Makers Mark Distillery

If you guys have never been in the bourbon trail, I cannot recommend it enough. A short time ago I found myself on a bus with a host of beer brewers from all over the world stepping into the touristy practice of hitting up some of the distilleries in KY.

Our first stop was Maker’s Mark, a HUGE distillery that felt like its own city, complete with its own architectural style. All of the buildings were painted black with red trim.

Here’s the amazing part, the containers of mash, the malt-mixture fermenting before distillation was literally two stories high! Just look at the size of that!

On the tour, we saw where they age the barrels. They use new oak and age for six years. The used barrels are then sent to Laphroaig in Scotland. Scotch usually ages for longer, so they can get the essence of the land, the salt air, et cetera, but bourbon is typically about the sugars in the oak and the limestone water, so it doesn’t require aging.

Now if you can find a 10 or 12 year aged bourbon, that’s goung to be very smooth.

We then went into the tasing room to taste the pre-barreled distilled whiskey, and then several types of finished bourbons. The signature Maker’s Mark and a slightly sweeter version in Makers 41.

If you are in Kentucky and have a chance to take a tour, I highly recommend it!