Road trips to Pennsylvania's distillery history.

[BourbonGoose]

As much as I've become enthralled with bourbon and whiskey over the last couple of years,  I've always been a history buff. So in studying the history of our nation's distilleries, I decided to make some road trips to the remains of a couple of Pennsylvania's distilleries.  My first visit was to the site of Foust Distillery in nearby Glen Rock, PA. I've driven past this site many times in my life and have watched its gradual decay and return to mother nature. The famous smokestack, which spelled out the Foust name, and stood since the 40s, is mostly gone now, having been struck by lightning in 2012 and subsequently torn down.  Here's a couple of pics of the remains I took this summer.  I'd like to go back this winter when the vegetation is down and take some more pics. I will note that all the photos I took were taken from public roads and right of ways and no tresspassing took place. Here's the crossroads where the distillery once was. Love the streetsign.

Next is the remains of the smokestack.

And finally for now, the concrete remains of a stand that once held wooden water tanks.

It's fun exploring our past and seeing it for yourself. Next up, Shenk's Distillery,  aka Bomberger's and Michter's,  the original location in Schaefferstown, PA

Jeff

[BourbonGoose]

Next up, Shenk's Distillery, later renamed Bomberger's, and finally Michter's in Schaefferstown PA. I wanted to see where the one time oldest operating distillery in America was.

First is another crossroads with interesting names.

Next, a view down the road at the surviving buildings.

A picture of the oldest building still standing and seen in all of the old photos.

And finally for now, you can see the "jug" that sat atop of the still house. Neat that it still survives.

I really enjoy the Michter's whiskey of today, their sour mash is one of my top 3 favorites. I just wish Michter's  could've kept the original location active somehow, maybe making their limited releases from the original location. Just too much history there. It's a shame it lost it's National Historic landmark status. At least some of the original buildings still stand, unlike many former distilleries. 

Some weekend, I'd like to travel to Broad Ford PA to see the remains of Old Overholt Distillery. Then travel to the Philadelphia area to see the locations of some of Publiker's distilleries. Dave Ziegler's wonderful threads have really inspired me.

Jeff

[Jazz June]

Thank you for posting, very cool. Original fermenters and the original pot still from the PA Michter’s are now in use at Chatham’s downtown Louisville Fort Nelson location.