My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

[smokinjoe]

Man, those old barrels and barrel staves would make for some great kindlin'! You'd have a rip roarin' fire going in seconds, I bet. Dave, you should load those up, bundle them, and sell them. Do you know how much good fatwood sells for these days?

[dave ziegler]

Well as promised here are the two exciting things my friends found and brought to me as I took pictures in the 1966 Bottling house!

[dave ziegler]

Well here as promised are the pictures of the great things my friends found while I took pictures and gave me!

Pictures 1 through 4. a bottle of Rittenhouse Rye 80 proof 3/4 full and an odd bottle as label says Rittenhouse Rye 10 years Old 80 Proof Bottled in Bond? Top of seal says export.

I made sure that the seal was still fast on the one side then took it inside the house sealed the other side and opened it and Had a shot of some really smooth rich Rye

Smells of fruit and Wood

Taste of very sweet wood and fruitness to it and it is very sweet in taste and a delightful Whiskey wish there were more the only bottle of Whiskey that I have gotten there I had found a couple of Bottles of Scotch one time but never a bottle of rye. It was on a low shelf in Maintaince and laying on its side so I guess some of it just vented out. it is clear and clean and delious.

5. This is another bottle I found in the bottle house years ago it was emplty but wanted you to get another look at the strange thing of BIB whiskey at 80 proof 10 yrs old!

6.7. Old never opened in box Promotional Inver house Plastic Half bottle Pen set for desk they found it dumped in a old box.

8. Explosion Proof Light housing for a very Big Light

9. And Last some Alabama Tax stickers I found in an old office room.

What an awesome day for me and I ended up having a shot and half of the Rittenhouse Rye 80 proof!

Does anyone know anything about a BIB being only 80 proof could this be because it is for Export?

Dave Z

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It Seems All The nicest people Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

There is never a time that I don't have all kinds of Happy and sad thoughts when I go back into Kinsey, and for me it is fitting that I am friends with the fellows who keep the place locked up so people don't get hurt there!

It opens the door for many Pictures I could never have gotten and sometimes some great surprises! Like the Bottle of Rittenhouse Rye they found and gave me, or the awesome Inver House Promotional Pen Set! Both posted earlier on this thread.

But there is also great sadness in thinking of all the great people that worked there looking at the Old Calender posted in the Upstairs bottle House office with vacations marked out for the year 1985. And the Calender turned to Sept 1986. The end of the Operations at Kinsey after 94 years so quickly that the coffee Pot in the picture in the office on the Bottle House thread has supplies waiting to make the next work days coffee!

Names Long gone come back quickly Like Walter Harrington, Bonda and always Mr Si Neuman the great man who kept it all going till he died in 1976.

It took 10 yrs but the once he died it was all down hill very quickly. Mr Neuman was always the voice of reason and the driving force that kept things going and He was always wanting to make sure as he said to my friend who was a top officer in the company I have talked to that he wanted to keep his People as he called the workers to be at work and doing good!

Mr Neuman was a very Good Person and a person who always looked for inovation. Back In the day Publicker Industries led everyone in the Industrial alcohol and Drinking Spirits Industry.

I try with my pictures to piece together what it looked like back then and what it was like to be one of the Lucky people to work at Kinsey!

Here are some of my Pictures from Sunday outside and stuff found and also I decided To Post the Old Time Clock area in the 1966 Bottle House here as with all the equipment pictures I have yet to post the Time clock area might not be noticed on the Bottle house thread. I have about 60 pictures yet to post on the bottle house thread this week yet! The Time card area was in Room B of the 3 big rooms.

1.Walking into The Plant to meet my friends Sunday if you look to the Left side the bottle house is almost covered with trees and weeds to the point you can hardly see it.

2. Here is a rack holder to keep the barrel in place there are few of these left as people took them for scrap metal

3. Inventory Papers for Dec 31 1984 for Publicker Industries

4.The Last Broshure ever put out by Publicker then called Publicker Packaging services and its matching Envelope

5.6.7.7. Pictures in the 1966 Bottling house of the day shift Time card racks for In and Out then a shot of the time card racks for second shift and finally The Time clock that Hundreds of People ran in and out of for 20 years. As I took these 4 pictures I had great sorrow in my heart and thought about all those Happy people who lost their jobs and never came back to Kinsey!

