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

[dave ziegler]

Sandie thank you for the stories they make this thread and all of the threads more real for people to read with the human touch of stories and that is what this is about the stories of Publicker / Continental and Kinsey they are stories of people and the great jobs they did for a great company!

Last week I Bought an old County Fair Striaght Bourbon bottle on the web because it looked different then the ones I remember. I got it on Sat and to my surprise it was one of a Kind I have never seen or gotten it was one where we distilled the whiskey in Phila at DSP-Pa-1 and then tanked it out to Lemont ILL when it was 4 years old 1963 distilled / bottled 1967 BIB. The back label has distilled DSP -Pa-1 bottled DSP-ILL-53 so now I have that plants number and a bottle from there. I will take a Picture of it soon and post it.

I have had so very little Information about Lemont ILL bottling and also our Chem Plant in WesWego La that it was an exciting find for me.
here are some more pictures from 3 weeks ago in Black and white in the bottle house. And a warehouse shot.
1. More of the incoming lines at the back side of the bottle house Room A
2. Start of Bottling Line A-1-F which was an early computer driven Bottling Line room A.
3. Side shot of one of the Water Surge tanks at the back
4. Blender Tank at back near incoming lines
5. Another Chiller for Regular Whiskey coming in.
6. Start of Bottling Line B-2
7. A pallet of Never used Kinsey Quart bottles in the cases warehouse R

I have more yet to post soon.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon.

[dave ziegler]

In talking to my Friend who was a upper level manager at Publicker we got talking about Inver House Scotch. And every drop of Inver House green was bottled at Kinsey and the water used in the product came from our deep wells there. By shipping over in barrles and it being bottled here much cost was reduced and the Customer in turn got a Scotch that was afordable in the USA!

I expect to take him for a walk through the plant in the near future. He hates the thought of what has happen to it as he too Loved the place but wants to walk around and tell me stuff about the place from back in the day.

He is also thinking about writting a book about Publicker some day.

Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Yesterday I got some more rare pictures from my Friend who was in Top management for Publicker, all the pictures I post at one time hung at Publickers 16 story Headquarters on Walnut Street in Phila.
1. Picture one is the only exsisting Picture of Steers at Kinsey Distillery eating Mash from DSP-Pa-12 still. When I worked there the pens were still standing in good shape they are long gone now. This picture was taken at the begining of WWII Publicker raised these steers to go to feed the troups during the war! I did not crop this one as did not want to cut off any of the Picture.


2. thru 5. These are oringinal pictures taken during what was called the Potato Project on an old Blueprint I found at kinsey a couple of Years ago and never knew what it was about till these pictures.

These are the surviving 4 of 8 originals of photo's showing potato's that are from Maine being processed to be made into Potato Flour to feed starving people in Europe after WWII ended. This whole thing was done at Publicker and the pictures show the potato's coming in getting washed to go to the grain dryer and then the Potato Flour being Bagged and then shipped.

As I have said many times Publicker was very Proud to be an American Company and did all they could to help to win WWII.

I cleaned these pictures up as good as I could and after taking Pictures sealed them in Clear Heavy Bags to kill any surviving Silver fish to preserve them. With out my Friend taking them to his old Building back in 1979 These pictures of history would be gone for good. They may be in bad shape but if He had not grabbed all he could they would be in the dump all those years ago as the people who did the hostil takeover were going to have these tossed into a dumpster after Mr Neuman was gone.

These Pictures make up the History of Publicker and hung on all 16 floors of the Headquarters. I hope he will let me take a shot of Harry Publickers Office as he has one.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnicient Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well last night I posted some one of a kind Publicker History pictures on the Memories thread so after looking here please go there if you have not yet.
1. My First picture is another one of an Oil Painting of the Bigler Plant and my friend Butch was kind enough to put graphics of what each building did. This painting is marked 1943. And is of The Bigler Grain processing plant

2. The Snyder Ave Plant during the early 1940's look at the cars like the earlier Picture I posted with the 1930's cars on the memories thread the other day Butch just e mailed me this was Snyder Ave Plant.
3. Shot of The Bigler Street Cooling Tower per Butch.
4. Inside one of the buildings I am waiting to hear from Butch what part of the plant this was in.
5. AA Building and Dryer
6. Another picture I got yesterday of the of the Bigler Street Plant shot from the River Butch says late 1940's / early 1950's has the building that exploded in 1953 on it.

I Will be posting again in a couple of days to make sure everyone sees todays pictures here and last nights pictures on the Memories thread.
Dave Z ----BE WELL TO ALL
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[Jono]

[QUOTE=dave ziegler;214561]In talking to my Friend who was a upper level manager at Publicker we got talking about Inver House Scotch. And every drop of Inver House green was bottled at Kinsey and the water used in the product came from our deep wells there. By shipping over in barrles and it being bottled here much cost was reduced and the Customer in turn got a Scotch that was afordable in the USA!
/QUOTE]

http://www.inverhouse.com/portfolio-whisky.php

I wonder if any of the current Inver House Scotch bears any resemblance to the imported stuff Publicker sold.

