My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

Just a few of my Kinsey Distillery Memories! I will never forget one of the first days I started there I met the nurse for the plant and her telling me to try not to get hurt or need anything after 2:00-PM as after that she would be having her Whiskey and Coffee, of course she said the Doctor told her to do it for her health. The Plant was 200 acres and we drove around from warehouse to warehouse in 1941 and 1947 Ford Flat trucks hauling barrels of Wiskey to be dumped in the troughts to be sent to be blended filtered and bottled. It was just a trough with screen and we would roll the barrels on it pull the bung and dump it. If you had not been in a warehouse for days the air would be blue with fumes,and the vents never worked and it was cold in winter. The company would give us Old Sub Zero green Army Coats to wear in the winter. Way at the back of the Plant were old barns and this was where during WWII the company had kept Steers and gave them the old Mash to eat. The time clock was in the old abandoned Still building and there were two giant Tanks filled with water I was told by a boss that they did that to keep them usable if they ever ran the still again. People who had worked there had put Cat fish and suckers in the tanks and we would throw stuff in to feed them, they were real big! All the light switches in the warehouses were sealed and globes over the Light bulbs because of the fumes being flamible. For a 19 year old Kid this was amazing. There was a sort of tunnel from the boiler room to the still and when I was on the yard crew we ate our lunch there as the break room at the other end was a walk half way through the Plant. The plant had its own cement Highway running through all the way down to the river almost, ending at Mr Bryants Company Home. There were electric poles all the way and power!
Dave Z

Dave,

Your memories make very interesting reading. Thanks for sharing! :toast:

Thank you Jeff I will write some more stuff later I have allot of Memories as I started there just out of high school barely 19 years old, so I remember things well from then my Brain is getting old now! I drank my first Bourbon there and had many a bottle gotten out of a whiskey Barrel from the old warehouses. I tried lots of Whiskeys in the old days but still think the Best I ever had was Old Hickory Bourbon they had that one down perfect! Did you ever try Old Hickory? You are most likely to young!
Dave

As a kid growing up in Philadelphia, crossing the bridge into Jersey and being able to smell the whiskey was something I will not forget.

What whiskey would that have been?

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Originally Posted by DrinkyBanjo

What whiskey would that have been?

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The whiskey being distilled and Publicker Distilleries in Philly. The distillery located on Packer and Delware Ave, right by the Walt Whitman bridge.

This thread might help....http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...read.php?t=978 start at post #24

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Originally Posted by SBOmarc

As a kid growing up in Philadelphia, crossing the bridge into Jersey and being able to smell the whiskey was something I will not forget.

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Yeah, I remember those days. It was 10 cents to cross the Walt Whitman Bridge and you could smell the whiskey from Old Hickory. Today it's 3 bucks to cross the bridge and all you smell is diesel fuel. Progress.
Joe :usflag:

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Originally Posted by BourbonJoe

Yeah, I remember those days. It was 10 cents to cross the Walt Whitman Bridge and you could smell the whiskey from Old Hickory. Today it's 3 bucks to cross the bridge and all you smell is diesel fuel. Progress.
Joe :usflag:

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:lol: Joe, sometimes you quite convince me you're a Renaissance Man.:cool:

With all this talk of Old Hickory, I went and dug out one of my bottles. It is a quart bottle, 10yo at 86 proof. Bottled by Old Hickory Distillers Co, Phila, PA, Lemont, Ill. Distilled in PA. There is also an unusual tax stamp....."U.S. Army/Open Mess". Its a tall retangular bottle. Two photos below. I may have to open this soon, or bring to the Gazebo.

Randy

Now that is one Good Bottle of Bourbon and if you have it and more you are very Lucky and smart to have got it and kept it! I think it was 1981 the last bottle of it rolled out of the Linfield Bottle house! Continenal Distilling/ Publicker stopped and spent the last couple years Bottling Antifreeze there, closing in I think early 1985! With the Old Hickory brand and Recipe gone forever. I worked there as I said and it was the Best as far as what I think! Thanks for sharing the Pictures, I only have a collection of Empty ones and other brands we made, and if you drink it Enjoy! It is most likely even better now with 25 more years of aging.
Dave Z