I posted the time card racks so you could see how many people worked in that building and as a tribute to them and their work all those years. And I posted them on this thread to make sure they were not lost in all the Bottle House Pictures I have yet to post.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Just looking at the Pictures of the time Clock in the thread before this one bring so much back to me the clock is exactly the same one matching the one that was in the Old DSP-PA-12 they used the same kind of card also. it makes me think back to standing at the clock feeding the fish in the Old Cyprus Wood Fermenter there.

We would throw loaves of bread into the tank and giant fish would jump up to get something to eat. There were carp,suckers and lots of other types the old timers caught them at the water inlet from the river near the rail bridge. They would birng them up to the still and put them in Number #1 Fermenter Tank next to the time clock and we would feed them while waiting to ring out. It could hardly believe it the first time I rang out!

Another memory is Of my Old Friend William Haring his nickname was Bookie and just about every day he would go out at lunch to an old store about 1 1/2 miles from the plant that sold Hamburgers and sandwichs it was called Shers well Bookie would take bets we placed on Horses over at lunch and if we won the next day he would pickup our winnings. Who says we only drank at work!

There were always the Christmas Cheer Basket tickets and of course the Kinsey Benifit Fund tickets year round the money made went into a fund to help people at work that were out sick or hurt! And the Old Linfield Fire House had tickets all the time to and we had our Union meetings there.

The More I look back the more I love the old place. It was something special to get a job there in sept 1966 as I did and so many more people too with the bottle house opening up. Please check out the Pictures I posted on the Bottling House Thread I posted all the rest of the ones I took on Sunday today and yesterday there.

Dave Z

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments

[dave ziegler]

One thing I am always surprised about is how few empty or Full bottles of Our Products I find here in Pa where they were made. I have come to the conculsion that one we were so big people did not save our bottles for collections and two our Products were good enough that not many are still around sitting in dust in homes with Product in them.

I never bought anything but Our Products when I worked there and afterwards either for the most part as I always thought Our Whiskey's were the best of the best!

I was aways proud that I worked there and through the years offten thought about the place after My Mother died I heard that you could get in there and that is how I got back in 2004 fall!

I wish I would have gotten in sooner as I could have gotten lots of Pictures inside the DSP-PA 12 had I known it would go by the wrecking machine.

But now as Long as I can find interesting Historic stuff I will keep at it and I will as long as I can take my walks through, there is no nicer place to take a peacefull Walk!

Working there was like going going into a National Park with the way the grounds were kept and all the flower Beds. Also things were kept clean and uncluttered. It is so sad to see her in the state she is now.

I really loved working the Yard gang and there were all kinds of things to do every season, and I can't tell you how many times there would be cases of product that crashed and had to be taken down back to the dump in the old blue 1947 Ford Pickup. On one side of the dump sat many Old Cars and trucks from the 40's and early 1950's that had complety quite and were pulled down there, then the broken glass and dirt swept up from sweeping the floors of the buildings. In the winter we swept every warehouse out one by one each floor. Then we would do the Fire stair wells they were really dirty and sometimes had dead birds in them.

I had free run of the whole plant and had been in every building at one time working there so that is why I know as much as I do of the makeup and workings of the Plant.

When I worked there as I said before even though the still had shut down many years before they kept things except for the One fermenter tank with fish in it at the ready as far as Power and sprinklers and being Clean.

I remember sweeping around the floor between the fermenters well and even sweeping the small wood walkways in the Old Wood & Brick warehouses.

I was always amazed at how good we took care of the Plant and everything in it. About 4 years before the Plant closed they had just put a new roof on the Old House down by the river and a new slate one on the Barn. Investigating I found out why the Barn roof fell in on 2007, it was fine untill someone came in through the fields with a power saw and stole large sections of the large old solid Beam that held the Barn roof and winter 2007 It fell in from the weight of Snow. A very sad thing for me to see.

