My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

[dave ziegler]

I will not be going in Kinsey in the near future as There is very heavy hunting going on and I do not want to get in the line of Hunting Fire. I found out over the weekend that the Police local and state have gone in because of stray fire near houses there behind the plant. So I will not be going there for a long time. There have been shots even on Sundays even though that is not permitted. And Hunters are not permitted there so I am taking no chances. I can't remember ever seeing so many Hunters around the area.
I have lots of Pictures I can still post that I have taken in the last month.
It always breaks my heart seeing what people have done to Kinsey and when the time comes I can safely go there I will make sure to close any thing I can to keep People from ruining Kinsey any More.




Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink old Hickory
America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[Jono]

Dave, does the site ever come up in the local press / city government etc? Discussions of its future?

[dave ziegler]

Juno thats an easy one, back in 2000 an outfit took an option to buy the place and build a propane power plant there. Everyone who lived in the area thought this was a trick and it sure was they never came close to getting permission to build the plant and the whole 2 to 2 1/2 yrs all they did was steal what they could while the owner never even checked. They knocked down the most historic Building in the Plant DSP-PA-12. Back then if someone with vision had bought the place you could have made the front into a living History place and the rest as Condos and a nice Park.

However all they did was put up signs working to restore Kinsey telling the township that, while they came in with metal cutting tools and cut every pipe and wire they could. Then they were burning a metal shed out front and caught the Old Kinsey Bottle House on fire and the old House out front.

Then just before they left they brought in a large Loader slamed it into DSP-PA-12 took all the copper and metal they could and sudenly left leaving two fork lifts, a large air compresser for jack hammers and the large old Power Generator that sits across from warehouse R. As soon as they heard they could not build a propane power plant. They also left many Metal cutting tools and a torch.

It was a case of going there under the pretense of building something by getting an option to buy and milking it for a time then pulling out and leaving Kinsey in Ruin as in the first fourteen years Kinsey Sat abandon it was still saveable. These People did all they could to destroy it.

In their so called fixing they opened every upper Explosion Proof warehouse door leaving them open and the buildings open to rain, snow and bad weather and causing the doors to warp and now they can't be closed I have tried many times to close some of them. And now they are wet and the roofs leaking and all because of Lieing People who wanted One thing just money and nothing else.

Next in 2007 We had a supervisor who wanted the tax payers in the township to front 20 million dollars to buy it and then give it to someone to build a trash to steam plant.

The trouble there was the Tax payers did not want that at all and the Supervisor was also under the table making deals for his bussiness that he worked for He left in shame from the board of supervisors and Kinsey stayed the same which I would rather see her sit then have someone go there and knock every single thing down and end the History of this famous place.


So that is the History of the Place from year 2000. It closed in year 1986 in Sept and when it did it everything was in very good shape but the owner just did not care to stay to try and rent things out He just shut everything Off and walked away now for 23 years This is what kills me.

Why didn't he sell it to someone who could have saved everything No he just sits and collects loss on it all these years while paying Taxes on it.

I Have No Time for Him. If you wanted to write what caused the end of Kinsey two things First Mr Neuman Dying suddenly and the hostle takeover with no idea how to run Publicker.
And two Selling Kinsey to this man and leasing it back in 1982 and trusting this guy to do the right thing. All he did was help to put Publicker under by raising the Lease price everytime he could and once they went under just walked in told the electricians turn the power off leave everything and fired the security People and went back to NY for good!

This is the History of Kinsey in the last 23 years a sad and horrible one for a place that was the Biggest employer and highest paying place in all of Limerick Township back in the day. And The Worlds Most Beautiful Distillery in its time.
Dave Z
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments
Kinsey The Genial Gin
Join The Swing To Kinsey

[dave ziegler]

There is something Profound in the difference I taste when I drink some of the little bit I have of Our vintage Products. It is something I can't explain but Last night I poured a little bit of Old Hickory 86 Proof 10 yr old from 1962 and there is just something that happens in your mouth drinking it and the flavor is just so very Different from my modern favorites it is something I just can not Explain.


