A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

[dave ziegler]

Today I have some One of a kind pictures to post here and on the memories thread. my friend Butch who worked for Publicker at the Snyder Ave Plant has sent me some awesome history pictures from publicker.

1. The Old Snyder Ave Bottling House operating this picture inside was taken in 1933. It was located on the south side of Synder Ave in the Phila plant.
They as you can see were doing one of Our biggest sellers Dixie Belle Gin
2. Here is a picture of The South phila snyder Ave bottle house Building.

This was replaced once the 1966 Bottle house opened in Linfield at kinsey in Sept 1966.
The Linfield Bottle house bottled spirits for 13 years closing in 1979 to be converted to a home products and Antifreeze bottling house before closing forever in 1986.

I thought the best place to post these two was here since the Bigler Bottle House was long before the One Continental Distilling built at Kinsey.
Dave Z
The Best Old fashioneds
Are, You'll Find
The mellow, made With Kinsey Kind!
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[dave ziegler]

Here are 3 Pictures of 2 surviving Buildings In Phila that were part of Continental Distillings Plant given me by My Friend Butch who worked 10 years for Publicker in Phila.
1. Still Standing on Snyder Avenue this is a picture of Continental's first Bottling House the Snyder Ave bottle Plant. After it came the Bigler Street Bottle House and then the Big 1966 Bottle House at Kinsey in Linfield,Pa.

2. & 3. Are The Giant Continental Distilling Barrel Warehouse it has the look of the the Kinsey Warehouse's with a differant shape.

These are still standing and being used and are about all that is left of the Publicker Complex if He knows of any others I will post them. Looking at the walls of the Barrel warehouse it has the same type of air circulation fans as the ones at Kinsey had. Wish I knew how many barrels it held in its hayday!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

To this day I still think our Old School style of Whiskey is so much better then todays. When I sip my Old Hickory 86-10 yr and my BIB County Fair they are so differant then the new stuff I drink it is like Night and day. The Old stuff has so much of a full body and the flavors just keep working in your mouth. Their taste is just totally differant and at least for me way better. I prefer Old Whiskey to anything new no matter how good or pricey I am one of the few who still prefers Old School ways of making whiskey there is to much worring about filtering and other stuff and whiskeys today seem to have lost something special they had back in the day.

I don't know what it is but I will take old Whiskey over new any day!
Dave Z
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It Seems All the Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[ErichPryde]

To add a few pictures to Dave's thread:









These bottles were gifted to me from a very elderly lady who had hung onto them for quite some time. The hickory bonded was in bad shape- you can tell from the bottle that it has been soaked in something like an oil. It was on its side for an extended period, and was missing almost half of its original fluid.


thankfully, it was still pretty good! I was impressed. some of the notes reminded me of good turkey. However, it was very, very spicy. even the oak note was spicy, like the very wood had been infused with heat, and I don't mean alcohol heat. Absolutely stellar bourbon, so forward you have to look for what's beneath the surface.

Very, very good whiskey from a lost era.

The 86 proof hickory was by no means bad. Again, somewhat reminescent of something like an old #8. However, if it was allowed to sit in the glass for long enough, a metallic (aluminum, cut penny) note would come up. I don't know if this was a by-product of distillation, or simply because it had sat for a very, very long time.

The bonded is dated 1954-1965, while the 86 proofer shows a 61 on the bottom of the glass. very cool bottles, and I'm glad I had a chance to try them.

[Chu'Wuti]

To this day I still think our Old School style of Whiskey is so much better then todays. When I sip my Old Hickory 86-10 yr and my BIB County Fair they are so differant then the new stuff I drink it is like Night and day. The Old stuff has so much of a full body and the flavors just keep working in your mouth. Their taste is just totally differant and at least for me way better. I prefer Old Whiskey to anything new no matter how good or pricey I am one of the few who still prefers Old School ways of making whiskey there is to much worring about filtering and other stuff and whiskeys today seem to have lost something special they had back in the day.

Hear, hear!

Dave, I've really enjoyed reading your stories about the bottle house and looking at the pictures. It's so sad to see what has become of the place.

I wanted to say that I'm sorry about the loss of your loving companion, too. I know how difficult it is to lose a special dog--they are really an important part of one's family.

Best wishes.

[dave ziegler]

Sandy I Just Love to write and remember Kinsey and Continental I wish everyone here could have been there for just one day to see what a great place and what a great Company. And Yes I miss Nikki my Dog alot. I am glad That you and others enjoy my writtings about Kinsey and as Long as I am around I will write about Kinsey.
Dave Z
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments

[dave ziegler]

To add a few pictures to Dave's thread:









These bottles were gifted to me from a very elderly lady who had hung onto them for quite some time. The hickory bonded was in bad shape- you can tell from the bottle that it has been soaked in something like an oil. It was on its side for an extended period, and was missing almost half of its original fluid.


thankfully, it was still pretty good! I was impressed. some of the notes reminded me of good turkey. However, it was very, very spicy. even the oak note was spicy, like the very wood had been infused with heat, and I don't mean alcohol heat. Absolutely stellar bourbon, so forward you have to look for what's beneath the surface.