So sadly things pass and Kinsey passed at 94 yrs but what is left will always be photo and talked about by me till my time comes to pass!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[Jono]

Dave, your fondness for Kinsey reminds me of sailors who recall their ships..always with a gleam in the eye and proud to have served...especially ships involved in major actions. You need a cap with a Kinsey logo and the years it operated etc. like the U.S. Navy caps you see veterans wear.

[dave ziegler]

I never thought about that but I would love to Have a Cap Or Jacket that said Kinsey Distillery Juno! Here is something My Friends found for me the other day the Only one of its Kind in the whole Plant I will have to Get Fricky to put the 2 Halfs together somehow. And Then Laqur It, A Yellow 1969 Inver House Distillers Barrel Head It had to be one that was made over there aged there and then shipped Here as the ones we sent to be refilled were always painted over with white then stenciled. I could not believe my eyes when they gave it to me! The ones we sent also said Continental Distilling this One only says Inver House Distillers LTD Airdrie. Also says Product of Scotland 1969 I had worked there 3 years by then.

Also My friend from the beer distributer I get all my Beer from gave me this full Pint of Old Treasure 12 yr Old Whiskey from Belguim It was a blend of different 12 year Old Straight whiskeys and was shipped here and Bottled in Linfield at Kinsey.

I had never drank any and knew nothing of it till Ludy gave me an empty Bottle last year and Now I have had a shot I found it to be a Very Good Straight Whiskey and very Flavorfull. It was my friends Dads and he did not drink straight whiskey so it sat in his bar cabinet for many years the bottom says 67 for yr 1967 and the Label says Linfield Lemont IL.

I would have been working there one year when it was bottled and turned 20 that year!

I am very Lucky to Have friends that get me things from the Old days and I still love to walk around Kinsey just for the memories!

Here are the two Pictures

1. My Barrel Head

2.,3.,4. My Pint Bottle of Old Treasure

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well Today I took a 2 1/2 hr Fall walk through Kinsey and took a whole roll of 35 MM film and 50 some shots which I will post some of. But right now I want to post the other 3 Barrel Heads gotten for me because I have never seen any like them there and also a closeup of the bourbon Head from 1963 I got 2 weeks ago in warehouse M it was the only one there in the end of a broken barrel which I posted a picture of last week.

1. This Head is going to my Friend Don it is lettered like the yellow one I am keeping and Fricky is going to put back together except that one is a 48 Gal and this one and the other two Scotch Barrels heads are 120 Gal.

I am giving Don this one for all the times I did not have a cell phone and he went with me so I would not fall down and get hurt or something. And after I had been sick and almost died and I was determin to go there He went with me!

2.,3. These are the two 120 gal Scotch Heads I am giving Fricky a choice of one as He fixes things for me and I could never fix things made of wood without His help. I am figuering He will take the unsual yellow one with a bung in it but he has the choice I will keep the other as I do not have anything like these either. Even in my years working there I do not remember these type.

4. This is the 1963 Bourbon Head I took out of a broken Barrel Laying on the second floor of Warehouse M, two weeks ago I posted the Picture of it in the barrel the last week and the Yellow 48 gal Scotch Head Fricky is fixing for me is on the post Yesterday just before this post.

I will post some of my Fall colorfull pictures in Kinsey later this week, I also took 24 35MM Film pictures there today walking around for over 2 hours in the nice clean air with no one to bother me I totaly enjoyed myself just being there.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

This past Sunday was a very Nice day and I am now going to post some of my Pictures of Kinsey I took on Sunday. Well Here are 8 of the Pictures I took on Sunday I will have a couple more to post later!

1.Back Side Of Warehouse O Government Building fire escape it was totaly different in Looks from the other 13 of them because this warehouse had windows and offices in it and also the break room.

2. Sign on warehouse K one of only about 3 left there.

3. This was the Outgoing Spirits Pipe from the tank area in Warehouse O the Government Building. This pipe traveled down to the 1966 Bottling house.

