Kentucky Bourbon Distillery Tours – Makers Mark

Before I left the area, I wanted to make sure that I did something I had always wanted to do – tour the distilleries in Kentucky. Yes, I know that an hour south of Chicago isn’t really “the area”, but hey, it was close enough to count. So, I completed my Tuesday duties, packed up my bags, drove until 2:00am to get there, slept for a couple of hours, and got up early to get in as many tours as possible. Despite my efforts, I was only able to visit four distilleries (three and half really as touring had ended at Jim Beam when I arrived). I also visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery, the Labrot and Graham Distillery (Woodford Reserve), and Makers Mark Distillery. I would have liked to visit others which were close by and easily accessible; however, I only had one day and chose these because of advice from a friend who had taken a similar trip and my own personal interests.

Overall, each of the tours was awesome and provided its own unique contribution to my understanding of Kentucky’s magical elixir. Knowledge aside, the sites were amazing and would have been worth the trip alone. I want to recap each of the tours I went on over the next few days. I would highly recommend taking a similar trip if you are slightly interested; you will not be disappointed. I would also advise making more time than I did for the trip so you don’t have to make the choices I did. Also, don’t try and drive back to Illinois by yourself after standing on your feet all day on a few hours of sleep. You will be forced to consume the horrible beverage that is Red Bull, which may just ruin your entire day of tasting.

MAKER’S MARK –

Maker’s Mark was definitely the most interactive tour that I took today. While it was less informative than others (and this may be because it was the last one I took and was ignoring the “how whisky is made” lecture all over again), I got to do things like taste from the fermentation tanks and dip my own bottle of Maker’s. The site itself was also the most distinct distillery I visited. While other distilleries focused on preserving the historical elements of the sites (which I definitely support), each of the buildings on the Maker’s properties is painted a dark brown color and accented with red, representing the trademark wax color of Maker’s Mark. Even the shutters on the buildings are given the Maker’s touch with cutouts of the bottle shape. There were four major parts of the tour: the distillery, the printing room, the bottling plant, and the warehouse.

The Distillery

The distillery entrance is extremely impressive. The stills brightly welcome you and the aroma of the fermentation slaps you right in the face. Maker’s distinguishing feature is the use of wheat, making it a “wheated” bourbon. One of the requirements of bourbon is that it must be made of at least 51% corn, but some amount of rye is also usually used. Maker’s Mark cuts back on the rye and uses wheat, which creates and milder, sweeter whisky.

Maker’s Mark also uses a sour mash, meaning that a portion of the fermented mash from the previous batch is added to each new batch to create consistency. Maker’s Mark actually let us taste from the fermentation tanks. We were able to taste from a new batch an old batch. The difference in taste from the three day fermentation process was incredible. The new batch was very bland, while the older batch was very sour. This was one of the best parts of the tours today because it really helped me to understand the fermentation’s impact from a taste perspective, an opportunity you just don’t get everyday. The fermentation process was also happening live as we were able to look down into the huge cypress fermentation tanks. I shot a quick video of one of the more active tanks to show what this looked like; you can see it here.

After exploring the fermentation tanks, the distillation process was on display in the stills. These stills were so shiny and designed to show the clear color of the flowing whisky. The distillery was the best part of the tour by far!

The Printing Room

This room was pretty much a huge gimmick. The room does hold a 100 year-old printing press which is used to make each of the labels for Maker’s Mark bottles, but the existence of the press seemed to be used only to reaffirm the “handmade” philosophy of Maker’s Mark. Interestingly however, Maker’s mark actually seemed to have less employees and more technology than any other distillery. Except for this printing room, I got less of a “handmade” feel from this distillery than any other, even the Labrot and Graham Distillery which is very proud of its new technology. They did give us our own label though; I’ll always take a free souvenir, even if it isn’t much.

The Bottling Plant

Again, the “handmade” approach was gone. I expected a hand-bottling process like the one I saw at Buffalo Trace, but instead, the bottling plant was very quick and modern. Maker’s does a ton of business though, so this should be expected, but for all the talk about the hand-dipping process, I think I just expected to see more individual attention. It doesn’t really matter; it just seemed different than the rhetoric that Maker’s Mark likes to profess.

The dipping process required the workers to work very quickly to keep up with the assembly line of bottles coming. After dipping, the bottle were passed through a cooling box of fans and boxed. If you go, you will notice that Maker’s Mark kind of goes overboard with its waxing though. I know its your trademark look, but nearly everything in the gift shop and everywhere else was dipped in that red wax! If you want a wax-dipped hat, you can get one. I would have had trouble finding something without wax if I tried! Also, I don’t know about your anal perceptions, but I really hate Maker’s bottles with the long wax strands hanging all over the place. They tend to bow out and look sloppy. The simpler ones just look better and would cost less in wax cost (not that they are concerned obviously). I now have a face to blame when I get a sloppy one. This lady was waxing these bottles like crazy - today’s batch will have wax all over the place! But, hey she had so much to keep up with; you can’t really blame her.

The Warehouse

The warehouse was like all of the others – impressive. Even looking at the warehouse from the outside and inside, it is hard to imagine just how much whisky is in there. The barrels are so heavy, and there are so many floors of them. The design of each of the warehouses is probably the most impressive characteristic of these structures because they take advantage of every square inch. The Maker’s warehouse seemed cooler than the others, and consequently, the aroma of the whisky wasn’t as strong. The warehouse also seemed dirtier/older, and the barrels seemed to have more leaking problems. The warehouse actually made me think twice about Maker’s quality. Not only did the warehouse seem less maintained, we were also told that only one barrel is tasted from each batch to determine if aging is complete. Each other distillery individually tasted each barrel, even if they come from the same batch.

Despite some of my critical points, the Maker’s tour was extremely unique and gave me access to things that I will rarely have the opportunity to do. I think that this tour is one that you definitely need to go on if you want to visit the distilleries. As for the Maker’s Mark product, the tour actually made me think less of the whisky, which I don’t think is the tour’s intention. The entire process seemed less careful than the others. Part of this was because of specifics I pointed out, but overall it was just a feeling I got more than anything else. Either way, I like the end product and am sure I will continue to drink more in the future. Next up: the Buffalo Trace Distillery…