We spent 6 days at the Elizabethtown Crossroads Campground. Originally, we had thought of staying in Bardstown to attend the big Bourbon Fest. But the campgrounds there were all booked, and the festival was pricey. Instead, we settled on E-town (as the locals call it). Thinking the big distilleries might be very busy, we booked a tout at Jim Beam well before our arrival but once we were there, we snagged a few open spots at Maker’s Mark and Heaven Hill.
Makers is special for my wife. Her beloved former boss had a soft spot for Maker’s before he passed. Makers Mark Distillery is located in Loretto, Kentucky which is also home to the Sisters of Loretto motherhouse. An interesting note about Catholicism in this part of Kentucky is that at one time, nearby Bardstown was the 4th largest Catholic diocese in America, after New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
Makers Mark gets credit for renewing America’s love of bourbon when its popularity faced a steep decline in the 60s and 70s. After a glorious post Prohibition rebirth and despite a 1964 US House resolution that protected the name bourbon internationally, it was a white spirit from Russia that began to threaten.
Vodka’s popularity started with the Moscow mule and then Joan Crawford in 1947 had a party where only vodka and champagne were served. 40,000 cases were sold in 1950 and 4.4 million were sold just 5 years later. There was James Bond and then as the baby boomers came of drinking age, bourbon became the symbol of the establishment. Vodka was from America’s mysterious enemy and had a subversive defiance. By 69, bourbon connoisseurs sensed an impending doom. 200 years after whiskey surpassed rum, vodka surpassed whiskey.
And then Makers Mark found a solution. They began what we might call small craft, product focused whiskey. They even made sure that their small bottles were served on airlines in the eighties. Eventually other distilleries would follow suit and bourbon was reborn.
Makers distillery actually shuts down every year from August 15th to Sept. 15th to clean. So, it was our good fortune that they resumed tours on the 14th, probably as a result of the festival. We were able to see a huge empty mash barrel that will soon be full of distiller’s beer, the stage before distillation.
Our tour guide was excellent. She was a Peterson, a member of the family that owns a very large nearby farm that supplies a lot of the distillery’s corn. Makers Mark is 80% corn which is unusually high and what leads to the mellow sweetness. As they say in Kentucky, we drink our corn. The mashbill (aka recipe) is also wheat and a bit of rye. Only the rye comes from outside of Kentucky as it generally needs a cooler climate.
The legal definition of Bourbon is this: It must be 51% corn (the rest can be rye, wheat, or barley). It must be no more than 160 proof out of the still, it must be aged in charred oak but there is no age requirement unless it is sold as straight bourbon. Then it must be aged for 2 years and there can be no additives. It must enter the barrel no higher than 125 proof so it is watered down a bit and then bottled at no lower than 80 proof.
Proof can be confusing because it is twice the amount of alcohol. The term came from the early days when the whiskey was lit and if it burned with a nice flame, that was 100 proof that it was whiskey and that turned out to be about 50% alcohol.
As you saw in the first photo, Makers let’s you dip your bottle into wax at the end of the tour!! It was all great fun!!
Wow, I was there a few years ago and do not recall the info. Thanks for the reminder. I do remember it was a special place.
I love makers mark and hope to visit there someday. I also live very close to lady of Loretto in North County and my daughters last name is Peterson. Sounds like us to me. I also love Carol shirt