4. In the trees here are two uprights that held the out going Spirits Pipe these uprights held the pipes going down to the 1966 Bottling House

5. Metering Tank Room the two tanks one of each side held almost 1/2 million Gals each.

6. Inside the little Scale Room

7. Sticker on Scale

8. Quickly Fading sign on one of tanks says 49,922 gal just short of Half a million gal there are two of them.

9.,10.,11. Pictures inside the Water Distilling room in O Building

In many ways Explosion Proof Warehouse O was different then all the other 13. Not only did it house the Government Men, have windows and tankage and pipes going by uprights to the Bottle house after doing Blending there, it also housed The Water Distilling Units and the Lunch and break room and bathroom for the plant. It also had its both stair wells look different then all the others. And Housed Barrels of aging Whiskey on all 3 floors too!

In closing Thngs are slowly going completly to pot at Kinsey and it is very Hard for me to see it happen. I wish I could time travel Back To The Day.

Dave Z

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Old Hickory America's Finest Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well here are the last of the Pictures I took on Sunday afternoon walking around Kinsey from the front to down back there is allot of room 192+ acres.

Shot 1.Roof of Old 1966 Bottling House had this shot marked wrong this was a roof cooling unit of some sort correcting my writting here, along the back side of the 1966 Bottling house.

2. Here is a shot of one of the Cement Pads where there used to be one of the 11 steer Pens.

3. This is where the road went down to the Kinsey Plant dump, back in the day dozens of old Cars and trucks made their home there once they quit.

4. One of the last of the 3 signs left on warehouses after the vandals have hit the place for many years on Q building that has the fire tower on top.

5. One of the Explosion Proof warehouses with colored weeds taking over

6. The Old 1958 Ford Continental Distilling truck disapearing in the weeds at one of the Old back side of the bottle House small docks.

For me it is always interesting walking around the plant and taking pictures at different seasons. It always it brings memories to my mind.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

I will not be going in Kinsey in the near future as There is very heavy hunting going on and I do not want to get in the line of Hunting Fire. I found out over the weekend that the Police local and state have gone in because of stray fire near houses there behind the plant. So I will not be going there for a long time. There have been shots even on Sundays even though that is not permitted. And Hunters are not permitted there so I am taking no chances. I can't remember ever seeing so many Hunters around the area.

I have lots of Pictures I can still post that I have taken in the last month.

It always breaks my heart seeing what people have done to Kinsey and when the time comes I can safely go there I will make sure to close any thing I can to keep People from ruining Kinsey any More.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[Jono]

Dave, does the site ever come up in the local press / city government etc? Discussions of its future?

[dave ziegler]

Juno thats an easy one, back in 2000 an outfit took an option to buy the place and build a propane power plant there. Everyone who lived in the area thought this was a trick and it sure was they never came close to getting permission to build the plant and the whole 2 to 2 1/2 yrs all they did was steal what they could while the owner never even checked. They knocked down the most historic Building in the Plant DSP-PA-12. Back then if someone with vision had bought the place you could have made the front into a living History place and the rest as Condos and a nice Park.

However all they did was put up signs working to restore Kinsey telling the township that, while they came in with metal cutting tools and cut every pipe and wire they could. Then they were burning a metal shed out front and caught the Old Kinsey Bottle House on fire and the old House out front.

Then just before they left they brought in a large Loader slamed it into DSP-PA-12 took all the copper and metal they could and sudenly left leaving two fork lifts, a large air compresser for jack hammers and the large old Power Generator that sits across from warehouse R. As soon as they heard they could not build a propane power plant. They also left many Metal cutting tools and a torch.

It was a case of going there under the pretense of building something by getting an option to buy and milking it for a time then pulling out and leaving Kinsey in Ruin as in the first fourteen years Kinsey Sat abandon it was still saveable. These People did all they could to destroy it.

In their so called fixing they opened every upper Explosion Proof warehouse door leaving them open and the buildings open to rain, snow and bad weather and causing the doors to warp and now they can't be closed I have tried many times to close some of them. And now they are wet and the roofs leaking and all because of Lieing People who wanted One thing just money and nothing else.

Next in 2007 We had a supervisor who wanted the tax payers in the township to front 20 million dollars to buy it and then give it to someone to build a trash to steam plant.

The trouble there was the Tax payers did not want that at all and the Supervisor was also under the table making deals for his bussiness that he worked for He left in shame from the board of supervisors and Kinsey stayed the same which I would rather see her sit then have someone go there and knock every single thing down and end the History of this famous place.