The current blended in an 8 yr old called Blairmhor
http://www.inverhouse.com/portfolio-blairmhor.php

The import stuff by Saz....Inver House Green Plaid
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CCQQ9QEwAw

Decent reviews for a low cost Scotch....
http://www.snooth.com/wine/inver-hou...isky-premier/#

[dave ziegler]

Besides the Pictures I posted Sunday night I will be posting some pictures of rare Bottles soon also. Saturday I spent the time before I went to a flyers game tranfering Original Haller's Philadelphia Rye Whisky Bottled in Bond from the bottle it was in to a clean Old Hickory Bottle I had fom my last Old Hickory. My friend who was in a high up position at Publicker gave me the Bottle and the whisky was fine but the stopper cap was broken off and the cork was starting to go bad in pieces but not open yet. I took the whisky and ran it through a brown coffee filter to get all the cork and and chance of dirt out of it. The Bottle only has one lable and is emobossed and dated in the 1940's before Continental bought Haller's. As far as the Rye Whisky I had a sip and it is awesome. I also got a bottle of Original Rittenhouse Rye 1950's BIB which was ok to leave in the bottle and 3 pints of Haller's County Fair made by us Distilled 1946/ Bottled 1950. I had gotten one earlier and have tasted it and it is wonderful. I have cleaned the 3 bottles up and will use as needed by getting the stopper out and putting it in another bottle when the time comes.

I also have an original Charter Oak Striaght whiskey from the 1940's. I find these old Rare Whiskys to be wonderful. But It is a timely thing transfering the whiskys to Bottles that have not sat in a dark dump garage it takes alot of scrubing with Rubbing Alcohol and windex to get the bottle clean enought to get the whisky out and to save the bottle for History as the Bottles are also rare and they go into my collection which when I am gone will go to Museums for history. Therefore I restore each bottle with loving care to be as clean and original as I can. Please check out the Memories thread as I posted some pages from the Continental Distilling Whisky Survey Book it is very hard to get pictures as it is dirty and I have to clean each page as I go of dust and silver Fish. So if any are out of focus it is because I have to climb above the book it is 25 3/4 by 24 wide by over 3 inches thick. It has hundreds of pages and I started at the begining, there are blue prints of every Distillery in America during 1936 and the Book weigh's about 30 + pounds.
Dave Z
It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Sadly I saw in the paper today that William "Bill" ( Windy ) Ewing died Bill was a very Kind man who talked alot, Hence the Windy nickname and was a very hard working Man!
He was one of my First friends when I started at Kinsey but since there is to be no funeral I can't tell you how many years he worked there but I am guessing at least 30 +.

I had lost track of Bill and was trying to find him lately but never did find out where he moved till today in the paper it said he lived in Phoenixville.

When He worked at kinsey like many people he lived in Linfield near the plant. Kinsey always tried to hire local people and there were many of us.

Bill was a warehouse guy and rolled millions of Barrels of Whiskey in his time there. He did every job there was in the Warehouse dept including driving the Old 1941 Ford Flat bed trucks hauling Whiskey barrels.

As each year goes by there are less of us around and it is all the more important to me to continue to tell and show the Kinsey Story.

Bill was one of Hundreds of Hard working Continental Distilling people and was one of the best at rolling barrels to be perfectly set for the bung to be down on the trough in each spot for dumps.

We were like a family working there and days were fun even when we were working hard. So I ask that everyone who reads this lift a toast to Windy Ewing.

Time is coming there will be none of us.
Dave Z
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whisky
For Unhurried Moments

[dave ziegler]

I am going to post a couple of Shots I took yesterday at Kinsey and a picture of The Old Sign I brought home and saved from Warehouse J.
1. The Old Sign I saved from warehouse J first floor
2. A Birds Nest inside O warehouse the Governent building in the back
3. The Tall Fir tree I used to mulch when it was a baby reflecting on warehouse J's wall in the sun
4. A singer Bottling Machine with trees growing in it on the front dock of the 1966 Bottle house.
5. The old Weigh scale house down back where so many rail tank loads of Whiskey used to come to be pumped down back. to the big tanks down in the woods

Every time I go there I feel sad but I also want to get as many different pictures now and back in the day as I can so people can understand what it was like to work at Kinsey in those great years!
My friend who worked for Publicker in a high position and I just walked and remembered and took some pictures in the clean air coming up from the river like in days of Old!
Dave Z
-------------------------============================------------------ It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory ------------------------American's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Every year when I get a chance to walk inside the Old 1966 Bottle House this time of year I see the old Christmas decorations laying there never to be used again by people who are gone from the place and some from Life. Their Memory will go on as long as I can write of those days.

It makes me think how we must enjoy every day as they go by so soon.
Last week walking there lay the old Christmas balls and other stuff trashed in Bottling, but the memories of Kinsey will live on here hopefully for a long time.

Then when I went up to O Building upstairs lay the Old Christmas Tree the Government Men put up every year.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were very busy and a good time back in the old days and the trucks and rail tankers just rolled in every day. Kinsey was a special place to all who worked there and to Si Neuman who kept it looking like a park all through those great days! I lift a toast to Christmas's Past at Kinsey!!
Dave z
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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Last night I called my Friend Butch who worked for Publicker from 1967 till 1977 leaving when Mr Neuman died having in his mind this would be the end of Publicker!
He told me not one of his old friends from the Phila Plant ever has anything but good things to say about working there. Also He told me everyone he worked with ended up in very high paying jobs because of the great training they got from Publicker. He himself went to work for Allied Chemical which was a disivion of Sunoco. He had 30 yrs there and his trainig at Publicker lead to his great success! He is still a paid consultant for them in his retirement.

When I meet people from The Publicker Afiliates family I have yet to ever hear anything but good about the company. Its ending was a sad and tragic thing brought on by Mr Si Neumans sudden Death. Once he died so did all the vision that made the company great and in 10 years it was all gone.

I will continue to write of those awesome days and later today I will post 11 some good and sad pictures of Publickers Phila Plant I got from Butch on my memories thread.

A Christmas Toast to the memory of Publicker Industries and all divisions
1913 / 1986 may her memory go on for ever, her whiskeys were the best of the best and the people who worked for her were the type of people that made this country Great!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon