Taking the scenic route north from Mammoth Cave, we turned east on KY-52 at New Haven and drove along a twisty hill-and-dale road through the beautiful rural Kentucky countryside toward Loretto and the Maker's Mark distillery. It was easy to let our imaginations take us back to the days of the hotrod moonshiners racing to escape the law and deliver their contraband to a thirsty market.

Once we reached Loretto, signs guided us easily to the site of the Samuels' farm, home of Maker's Mark, unanimously recognized as one of Kentucky's finest bourbon whiskies. The Maker's Mark (actually Star Hill Farm) grounds are absolutely beautiful - every building is freshly painted in the company's brown, red, and cream colors, and the landscaping is meticulously groomed. The overall impression is that if this company puts this much care into its working environment, they must certainly put a lot into their product.

We arrived with several minutes to wait for the next tour, and we spent that time looking at some of the exhibits and the items in the gift shop. We also enjoyed a complimentary cup of bourbon-flavored coffee. When the tour began, we were the only ones in attendance, but another couple joined us only a few minutes after we started. Our guide was a pleasant, but not particularly enthusiastic, lady who basically recited the tour as she led us from building to building. The Maker's Mark operation is very small, producing only about 38 - 40 barrels a day (as opposed to the 200-barrel per day industry average). Everything is very down-home and family-like. We saw several people who were working in the distillery and on the small bottling line, and they all seemed very close-knit. There was a (well-fed) young cat "touring" the fermentation area with us. I got the distinct impression that this cat was accustomed to being petted by the two men we saw working there.

The tour lasted about an hour and was very informative and interesting. It reminded me of tours of small Napa Valley wineries. When it ended, we decided to purchase one of the small (375ml) bottles available for sale at the gift shop. These bottles have a special label that identifies them as being from the distillery store, and they also have a place for the purchaser to sign and date the label. The bottles come without the trademark bright red sealing wax, and the customer can hand-dip their own bottle. I chose to do this, and donned the required apron, safety goggles, and gloves. Of course, the women who dip the production bottles, 24 per minute, on the bottling line wear none of those. My bottle came out just fine, with the wax running perfectly down the side of the neck.

 

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Story and original photography copyright ©1998 by John F. Lipman. All rights reserved.