So that is the History of the Place from year 2000. It closed in year 1986 in Sept and when it did it everything was in very good shape but the owner just did not care to stay to try and rent things out He just shut everything Off and walked away now for 23 years This is what kills me.

Why didn't he sell it to someone who could have saved everything No he just sits and collects loss on it all these years while paying Taxes on it.

I Have No Time for Him. If you wanted to write what caused the end of Kinsey two things First Mr Neuman Dying suddenly and the hostle takeover with no idea how to run Publicker.

And two Selling Kinsey to this man and leasing it back in 1982 and trusting this guy to do the right thing. All he did was help to put Publicker under by raising the Lease price everytime he could and once they went under just walked in told the electricians turn the power off leave everything and fired the security People and went back to NY for good!

This is the History of Kinsey in the last 23 years a sad and horrible one for a place that was the Biggest employer and highest paying place in all of Limerick Township back in the day. And The Worlds Most Beautiful Distillery in its time.

Dave Z

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments

Kinsey The Genial Gin

Join The Swing To Kinsey

[dave ziegler]

There is something Profound in the difference I taste when I drink some of the little bit I have of Our vintage Products. It is something I can't explain but Last night I poured a little bit of Old Hickory 86 Proof 10 yr old from 1962 and there is just something that happens in your mouth drinking it and the flavor is just so very Different from my modern favorites it is something I just can not Explain.

It has a instant taste,smell and feel that is just so different and everything I have had of our stuff was that way when I could compare it. Nothing againest the new stuff there is just a profound difference I like, others may not but I find Vintage Whiskey preferable in other brands also.

Maybe its the old cyprus Fermenters used in Phila and the water and the process and our aging process But our stuff was different and just darn good!

Looking at the cold weather coming now I think of those days back when we would be just cranking out Spirits by the Thousands every day and 3 box cars every day sitting at the dock plus many trucks getting loaded. Those busy Days were great days for 600 people who worked there and loved their Job!

As the cold weather came on out came your bottle for a nip when you walked from warehouse to warehouse dumping whiskey, let the good times roll.

I can still remember a very cold day when an old timer said to me Dave its cold out don't forget your Flask. It really does not warm you up but it was what we did back in the day!

I can with joy remember Wed Dec 24 1969 Christmas eve as I watched just about every Person in the plant except a few including myself as I wanted to watch the unfolding of the celabration of the coming holiday and people bringing it on drinking great whiskey.

I had a pint filled with Barrel Bourbon and what I did was pretend to drink out of it letting most go back in the bottle as I wanted to watch humanity enjoy the day!

It was a day I will never forget by Noon the Government men where just sitting in their office and smiling people were dancing in the lunch room, singing, people that did not like each other were shaking hands it was Awesome! Company Men were drinkng Whiskey and having a good time and wishing us a great Christmas.

Bonda was weaving around in his old 1951 Plymouth directing trucks coming in. And 90% of the people were really loading up on Bourbon and what ever Spirits they could get.

It was a great thing to watch I totaly enjoyed watching it and seeing people drinking but also being careful no one got hurt and we still got the work we needed done that day and no one drove that was in bad shape we took care of each other those days.

When it was time to go home I pulled up to the security shack to wish the guard a great Christmas and he leaned out smiled and sounding like he had hit it hard already and said Merry Christmas!

Christmas 1969 was a wonderful Christmas for me back then for many reasons, I would soon buy a 2 yr old 1967 Buick Grand sport GS 400 with 425 Horse power 4 speed with only 10,000 miles on it that would fly, I made great money for those days $101.20 a week clear and I loved my job and had lots of people I worked with I really liked. And I was only 22 yrs old.

Back Then I had no Idea the day would ever come I would walk around Kinsey and it would be totaly abandoned and up to me to talk of Her great History to save it for future people to know.

And I feel so thankful to be able to talk about Publicker Industries / Continental Distilling Corp and my beloved Kinsey Distillery and of my Hero Mr. Si Neuman!

"Take away the Pain that comes in Memory Lane."