It has a instant taste,smell and feel that is just so different and everything I have had of our stuff was that way when I could compare it. Nothing againest the new stuff there is just a profound difference I like, others may not but I find Vintage Whiskey preferable in other brands also.

Maybe its the old cyprus Fermenters used in Phila and the water and the process and our aging process But our stuff was different and just darn good!

Looking at the cold weather coming now I think of those days back when we would be just cranking out Spirits by the Thousands every day and 3 box cars every day sitting at the dock plus many trucks getting loaded. Those busy Days were great days for 600 people who worked there and loved their Job!

As the cold weather came on out came your bottle for a nip when you walked from warehouse to warehouse dumping whiskey, let the good times roll.

I can still remember a very cold day when an old timer said to me Dave its cold out don't forget your Flask. It really does not warm you up but it was what we did back in the day!

I can with joy remember Wed Dec 24 1969 Christmas eve as I watched just about every Person in the plant except a few including myself as I wanted to watch the unfolding of the celabration of the coming holiday and people bringing it on drinking great whiskey.

I had a pint filled with Barrel Bourbon and what I did was pretend to drink out of it letting most go back in the bottle as I wanted to watch humanity enjoy the day!

It was a day I will never forget by Noon the Government men where just sitting in their office and smiling people were dancing in the lunch room, singing, people that did not like each other were shaking hands it was Awesome! Company Men were drinkng Whiskey and having a good time and wishing us a great Christmas.

Bonda was weaving around in his old 1951 Plymouth directing trucks coming in. And 90% of the people were really loading up on Bourbon and what ever Spirits they could get.

It was a great thing to watch I totaly enjoyed watching it and seeing people drinking but also being careful no one got hurt and we still got the work we needed done that day and no one drove that was in bad shape we took care of each other those days.

When it was time to go home I pulled up to the security shack to wish the guard a great Christmas and he leaned out smiled and sounding like he had hit it hard already and said Merry Christmas!

Christmas 1969 was a wonderful Christmas for me back then for many reasons, I would soon buy a 2 yr old 1967 Buick Grand sport GS 400 with 425 Horse power 4 speed with only 10,000 miles on it that would fly, I made great money for those days $101.20 a week clear and I loved my job and had lots of people I worked with I really liked. And I was only 22 yrs old.

Back Then I had no Idea the day would ever come I would walk around Kinsey and it would be totaly abandoned and up to me to talk of Her great History to save it for future people to know.

And I feel so thankful to be able to talk about Publicker Industries / Continental Distilling Corp and my beloved Kinsey Distillery and of my Hero Mr. Si Neuman!
"Take away the Pain that comes in Memory Lane."
Dave Z
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It seems All The nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most magnificent Bourbon
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments
Philadelphia The Heritage Whiskey
Inver House Scotch Soft As A Kiss
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[Jono]

It is great that you had presence of mind to just purposefully record mentally that day....you must have had a premonition that times were changing and that the old days were about gone. Being a young man at the time that was a keen observation. As you get older you try to do that with family gatherings....try to capture each holiday...the people, the fun, the laughter, the bickering too! The card games and banter...just relish in the warm glow....aided by a good whiskey!

[dave ziegler]

Juno That is why I did that I wanted to always remember that day. I did the same type of thing when my Mom was living and we took trips. I remember fondly my first piece of Continental Distilling stuff other then the couple things I got when I worked there.

I was walking around downtown Skowhegan ME on Vacation with my Mom and I went in a small antique store with my mom and there in the cabinet was a pint Haller's County fair BIB Bourbon bottle from the 1940's. Kinsey had just gone under a few years back then and I remember it like it was yesterday buying it and from that day many years before now, I decided to collect as much stuff from the company as I could.

Those days it was harder you had to find a store that had something, and here I am many years later writing about the Plant and having many wonderful things from there and bought things and a little bit of Old Hickory too!

For some reason Yesterday I was able to get into Kinsey safely with no shooting and I got a few nice Pictures I will post. I do not expect to get in much more till hunting is over as going in by the field is not safe.

