On our way back to Bowling Green from the Color Run, we made a stop at Maker's Mark Distillery (the boys went to Nana and Pop's house the day before). It's one of many distilleries on The Bourbon Trail. We hope to visit all 8 distilleries on the trail. Now 7 to go.
Here's a look at Maker's Mark...
The Whiskey Creek Bridge
The Quart House
This is one of the oldest surviving liquor sales buildings in the country (circa 1808).
The Still House
Tubs of Sour Mash
There are eight 9,600 gallon Cyprus tubs from which all Maker's Mark is produced. The Mash ferments here for three days. We could dip our finger in the tubs and taste the difference from one day old to three day old Mash (Yes, many fingers have been in your Maker's).
Maker's is double distilled, first in a 5-story tall column still, and then in one of two pot stills.
The top of one of the pots is shown here.
The Rick Houses is where the barrels age for 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 years. Maker's is one of the few Bourbon distilleries that rotate their barrels from the top of the warehouses to the bottom. They mix in very small dump tanks, so the bourbon has to be very consistent from barrel to barrel.
The Bottling House (tradition meets high-technology)
This is the wax for all those hand dipped bottles.
The Tasting Room
(we got to try Maker's White (unaged) which is only sold in the gift shop,
Maker's Mark Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and Maker's Mark 46)
Visiting a distillery might not be your idea of fun, but it is ours.
We're glad we made the stop on the way home.
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