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Maker's Mark Behind the Bar Tour


M1marksman
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My wife and I took a day trip to Loretto KY last week to the Maker's Mark distillery. I had reserved a pair of tickets to take the Behind the Bar Tour they offer on their website.  The tour is limited to eight people so it was a pleasant, un-crowded event. We were greeted at the welcome center with name tags, and since we were about an hour early took a short stroll down to the gift shop. There is plenty of stuff to buy in the shop, everything imaginable from clothing and caps, glassware, and of course bottles of delicious Maker's Mark bourbon. Of course if you buy a bottle there you get to suit up in an apron, sleeves, gloves and safety goggles and dip it yourself in their signature red wax. I was overcome by a wave of emotion as I dipped my bottle of Cask Strength into the molten wax. My emotion only increased after Wife told me I would have to wait until Christmas to break the wax seal on the bottle!

 

Back to the tour. Our group was lead by a young gentleman named Thomas, he holds the enviable position of taster at the distillery and designed the tour we were about to take. This was his second group to take the tour. We started with a tour through the still house. The smell is delicious, reminded me of when mom would make bread. The stills are gleaming bright copper, absolutely beautiful. Thomas took a dipper and filled it with "white dog" then passed it around for the group to taste. Sweet and strong. We moved into the fermenting area where the mash was fermenting in the huge cypress wood vats. Everyone was invited to dip their hand into the mash and taste it, as well as feel the heat coming of the fermenting mash. We were informed that some of the vats are over two hundred years old. From there we went to a rick house. It was fantastic standing in the middle of all those barrels while our guide explained the process that is used in ageing their "46" line. He explained that it is only aged in sub fifty degree temperatures so they are building a limestone rick house into the side of a hill so they can increase their production of "46". We then went to the bottling area and watched the complete process from unboxing empty bottles to dipping filled bottles in wax. From there we went to the print shop where they hand print all the labels on printing presses that date back to the 1930's.

 

Back up the hill to the guest center for the part of the tour we were all waiting for. Thomas took us in a small bar room where he showed us how to make a couple cocktails with Maker's products (what else would they use?) He showed us some basic bartending tools and how to use them while we all took part in making drinks. We started with a Manhattan. Very nice, everyone enjoyed theirs. Next was an Old Fashioned made with chocolate bitters. Everyone loved the chocolate Old Fashioned, I was not too impressed as I am a regular Old Fashioned kind of guy. I'll take my chocolate in cookies and cake, thank you. We then learned how to make a bourboned hot cider. Hmm, kinda tastes like Christmas smells. I'll choose not to but my good bourbon in hot cider but if you offered me a mug after shoveling snow I wouldn't say no. At the end we were all given Maker's Mark Boston shakers.

 

So to wind it all up, a fun and interesting tour. If you are going to Maker's Mark with someone who is less than enthused with tasting neat bourbon this is a great tour. My wife had a great time and enjoyed the cocktails a lot more than she would have sampling straight bourbon. Tours are $30 per person. I would certainly reserve a spot in advance.

 

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Sounds great.  Maker's really knows how to put on a good show, and that is so important in building the brand.  Nobody does that better in American Whiskey.  I'm looking forward to touring the 46 rickhouse when it's done. 

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Thank you, M1M.  I wasn't aware of the BTB Tour.i  I have made a note on my "If I get to KY" list.  Thanks.  Nice write-up.

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I agree with Harry; Very Nicely posted synopsis of your tour.    Sounds like a great time was had by both you and the wifey. 

Joe is certainly correct about MM doing THE VERY BEST job selling their story to the public.    They have a great story, and they tell it really well.

Side note: don't believe all you hear about the cypress mash tuns... Most of the ones used by MM are Stainless Steel.    The ones on the tours are indeed old, and are indeed used; they just aren't typical of the many others in use in Loretto.

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On 12/3/2016 at 2:16 PM, M1marksman said:

From there we went to a rick house. It was fantastic standing in the middle of all those barrels while our guide explained the process that is used in ageing their "46" line. He explained that it is only aged in sub fifty degree temperatures so they are building a limestone rick house into the side of a hill so they can increase their production of "46". 