I never tire of going back and have gone there on Thanksgiving day 3 years in a row. Kind of like going home for me at my age. I hope once it is safe again to get some more shots in the Big Bottle house with my friends and post them.

Couple of weeks ago before the Hunting started I went in the old House out front that Mr Kinsey and Company Man George Dill both lived in and had my one leg go through a staircase so I left there quick. I will post some of those pictures too. Right after that the next weekend it sounded like world war II was going on in the plant with Hunters.

It is very sad to see Explosion proof Warehouse Q with the Fire tower on top getting so bad. When I went up on the roof water was laying everywhere so I took my shots from the stairwell door not wanting to take a chance on falling through the cement roof as cement can get rotten too!
I have some very nice regular and 35 mm Pictures and will start posting them soon.

As you get older it is hard seeing how many years have gone by and people gone and companies that were great gone forever and Publicker was one of the Greatest!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well I finally put my shots from the Beginning of Nov at the plant, on disc and here are some of them. I am posting 5 pictures right now and will post more soon as I have about 81 + some will go on the Fire Tower thread also.

1.After two months here is the Explosion proof lamp I created for my hall way from 1940's parts from warehouse 38. The base was made by the shipper at work and It was wired by the plant Electrician and I built and designed it myself to look like the ones that were turned upward like this on the stair case going up to the Black outside tanks.
2. Time card Rack at my house with some original time cards from Bottling in it
3. Walking into the plant on a cool Nov day
4. Here is the heating unit in one of the 4 Plant maintaince rooms in the Old Kinsey Maintaince Barn. Shorty ( Harrison ) Tyson worked in there and this was his heat note the cardboard on the ceiling to insulate the room!
5.Here on the wall in the Old Maintaince Barn is Ludy's Old Phone number from back in the Late 1940's early 1950's.

Everytime I go there I find something exciting for me and I remember more and more stuff. Tomorrow I will post the only pictures I have ever taken in the Old Plant company House next to the Old Kinsey Bottling house. It is a very Historic House in bad shape. It is Historic in that it was the very Last House Mr. Kinsey ever stayed in before He went Bankrupt in 1939. His Great Nephew Al Landis 90 yrs old told me Mr. Kinsey would stay there during the week then go home to his Large House in the Parkside section of Philadelphia.

In later years my Old friend Company man George Dill lived there and Our Plant nurse that loved Bourbon and Coffee had her office on the first floor. I also have a shot of the stairway going to the attic which I partly fell through ending my exporations.

I hope in the winter to go down back again looking for the Old remains of the 1700's Post office behind the home Mr Kinsey lived in after first buying the Place down by the river as Continental had put a fancy marker where the Post office stood to mark it as Geoge Washington had mailed something from there during the war when at Valley Forge!

To see such a historic place get this way is hard and it is always my Goal to speak of all I know of the place.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[Gillman]

Dave, was the new make doubled or was there only one run through a column still? If it wasn't doubled, maybe that explains the extra nuance of taste you find in the old products (and you are not alone in feeling that products of 30 and 40 years ago seemed often to have something extra).

If you do not know, would Ludy, perhaps?

Gary

[dave ziegler]

Hi Gary I spoke to Al Landis who turned 91 last week his Father was the master Distiller for Mr Kinsey and for Continental Distilling for as long as they ran the Old Dsp-pa-12 sometime in the mid to early 1950's.

Al could only tell me about the #12 Colum still but he gave me some information on it that he was told by His great Uncle Jake Kinsey and his father Hoarce master distiller taught by Mr Kinsey.

It is so long ago and most of the people have passed on I will also call Ludy today and ask him some more about stuff. I got Al at 8:00am he was going out the door and this is what he told me about DSP-Pa-12.

