Maker’s Mark Distillery…

Maker’s Mark Distillery is Marion County’s most recognizable attraction and is located a few miles outside of Lebanon near Loretto, right in the Heart of Bourbon Country.

Maker’s Mark is the only operating distillery in America to be designated a National Historic Landmark. Originally built in 1805 as a gristmill distillery, it became the home of Maker’s Mark in 1953. Today, it is the oldest operating distillery on its original site.

It wasn’t until 1840 that the T.W. Samuels family got serious about whisky distilling. And that’s when Robert’s grandson, T.W. Samuels, built the family’s first commercial distillery at Samuels Depot, Kentucky. He was known as the "High" Sheriff of Nelson County. The "secret" family recipe was passed from generation to generation, six to be exact.

When the Civil War was supposedly over, William Clark Quantrill's band of Confederate irregulars, including Jesse and Frank James, had other ideas. They continued to attack Union sympathizers throughout central Kentucky. Eventually, Quantrill was shot and his irregulars were chased to the hamlet of Samuels, Ky. and took refuge at the home of T.W. Samuels, Jesse and Frank's stepfather.
       The 1920s brought American Prohibition and distilleries were shut down until 1934.
       In 1943, Bill Samuels Sr. decided to create a distinguished style of bourbon whisky. So he left the T.W. Samuels Distillery and began his new venture by burning the 170-year-old family recipe.

In 1951, Bill Samuels Sr. developed a new recipe based on locally grown corn and malted barley coupled with gentle winter wheat, not the traditional and harsher grain, rye. He did this without a distillery. He baked bread in the family kitchen, experimenting with different grains to come to this conclusion.

The following year, Marge Samuels, Bill’s wife, designed the bottle and named the whisky. As a fine pewter collector, she had always searched for “the mark of the maker.” She was also a collector of bottles of cognac, many of which were sealed in colorful wax. It was these two things that lent themselves to the Maker’s Mark packaging still used today.

In 1958, the first bottle of Maker's Mark was dipped, sealed and introduced at $7 a bottle. The popularity of the bourbon has grown continuously since, as has the popularity of the distillery as a tourist attraction.

In 1980, the distillery was declared a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Cecil Andress.

Due to the increased popularity of Maker’s Mark, the distillery expanded in 2000 and 2001, duplicating, in exact detail, the distillery as it had been restored in the ‘60s. This doubled the capacity to make whisky. 

Directions…
 

►From Centre Square, drive one block north on KY 55/Spalding Ave. to light (Gen. Thomas statue).

►Turn left onto KY 55 and drive to next light (Papa John’s).

►Turn right onto KY 49/52 and continue 6.3 miles.

►Turn right onto KY 52 continuation and continue 2.2 miles.

►Turn right onto Burk’s Spring Road.

►Maker’s Mark Distillery is straight ahead. 

What’s so unique about Maker’s Mark bourbon?

♥ Spring-fed lake – It’s believed that Maker's Mark is the only bourbon distillery to use pure, iron-free limestone spring water exclusively, not city, well or river water. The source is a 10-acre limestone spring-fed lake at the distillery.

♥ Grains - First, Maker’s Mark uses yellow corn and red winter wheat from specially selected small farm cooperatives, all of which are located within the limestone geology near the distillery. This wheat gives the whisky its soft, mellow taste. Only naturally malted barley (that has no enzyme enhancing gibberellic acid) is used. When the grain is delivered, it is checked from top to bottom. If it does not meet the rigid standards, the shipment is not accepted. And this really does happen from time to time.

♥ The rollermill - Maker’s Mark uses an old fashioned rollermill to prepare the grain for cooking. The slow process does not scorch the grain like a hammermill can. Scorching can result in a slightly bitter taste.

♥ Cooking - Unlike some other distillers, Maker’s Mark never pressure cooks the grain. Any good distiller, or baker, will say that pressure cookers and high-quality soft winter wheat do not mix. By using an open cooker and a slower process that involves a lot of hands-on attention, Maker’s Mark extends the subtle grain flavors into the whisky.

♥ The yeast – Maker’s Mark is among the few remaining bourbon distillers that propagate its own yeast for fermentation with cultures that can be traced back to the pre-prohibition era. Maker’s Mark also uses the traditional sour mash method, similar to making sourdough bread, where some left-over culture from one batch is used to start another.

♥ Fermentation – Maker’s Mark’s rare cypress fermentation tanks are historically irreplaceable. Some of the planks are more than 100 years old. Cypress was chosen for fermentation before modern stainless steel was available because it didn’t contribute iron or taste to the final product. Some of these fermenters are still used to this day to give visitors a sense of how the process used to look. Maker’s Mark is currently the only operating bourbon distillery to make whisky in batches of less than 19 barrels, the traditional standard for small-batch whisky.

♥ White dog - Maker’s Mark double distills its whisky, once in an all copper column still to produce what is called low wine and again in a copper pot still to produce high wine. This added step removes impurities and produces a more refined sipping whisky. The low wine is distilled off at 120 proof, while the high wine is 130 proof. It is believed that this is the lowest distillation proof in the industry. Maker’s Mark continues this more expensive practice because it preserves the bourbon’s mellow grain characteristics.

Seeing is believing!

 The Maker's Mark Distillery is closed Aug. 16 through Sept. 11 but access to the stillhouse, barrel warehouse and bottling plant is still offered.
        Tours are conducted every hour on the half-hour from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, tours are conducted at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., March through December. All times are Eastern Time.
        The distillery is closed on Sundays in January and February. The distillery is open on holidays except Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
        A visitor must be 21 or older to dip his or her own bottle.
        For even more information, call 270.865.2099 or visit www.makersmark.com.

*Source: www.makersmark.com, 2006.