Marker's Mark

[jkiiha]

Although the common consensus seems to be that this is a great tour, I would advise going to another distillery. After driving 17 miles in the pounding rain to reach Loretto, I was treated to a rushed, somewhat cursory tour of the distillery where the guide seemed more concerned with missing her lunch hour than talking bourbon.

During the tour, the guide handed out a good deal of incorrect information. For instance, she claimed that Maker's Mark is the only distillery to distill its bourbon twice. It isn't. Double distillation is an industry standard. Also, she claimed that Maker's is the only distillery in America to ferment the mash in cypress tanks. Again, although most distilleries use a combination of stainless steel and cypress tanks, you will find cypress tanks in most bourbon distilleries.

At Wild Turkey and Four Roses, I had the honor of meeting the master distillers of both organizations. In fact, at Four Roses, I had the even greater honor of spending time in the tasting room sampling the bourbons of various distillers and comparing it with Four Roses' excellent product.

Overall, my advice is that if you really want to learn about bourbon go to a working distillery that does not set itself up as a showplace for tourists and sample the fruits of real Southern Hospitality.

Regards,

Jay Kiiha

kiiha@go.com

[cowdery]

Very good information to know. Possibly Maker's Mark has gotten complacent. It used to be the best tour in the state, primarily because no one else was doing anything. I hope you will send a copy of your critique to Bill Samuels. You can contact them on the web at makersmark.com. It is also possible you just got a bad guide, but Bill should know that too. Too bad. It really is a nice place. You may not have known this, but her statement about cypress tanks was wrong on two counts. Maker's itself uses a combination of cypress and stainless steel, they just keep the stainless steel fermenters out of sight of the tourists.

--Chuck Cowdery

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I've visited Maker's four times in the past two years, the last being just a few days ago with Mark Mason (of this forum) and his family. That tour was the only good one of the four, and it was really good (I'm glad Mark was on that one). It was also the only one led by a very personable and knowledgeable Hungarian gentleman named Falvai. In fact, that was one of the best public tours we've ever been on. I'm afraid the other three Maker's guides (two different women and one other man) all pretty well matched Jay's experience. Falvai only recently joined Maker's Mark (after retiring as an air traffic controller) and really knows his stuff (and how to present it to people). The others all gave us the impression they'd been "volunteered" for the duty and would rather be back on the bottling line.

Falvai never mentioned just what he actually DOES at Maker's Mark (tour guide is not a full-time position there), and I kind of suspect he may have a different regular position than the other guides we've seen (who really are mostly from the bottling crew). I've heard persistant rumors that Jimmy Russell over at Wild Turkey likes to take over a tour occasionally, pretending to be a maintenance man covering for the regular tour guide. I've met Jimmy and I believe it. In fact, he was there the last time we toured Wild Turkey, lurking in the visitor's center and being as inconspicuous as a man his height can possibly be :-)

Does anyone know if there is a mid-fifty-ish fellow with a Hungarian accent involved in the operations part of Maker's Mark?

-John Lipman-

http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I would like to echo John's comments on the Maker's Mark tour. Since I have only been to this distillery once, I cannot compare, but my family and I were well pleased. We were able to see the grain after grinding, as well as the mashing and fermenting. It all made sence to my junior high aged children, so Falvai painted a very clear picture. He even let us taste the beer fermenting in the tanks, which actually did taste like beer. The bottling line was not running the week we were there, but Falvai was able to explain it's operations in a way that held the fascination of the whole tour group. Having John along on the tour added a lot to the experience, including pointing out the red layer in a sectioned barrel. The ladies in the gift shop kept it open a little past quitting time for us, and even let me dip my bottle in wax twice since I botched the first dip. My only disappointment was seeing a car in the parking lot with Texas license plates, which robbed me of the most distance traveled.

Sorry you had a bad experience, it appears that some feedback is in order!

Mark A. Mason, El Dorado, Arkansas

[kitzg]

Since the one distillery we visited this weekend (during the Bourbon FestivaL) was Maker's Mark. And since there have already been comments about their tour on this forum, I shall be brief. Keep in mind we were there on a sunny fall day (no rain in site) and we were nestled in the rolling hills of Kentucky.

The setting is absolutely charming and the physical facilities are also. Of course, that is part of the cachet of the brand. This is not Brown-Forman (though B-F tries the same approach with Jack Daniels). The Samuels' have done a nice job of setting themselves apart with the color scheme. This is good tourism, good marketing, and good business.

The historical significance of the Quart house (I assume this is historically accurate and substantiated) is certainly worth seeing.

The tour itself was nice and I noticed only the certain absense of full information on some points as opposed to incorrect information as reported in this forum before. For the average tourist I'm sure our guide said more than they'd want to know. I'd certainly take someone on this tour if they were a fan of the product! I probably will go back on a weekday sometime so I can dip a bottle as a gift to a relative.

Our guide was cheerful and the bourbon candy was delicious. Well worth the trip as far as I'm concerned.

Greg