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No help Mark, but just wanted to say that while down in KY for the KBF, the wife and I took a drive out in the country one day. We somehow miraculously ended up on Deatsville Road. :bigeyes: There was the old T. W. Samuels distillery. :cool: I knew where we were, but my wife didn't. Still haven't told her.:lol: Joe
Hi everyone,
My sincere apologies for the long delay in replying - I've been down and out for a month and a half and recently had some minor surgery, but I'm back now. When I was in Bardstown in August, I stopped in to Toddy's and talked to both Guthrie and is niece about my search for information on T.W. Samuels. They told me of a lady in the Bardstown area who's father worked at the distillery and they graciously passed along my card to the lady who has since emailed me numerous times with info and pictures. She's been able to talk to people who worked there at one time or another as well as members of the family who purchased the distillery from my great uncle. What I did find out is that the distillery was bottling until at least 1975. Most of the history I've read stated the distillery closed up around 1952. I still have not been able to find out if they were actually doing any distilling between 1952 and 1975 but I'm still working on that. My uncle, Sam Westerman, sold the distillery to a Mr. Thompson (originally from Scotland) in October of 1974. It appears the distillery ceased production shortly after Mr. Thompson purchased the property. My friends father worked at the distillery from the early 1960's until around 1980, and she told me the last couple year of his employment were basically just upkeep of the grounds and machines. I have pictures of the bottling line operating in 1974 (compliments of Daisy Pugh) so I know it was still operating then. I don't know if they continued to distill after 1952 or if they were just bottling whiskey that was in there warehouses. For a relatively small distillery, they had a lot of warehouses. If you ever over towards bardstown, take a drive down Deatsville rd. and have a look. There must be 10 - 12 large warehouses out there.
I'm planning on going back to Bardstown this spring and will hopefully be able to talk in person the some of the people my friend has already talked to. I'm also hoping my friend can arrange of tour of the distillery grounds for me as she knows the owner of the property. If I found out any more info, I will post it here and if anyone out there has any info or contacts that I could talk to, please let me know.
Cheers!
Mark
Hey Joe,Quote:
Originally Posted by fishnbowljoe
If you drive a little farther out in the country down the road from TW, you'll come across some warehouses for 4 roses. That was a nice suprise for me when I was there!
Mark
We did our route backwards. We went by Four Roses first, then went the back roads to Deatsville Road till we got to the old T.W. Samuels distillery. Joe
http://www.pre-pro.com/midacore/view...p?did=BDS11673
The Samuels Distillery
RD #145, 5 th District
Nelson County, KY
Chefmel...have you seen this site? Their history appears to end at 1953.
Thanks Jono - I'll check it out!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jono
Mark
Jono,
Yes, I found this page when I originally started searching the internet. It appears to end when the samuels family got out of the distillery (1943). I know my Uncle first became involved in the distillery sometime in the 1940's, so at this point I'm assuming that must have been in 1943. Someone mentioned the Bill Samuels of Makers Mark may have some information about the old distillery. Does anyone know how I could contact him??
Thanks!
Mark
Call the office in Louisville at (502) 459-7884. That's the best way to get a message to Bill.Quote:
Originally Posted by chefmel
Thanks Chuck - I'll give them a call next week!
Mark
Hi Everyone,
For anyone still watching this post, I have some new information I'll be sharing with you soon.
Mark