 

 

 

Only sub 50°? Really? Would this not reduce the effect of the aging process? Surely they don't keep it that cool during the summer...

Edited by Midwest101
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Did they restart work on the "cave"? When we were there earlier this year, they had stopped working on it. They'd run into some problems with strata in the rock that they thought might possibly cause some stability issues.

 

 

For the most part, caves in the midwest area tend to be in the mid 50° temperature range year 'round. FWIW, I did a little amateur spelunking in Indiana in my younger days. ^_^

 

Joe

 

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As someone born and raised in " the Cave State" I've done my fair share of amature spelunking as well. And caves do maintain a fairly constant temperature. However, is temperature and climate variation throughout the year not essential to aging bourbon? If it's true that Makers Mark 46 is maintained at such a low temperature for the entirety of its aging, that seems very surprising. 

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Good point.

 

As most folks know, temperatures in a rick house can vary dramatically. The lower floors of a rick house are much cooler than the upper floors. Where you age a barrel has a direct bearing on how the end product turns out. MM rotates their barrels to maintain consistency in their product. As far as I know, all MM barrels are aged and rotated the same way, at least to start out. I'm unsure as to exactly how they handle the barrels for MM46. Where they age those after rebarreling is a mystery, but I'd tend to think that since they only re-age them for a few weeks, it would probably be on an upper floor to get the most influence from the toasted staves in the shortest amount of time. 

 

Maybe MM will start inserting the toasted staves when the barrels for MM46 are first filled, and these barrels will then be aged for their duration in the cave. With the temperature in the cave being cooler and constant, aging would be slower, but the influence from the toasted staves might end up being basically the same as it is now. (Cost/labor saving move in the long run? :unsure:) This is purely just a guess on my part. It sure is different to say the least. It'll be interesting to found out just what's what, and how this all plays out. My only hope is that this isn't just another gimmick, if ya' know what I mean. :huh:

 

Joe

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Maybe I'm off base here, but I was under the impression that MM46 starts as regular MM and then they finish it with the staves for a few months. 

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40 minutes ago, JoeTerp said:

Maybe I'm off base here, but I was under the impression that MM46 starts as regular MM and then they finish it with the staves for a few months. 

 

You are correct Joe. MM46 starts out just like MM. Maybe it was a little confusing because I posted that I wasn't sure where MM aged the barrels of MM46 after the staves are inserted. Sorry about that.

 

The conversation here is about the how, what, when, where, and why, in regards to MM increasing capacity for MM46, and constructing a cave/rick house storage facility for use in aging MM46.

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2 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

 FWIW, I did a little amateur spelunking in Indiana in my younger days. ^_^

 

Joe

 

 

fishnbowlnspelunkerjoe :)

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1 minute ago, T Comp said:

 

fishnbowlnspelunkerjoe :)

 

 

LOL Thanks Thad....

 

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Maker's 46 is fully matured MM that has toasted French oak staves inserted into the barrel for a few months to finish it. It is only finished in colder temperatures for that short period of time; that is why they are building the limestone rickhouse, to increase their production of 46.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

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9 minutes ago, M1marksman said:

Maker's 46 is fully matured MM that has toasted French oak staves inserted into the barrel for a few months to finish it. It is only finished in colder temperatures for that short period of time; that is why they are building the limestone rickhouse, to increase their production of 46.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 

Ahhhhhh. Thank you for the clarification! I was reading it to understand the entire aging process was conducted at low temperature which seemed a little crazy. Keeping the temperature low after inserting the staves must help control the amount of influence they have in the juice.

Edited by Midwest101
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3 hours ago, M1marksman said:

Maker's 46 is fully matured MM that has toasted French oak staves inserted into the barrel for a few months to finish it. It is only finished in colder temperatures for that short period of time; that is why they are building the limestone rickhouse, to increase their production of 46.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 

 

I understand where you're coming from now M1. I went to the MM website to seek out some more info. In times past during numerous tours at MM, they only mentioned in their spiel that MM 46 was fully matured MM that was then dumped and aged an extra few weeks after toasted or seared french oak staves were added to the barrels. They never used to say anything about the barrels being dumped and aged only in colder months. My bad.

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