they weren't displaying the beautiful Chihuly pieces, the grounds are just so beautifully decorated in a Maker's Mark theme. I can't tell if this was a BBQ smoker or one of those wheeled bingo cages!

Our next stop on the tour was the rickhouse. Most of the Maker's Mark rickhouses are off site over in Loretto, Kentucky (we passed them on the way here), but they do have one on site warehouse where we could see the barrels and hear about the barreling process. 

Chihuly! What!? This is insanely beautiful! This artwork was literally everywhere, even in the rickhouse!

Maker's Mark goes into the cask at 107 to 113 proof. When barreled, bourbon must go into a brand new, charred, white American oak barrel. Otherwise, it's not a bourbon.  Maker's Mark uses level 3 charred barrels which equates to about 42-44 seconds of flames to reach this level of char.  I think one of the most interesting things that we learned at Maker's Mark, which really separates them from a lot of the other bourbons is that they rotate their barrels to ensure a consistent product across all of the barrels. Some barrels sit up high, where they might be affected by the heat. In the winter, if the barrels are by the windows, they might be affected by the cold. Maker's Mark rotates these barrels so that no individual barrel is affected by a certain element during it's 6-7 years in the rickhouse.

Chihuly's art was really incredible. Everyone on our tour was OBVIOUSLY there for Maker's Mark bourbon, since we were all Ambassadors. But every time we came across some of this beautiful glass work, we stopped to take pictures.

In SOME cases, the regular Maker's Mark bourbon spends it's usual 6-7 years in the barrel, and then is transferred to a barrel that contains 10 French Oak wood staves (literally, in the barrel with the Maker's).  It spends 9 weeks there, and voila! You have Maker's 46, another one of the popular Maker's Mark bourbons.

The room where the Maker's Mark specialty casks were stored ALSO had a stunning Chihuly display!  The limited release private selection bourbon is stored in barrels in this REALLY cold room. It was such a relief on this brutally hot day.

They do some private parties in this room and now I've decided I need this on my wall in my house.

Our last real stop of the day was the bottling facility and it was MWAH! Chef's Kiss! And if anyone is looking for any Christmas gift ideas for me... this stained glass is one of them!

Margie Samuels is the GOAT of bourbon marketing. First - she was born into bourbon. Her family owned the Mattingly and Moore distillery (which is now the Barton's 1792 brand). All of the parts of the Maker's Mark brand that you know and love were thanks to Margie. The red wax seal? Margie. The shape of the bottle? Margie. The labeling and font? Margie. Even the name "Maker's Mark" was Margie's idea. What you don't see here is Margie's extensive pewter collection, which is just to the left of this picture. Pewter always had the mark of the craftsman engraved on it - the "Maker's Mark" - and she brought that idea over to my favorite bourbon.  Margie is also the one who thought up the idea of allowing bourbon lovers to tour the property! She was a hip, hip, hip lady, man. Bonus points if you can name that move.

Here's a little known fact: Bill Sr. and Margie lived next door to Jim and Mary Beam. Jim Beam was Bill Samuels, Jr's godfather!

I think I almost cried in this room. The bottling! Look at that nearly naked bottle, being filled with delicious Maker's Mark bourbon!

All the magic happens right here in this room!

Filling the long neck bottles up. Margie also thought up this idea- she liked the long necked Cognac bottles, so she convinced Bill IV to make his bottle with this likeness.

You probably don't even know that the little cap underneath that wax is red, too. I actually didn't know that myself!

Look! They've been capped! But they're not done yet...

These folks have NO IDEA how envious I am of this job. To me, they are the luckiest humans on the planet. Note to self: I'm applying for this job when I retire. They get to HAND DIP each bottle of Maker's Mark in the famous red wax.

And they've got it down to a science! Well, mostly. Look at his shoes and the whole floor below them. When I get a bottle that's a bit overdosed in red wax, I'm going to think of these lovely people!

Am I right? Bourbon brings us all together. However, I prefer my wax a bit on the liberal side.

The marketing crew at Maker's Mark is just amazing. 

As you leave the room, you find people boxing up the bottles at the speed of light. 

I've said it before but the Maker's Mark property is just so gorgeous. The buildings themselves here- and at other distilleries - are black because there is a black fungus called Baudoinia compniacensis that covers everything since it feeds on the Angel's Share. Aka: the ethanol that is slowly released from the barrels over time due to expansion and contraction of the barrels - it's only about 2% of the bourbon, but enough to make this crazy fungus. Everyone kept telling us that it was totally harmless but eh? That seems kind of weird.

We had one last tasting here (a cask strength) under this beautiful ceiling! What a tour!

And now, of course, I'm about to spend a few dollars in this gift shop. I'm not really a souvenir kind of person (I do collect shot glasses and a magnet, usually a small token of my travels). But this? I need to spend some money here!

And here they are. They aren't from MY barrel. But they're from A barrel. And we get to hand dip them. 

HERE I GO! There is an art to this! You dip down, then you swirl it as you bring it back up. The wax is hot, hence the gear I have on here. I got some on my glove, so I was glad we had them!

Todd handed me my second bottle and he said, "Here you go, dip your second bottle!" And I said, "No, silly. I got that one for you to dip!" Here he is showing off how ridiculously handsome he looks in full Maker's Mark dipping gear.

EVEN THE BATHROOM HAS FUNNY SIGNS! Also. Please wash your hands.

After we dropped some cash at the Maker's Mark gift shop, I just wasn't ready to go. We had plans to head up to Bardstown (another bourbon I really like!) for lunch, but I just couldn't pull myself away. So we walked over Whisky Creek and headed up to the visitor's center to the bar for some drinks and a sandwich. 

But first... one more stop at the Quart House!  The Quart House is the oldest standing retail package whiskey store in America from 1889 - superlative, check!

As Chris called it, this is the original brew through! The brick walkway we had been walking on when we passed the Quart House had originally been a road back in the 1800s. People could pull their horse and carriage up here and fill up their quart sized bottles from the distillery that was here on the premises.

I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted to have my favorite drink at my favorite bourbon distillery. So I ordered a Maker's and Diet and Todd and I sat down and chatted with a nice couple from Vincennes, Indiana which is north of Evansville.

Todd had a delicious drink called the Rackhouse Crusta. It had in it: Maker's Mark 46 cask strength bourbon with cognac, Violette, Orange, Lime and Toasted Almond! That all makes it a weird color but it was really delicious!

We went outside to pet the Maker's Mark cat, Whisky Jean, but she isn't a cat who loves to be pet, so I just sat down and enjoyed my last few minutes here at MM.

Todd, take all of my things to the car, please! 

This was one of the greatest days of my life. And at this point, it was only half over! Until we meet again, Maker's Mark! I will definitely be back!