Dave Z

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It seems All The nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments

Philadelphia The Heritage Whiskey

Inver House Scotch Soft As A Kiss

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[Jono]

It is great that you had presence of mind to just purposefully record mentally that day....you must have had a premonition that times were changing and that the old days were about gone. Being a young man at the time that was a keen observation. As you get older you try to do that with family gatherings....try to capture each holiday...the people, the fun, the laughter, the bickering too! The card games and banter...just relish in the warm glow....aided by a good whiskey!

[dave ziegler]

Juno That is why I did that I wanted to always remember that day. I did the same type of thing when my Mom was living and we took trips. I remember fondly my first piece of Continental Distilling stuff other then the couple things I got when I worked there.

I was walking around downtown Skowhegan ME on Vacation with my Mom and I went in a small antique store with my mom and there in the cabinet was a pint Haller's County fair BIB Bourbon bottle from the 1940's. Kinsey had just gone under a few years back then and I remember it like it was yesterday buying it and from that day many years before now, I decided to collect as much stuff from the company as I could.

Those days it was harder you had to find a store that had something, and here I am many years later writing about the Plant and having many wonderful things from there and bought things and a little bit of Old Hickory too!

For some reason Yesterday I was able to get into Kinsey safely with no shooting and I got a few nice Pictures I will post. I do not expect to get in much more till hunting is over as going in by the field is not safe.

I never tire of going back and have gone there on Thanksgiving day 3 years in a row. Kind of like going home for me at my age. I hope once it is safe again to get some more shots in the Big Bottle house with my friends and post them.

Couple of weeks ago before the Hunting started I went in the old House out front that Mr Kinsey and Company Man George Dill both lived in and had my one leg go through a staircase so I left there quick. I will post some of those pictures too. Right after that the next weekend it sounded like world war II was going on in the plant with Hunters.

It is very sad to see Explosion proof Warehouse Q with the Fire tower on top getting so bad. When I went up on the roof water was laying everywhere so I took my shots from the stairwell door not wanting to take a chance on falling through the cement roof as cement can get rotten too!

I have some very nice regular and 35 mm Pictures and will start posting them soon.

As you get older it is hard seeing how many years have gone by and people gone and companies that were great gone forever and Publicker was one of the Greatest!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well I finally put my shots from the Beginning of Nov at the plant, on disc and here are some of them. I am posting 5 pictures right now and will post more soon as I have about 81 + some will go on the Fire Tower thread also.

1.After two months here is the Explosion proof lamp I created for my hall way from 1940's parts from warehouse 38. The base was made by the shipper at work and It was wired by the plant Electrician and I built and designed it myself to look like the ones that were turned upward like this on the stair case going up to the Black outside tanks.

2. Time card Rack at my house with some original time cards from Bottling in it

3. Walking into the plant on a cool Nov day

4. Here is the heating unit in one of the 4 Plant maintaince rooms in the Old Kinsey Maintaince Barn. Shorty ( Harrison ) Tyson worked in there and this was his heat note the cardboard on the ceiling to insulate the room!

5.Here on the wall in the Old Maintaince Barn is Ludy's Old Phone number from back in the Late 1940's early 1950's.

Everytime I go there I find something exciting for me and I remember more and more stuff. Tomorrow I will post the only pictures I have ever taken in the Old Plant company House next to the Old Kinsey Bottling house. It is a very Historic House in bad shape. It is Historic in that it was the very Last House Mr. Kinsey ever stayed in before He went Bankrupt in 1939. His Great Nephew Al Landis 90 yrs old told me Mr. Kinsey would stay there during the week then go home to his Large House in the Parkside section of Philadelphia.

In later years my Old friend Company man George Dill lived there and Our Plant nurse that loved Bourbon and Coffee had her office on the first floor. I also have a shot of the stairway going to the attic which I partly fell through ending my exporations.

I hope in the winter to go down back again looking for the Old remains of the 1700's Post office behind the home Mr Kinsey lived in after first buying the Place down by the river as Continental had put a fancy marker where the Post office stood to mark it as Geoge Washington had mailed something from there during the war when at Valley Forge!

To see such a historic place get this way is hard and it is always my Goal to speak of all I know of the place.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[Gillman]

Dave, was the new make doubled or was there only one run through a column still? If it wasn't doubled, maybe that explains the extra nuance of taste you find in the old products (and you are not alone in feeling that products of 30 and 40 years ago seemed often to have something extra).