It was Built in mid 1933 as soon as Prohibion ended, it took 100 pound of steam to get it going. They did 3 batches a day the fermenting took 3 days and there were 12 Cyprus fermenting tanks. The Batches would go into tanks to be cooked traveling into 3 differant cooking tanks each batch to be cooked 1 time in each tank then to a condenser and then to what he called redistill still then to another Condenser and finally to the Cistran room to be barreled. The whiskey came off the still at about 130 proof and they cut them to between 108 to 110 proof and barreled them. They could barrel back in Kinseys day 80 barrels a day. I do not know how much was done once Continental Distilling took over but I do know up till at least Spring 1951 they used the stills and They may have ran it till 1955 but my Mash bills are from 1951 that I found there. So it looks like it was doubled so I do not know why but the Older stuff always tastes better to me! Reditill is Doubling Right?

I don't know if this is what you wanted but Al said there were basicly two stills in the DSp Pa 12 building the second being the redistiller still. He did not remember much about the Old Barn Pot still but again he told me He and Oscar Tyson dumped the first barrel after Prohibition ended. In the #10 Barn. The redistiller is what you call a doubler I would think so that is that.
I hope some of this information is helpful to your question Gary!



I am now going to post a few more pictures of the front of the plant.

1. I went into the Old George Dill / Mr Kinsey / and Plant Nurses station House out front for the first time and most likely the last it is in bad condition. I took this shot of the old bastment boiler at a distance with my zoom because it is coated with Asbestos! I was amazed to find the house had been completely rewired with heavy duty Industrial breaker boxes so it was very safe in its day.
2. This first floor room was one of two Our Bourbon drinking Plant Nurse used. we would go here for cuts and injuries.
3. Second floor which George Dill had to himself the years I worked there till he retired while I was still there. This house is historic in that after the Plant reopened in 1933 after Prohibition ended My Kinsey Would stay here in this house during the week then go home to Phila where he had a large Home in the parkside section of Phila. When he bought the place back in 1892 he stayed in the Old Historic House by the river Down back but once he was in bussiness and reopened he had bought a large home In Phila and as his office was on 1520 Locust Street Phila he stayed in Phila alot
4. Here is the Stairway to the 3rd floor I fell partly through I then left there.
5.Here is a nice shot of the outside of the house it sits right next to the Old Kinsey Bottle house near the road.
6. Here is a shot of the fallen down second floor of the Old Bottle House Mr Kinsey Built. This happen because of the people that claimed they were going to buy the place from the owner and build a propane power plant which was never to be and they were burning some metal and caught the Top floor of the house and Bottle house on fire the bottle house roof fell down many years later last Nov 2008 right before Thanksgiving due to snow weight on it.
7. This is the front door into the Old Bottle house / or Happy House as Sandie calls it.
8. another shot of the fallen roof.
9. Fire Pump house between the Bottling house and the Old yellow Kinsey house
10. The Old Siclair Gas pump you can still make out Dino on the broken glass. it used to sit next to the Old Plant Maintaince Barn hill in the back
of the barn.
11. Here is a shot of theback of the Barn the Gas pump sat on the right side of the dirt ramp going into the barn.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's most magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Here are some more of my Sundays walks through Kinsey pictures in the fall.
1. & 2. Third floor of the Fire tower building Q wet because of the fire that happen so many years ago. Stalagtites growing on the ceiling
3. A Look through the Wall where the fire company punched through.
4. Wet floor 3rd floor of Warehouse Q stalagmites growing on the floor.
5. Sign in Warehouse T in Stair well first floor
6. Fallen skids of Bottles In warehouse T
7. & 8. The two types styles of barrel elevators used in the warehouses
9. The Only Boiler left out front in the old section of the plant
10. Looking through where the Old Dsp-Pa-12 used to stand.

One more note I got a call from my friend from Ca who was a top executive for Publicker Last Night He will not be getting out here till spring of 2010.

Once again it is so sad seeing these great Elopsion proof Warehouses the Best ones ever in their time frame sitting and falling into the hands of Younger People who know nothing but how to destroy things. History is being destroyed as the person who owns Kinsey sits back and does not care at all, Kinsey means nothing to him and he should never have been allowed to buy it.

It is like taking a beautiful painting and smashing it just for fun!
Dave Z
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Inver House Soft As A kiss