Very, very good whiskey from a lost era.

The 86 proof hickory was by no means bad. Again, somewhat reminescent of something like an old #8. However, if it was allowed to sit in the glass for long enough, a metallic (aluminum, cut penny) note would come up. I don't know if this was a by-product of distillation, or simply because it had sat for a very, very long time.

The bonded is dated 1954-1965, while the 86 proofer shows a 61 on the bottom of the glass. very cool bottles, and I'm glad I had a chance to try them.

Erich thanks for the good words about Our Old Hickory Staight Bourbon and the awesome BIB. I have never in all my Life had anyone say anything Bad about Old Hickory! I am glad that the Lady gave it to you to enjoy and I drink a toast to You and The Old hickory!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Today I am traveling back in time to Sept 1966, It was a special time then as Kinsey had hired many people to work in the plant when the New Bottling house opened.

many of the warehouse workers went over to the New bottle house to enjoy being inside. The jobs in the bottle house paid more and everything in there was brand new state of Art stuff.

Things like line A-1-F a early computer driven Bottle line that could do 40,000 bottles a day. Everything in the bottle house was set up for safey. There were 11 bottling lines and we did much custom bottling for many famous Distillerys.

People were well trained and no foolishness was allowed. I still get a thrill when I see an old full bottle that says Continental Distilling Linfield,pa / Lemont ILL. Dsp-pa-1.

Some of the Best spirits ever made were bottled in Linfield. The plant for a couple of years was a rage people coming to tour it and get idea's for their own bottle house's. They were great days for me starting there in 1966 at 19 years old.

Going in there now taking pictures of the ruin is surreal for me as when I left the company everything was in perfect condition and the Bottle house was very beautiful. I have thought about it and I relize I was better off leaving when I did then being there seeing it close down forever to go to ruin.

I still enjoy the rare times I can talk to a former worker at Kinsey and have never had any of them say anything bad about the company.

Ludy who worked his last 14 years in the bottle house as a maintaince man will be 92 this Sept and I one of the younger surviving employee's will be 63 in sept.

I wish all of you could have been there for the excitment of the Plant in 1966. It was always the biggest employer in Limerick township. And in 1966 There were 600 people working at Kinsey and the company was a very good neighbor to the people of Linfield part of Limerick township.

Driving into the plant you were greeted by beautiful flower beds and perfect lawns kept that way by the yard gang run by John Zuber who was a great boss. Mr Neuman did not want to see any dandylion in the lawns and the trees were well cared for too!

We were mowing every week in the spring and summer we weeded pulled any dandylion and put weed killers on the lawns. We weeded flower beds and edged all sidewalks. It was like a gleaming Jewel sitting there in Linfield to this day people I meet in Linfield talk about how beautifull the place was.

I wish I had some pictures from those days but just like the Song "Those
were The Days My Friends We Thought They'd Never End" so it is with Kinsey!

( The Best Old Fashioneds Are, You'll Find
The Mellow Made With Kinsey Kind! )

Dave Z

[dave ziegler]

It finally rained here and I got to take a trip into the 1966 bottling house again this time taking my two new 12 Mp digital camera's. About three weeks ago I bought a only once used Nikon P-90 the next model up from my 2008 P-80 with a real 24 times zoom and also a brand new Nikon s-3000 12 mp zoom pocket digital camera with the ability to take crisp black and white pictures or sepia or color!

Yesterday I took a total of 143 pictures with them and I will be posting here and the memories thread some great color and black and white shots taken in pure darkness. There is always something special about old stuff in black and white.

1.& 2. The old safety sign in the bottling house in black and white both sides.
3. The tank platform at the wall going into Room B where the bottling starts.
4. A safety overflow basin below the tanks on this platform.
5. Walking the Platform.
6. One of the many tanks on the platform.
7. Another tank showing capasity.
8. The Scotch Chiller near the back end incoming Tank platform.
9. The Honeywell quality chart disc machine near incoming tank wall.
10. Chiller lines coming in from outside.

The next 3 pictures were taken with the P-90 in color.
11. Looking down through the bottle house were the 11 lines once ran complete.
12. A Explosion Proof Crouse/Hines Emergency Siren I was able to save.
13. An explosion proof Appleton switch off/on for pluging in chargers for fork lifts and other explosion proof Cords.

I really like being able to shoot the place in mostly black white the pictures are very crisp and life like. I have many more to post here and on the memory Thread this week if i do not run out of space I hope these are an enjoyable part of History to all of you.

I feel very Fortunate too be able to to do this for History it is a work of Love for a place remembered deep in my Heart!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[sandiefett]

Hi Dave, just had to comment about pix #7. Frog and I were unloading tank trucks of window washer fluid into this tank one day. There isn't too much clearance between the top of the tank and the ceiling. Par for the course at Publicker, the gauge was broken on the tank so we had to keep an eye on the level in the tank so it did not overflow. We were standing there talking and both of us almost passed out from the fumes, which were very strong. We had to get out of there in a hurry. They gave us some God awful masks to wear and sent us back to work.