If you do not know, would Ludy, perhaps?

Gary

[dave ziegler]

Hi Gary I spoke to Al Landis who turned 91 last week his Father was the master Distiller for Mr Kinsey and for Continental Distilling for as long as they ran the Old Dsp-pa-12 sometime in the mid to early 1950's.

Al could only tell me about the #12 Colum still but he gave me some information on it that he was told by His great Uncle Jake Kinsey and his father Hoarce master distiller taught by Mr Kinsey.

It is so long ago and most of the people have passed on I will also call Ludy today and ask him some more about stuff. I got Al at 8:00am he was going out the door and this is what he told me about DSP-Pa-12.

It was Built in mid 1933 as soon as Prohibion ended, it took 100 pound of steam to get it going. They did 3 batches a day the fermenting took 3 days and there were 12 Cyprus fermenting tanks. The Batches would go into tanks to be cooked traveling into 3 differant cooking tanks each batch to be cooked 1 time in each tank then to a condenser and then to what he called redistill still then to another Condenser and finally to the Cistran room to be barreled. The whiskey came off the still at about 130 proof and they cut them to between 108 to 110 proof and barreled them. They could barrel back in Kinseys day 80 barrels a day. I do not know how much was done once Continental Distilling took over but I do know up till at least Spring 1951 they used the stills and They may have ran it till 1955 but my Mash bills are from 1951 that I found there. So it looks like it was doubled so I do not know why but the Older stuff always tastes better to me! Reditill is Doubling Right?

I don't know if this is what you wanted but Al said there were basicly two stills in the DSp Pa 12 building the second being the redistiller still. He did not remember much about the Old Barn Pot still but again he told me He and Oscar Tyson dumped the first barrel after Prohibition ended. In the #10 Barn. The redistiller is what you call a doubler I would think so that is that.

I hope some of this information is helpful to your question Gary!

I am now going to post a few more pictures of the front of the plant.

1. I went into the Old George Dill / Mr Kinsey / and Plant Nurses station House out front for the first time and most likely the last it is in bad condition. I took this shot of the old bastment boiler at a distance with my zoom because it is coated with Asbestos! I was amazed to find the house had been completely rewired with heavy duty Industrial breaker boxes so it was very safe in its day.

2. This first floor room was one of two Our Bourbon drinking Plant Nurse used. we would go here for cuts and injuries.

3. Second floor which George Dill had to himself the years I worked there till he retired while I was still there. This house is historic in that after the Plant reopened in 1933 after Prohibition ended My Kinsey Would stay here in this house during the week then go home to Phila where he had a large Home in the parkside section of Phila. When he bought the place back in 1892 he stayed in the Old Historic House by the river Down back but once he was in bussiness and reopened he had bought a large home In Phila and as his office was on 1520 Locust Street Phila he stayed in Phila alot

4. Here is the Stairway to the 3rd floor I fell partly through I then left there.

5.Here is a nice shot of the outside of the house it sits right next to the Old Kinsey Bottle house near the road.

6. Here is a shot of the fallen down second floor of the Old Bottle House Mr Kinsey Built. This happen because of the people that claimed they were going to buy the place from the owner and build a propane power plant which was never to be and they were burning some metal and caught the Top floor of the house and Bottle house on fire the bottle house roof fell down many years later last Nov 2008 right before Thanksgiving due to snow weight on it.

7. This is the front door into the Old Bottle house / or Happy House as Sandie calls it.

8. another shot of the fallen roof.

9. Fire Pump house between the Bottling house and the Old yellow Kinsey house

10. The Old Siclair Gas pump you can still make out Dino on the broken glass. it used to sit next to the Old Plant Maintaince Barn hill in the back

of the barn.

11. Here is a shot of theback of the Barn the Gas pump sat on the right side of the dirt ramp going into the barn.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's most magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Here are some more of my Sundays walks through Kinsey pictures in the fall.

1. & 2. Third floor of the Fire tower building Q wet because of the fire that happen so many years ago. Stalagtites growing on the ceiling

3. A Look through the Wall where the fire company punched through.

4. Wet floor 3rd floor of Warehouse Q stalagmites growing on the floor.

5. Sign in Warehouse T in Stair well first floor

6. Fallen skids of Bottles In warehouse T

7. & 8. The two types styles of barrel elevators used in the warehouses

9. The Only Boiler left out front in the old section of the plant

10. Looking through where the Old Dsp-Pa-12 used to stand.

One more note I got a call from my friend from Ca who was a top executive for Publicker Last Night He will not be getting out here till spring of 2010.

Once again it is so sad seeing these great Elopsion proof Warehouses the Best ones ever in their time frame sitting and falling into the hands of Younger People who know nothing but how to destroy things. History is being destroyed as the person who owns Kinsey sits back and does not care at all, Kinsey means nothing to him and he should never have been allowed to buy it.

It is like taking a beautiful painting and smashing it just for fun!

Dave Z

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Inver House Soft As A kiss

[Gillman]

Thanks Dave, clearly they did a second distillation, so that answers my question. Thanks again for asking them. Maybe it was the cypress vats that imparted that extra quality!

Gary

[Jono]

Dave, your photos always bring to mind the power of nature, decay, nostalgia, faded beauty, time....some poetic quotes:

"It's amazing how quickly nature consumes human places after we turn our backs on them. Life is a hungry thing."

Scott Westerfeld, Peeps, 2005

"Nature is wont to hide herself."

Heraclitus

Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition.

Sir William Osler

“O Solitude! If I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap of murky buildings”

John Keats quotes (English Romantic Poet. 1795-1821)

“Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun.”

Frank Lloyd Wright

"I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.'

William Butler Yeats

[dave ziegler]

Here I am with a blast from the past while walking around Kinsey I went into O building because it was ripped open. I went to the Government Office and upstairs looking on the floor I saw a torn envelope addressed to Bill Theodoisis who was before he died Plant Manager and a very Nice man who died right after I started there of a Heart atack.

My first picture is what I found in the envelope

1. An Old Bottle Machine sits on the dock of the 1966 Bottle House.

2. A cut out from a paper about the Sales people at Continental,Kinsey and Hallers getting together on June 12 1950 to talk about their ideas for that year. Note the bottles of product in the cut out. Mr Theodosis is 5th from the left

3.& 4. On the 23rd of Nov the day before the holiday my friends from sales at work Jim & Doris came down and asked me to hang around at lunch because they had to get something out. I believed them and waited.

at 11:39 they called me to come to my car there they gave me a professionaly framed set of Tax strips and the pictures of my barrel from begining to end. I had given my friend Jim the pictures and strips as a gift and they turned around and paid to have them professionaly framed and matted as a surprise for me I was in awe

I had given these to Jim as a gift in the summer and Him and the Lady in Sales had made them into a Thankgiving Surprise.

These are Pictures of them hanging proudly at home.

I am very lucky to work with such great people as I do where I work now!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

When you get into your sixties you do allot of thinking back and I must say the times back in 1966 through 1971 working at Kinsey were some of the Best of times. People cared more and we did not at all mind working hard for the good money we made at Kinsey working for Continental Distilling. I have yet to talk to anyone who did not love working there.

You also had allot of pride in the products we made and how many we made. All our brands were very succesful and were enjoyed world wide! And Our Old Hickory in my mind was the Best Straight Bourbon around Back then.

It is hard to relise that all our products are Long gone having worked there and Knowing that Line A-F-1 alone could do 40,000 bottles a day. Yet they are gone and The most Prolihic Distiller of those Times is long gone to. It was like People, it got sick once Mr Neuman was gone and never recovered and died. A few of our brands are still around such as Philadelphia Blended but it is but a shadow of what it was when we made it.

I can sit here and in my Mind there I am going down in the tunnel below the still for break. Having a coffee and a sandwich and talking with Milt Shantz about his Ponies or giving Bookie some money to put on the Horses. Or maybe in Warehouse N playing dice with the guys it was all fun and days were sunny and filled with excitment back then.

Now Kinsey sits and rots and Continental / Publicker Industries is no more but what it was will always fill me with pride that I was a part of it and that I can still tell people about it and those great days of Old Hickory and Kinsey Silver.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The nicest People Drink Old hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon