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My Memories of Kinsey Distilling


dave ziegler

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When I started at Kinsey in the Yard gang about one yr later we started the project of removing all the Metal barrel racks from the Explosion proof Warehouses. The contracter that removed them just cut the welds with a welder torch and then we would haul them to a wagon we had behind a farm tractor and take them to the steer pens were we would put them in big piles. When I was bumped and went to the warehouses They were just starting to refill the warehouses all the racks were out of. The Barrels were really big not sure how many gal but we would use a lift and stack them it two of us to roll them across the pile on the second level and to stand them up. They all stood on their bottom instead of on their side like the old ones. when they were ready to be emptied they would put a long hose and pump the whiskey out and run it into the trouth. Or or later into a big Tank where it could go to the bender or straight Bourbon lines. It was a big difference from when I started and all the wearehouses were full of regular I think 40 gal barrels. The big Barrels leaked very badly and the Coopers cused alot about them. They lost lots of whiskey in leakage, the floors were always getting wet!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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One of the neatest things when I worked at Kinsey was being able to find and get straight Whiskey from the barrel. I was lucky enough to have had straight Rye from the barrel which would be made into Rittenhouse Rye and Straight Bourbons which would have been used for Old Hickory or Hallers County fair or other Continental straight bourbons! Thinking about it now I am surprised I did not get bombed right away as I had never had whiskey till I worked there. I found that the stuff as long as you had the Bung Cloth under when you poured it it was smooth and full of flavor, granted it was strong who knows how much proof it was straight from the barrel but siping it from a 1/2 Pint bottle it was real Good! Mostly used a 1/2 Pint as it would be easier to sip and not get too much to quick! The very First Drink I had was straight Rye after that it has always been a favorite, then Next the boss showed me the Bourbon Barrels and that was so good! How many of you have had the chance to drink it right from the barrel? Anyway it was a great job and never a dull minute! One of the things that was amazing to me was how fast Ben Myers got the Bung out filed a notch in each side got it back in and poured me my fisrt Bourbon!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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How many of you have had the chance to drink it right from the barrel?

I have been lucky enough to have had: 1792 Barton at ten years of age and Four Roses at four years of age.

I have had many others....though they were already bottled.

Thanks for all the great memories.:cool:

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I've had my share of these, Heaven Hill's stands out as the best.

Somewhere I once read (not that I endorse it for barrel strength, au contraire) that when you take in liquor neat, part of the alcohol is not metabolized by the body. This would suggest that sipping a strong drink would not necessarily result in greater intoxication than sipping at a lower proof diluted.

Gary

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I've had my share at the distilleries. I remember a barrel proof 4 Roses at Cox's Creek and a wonderful barrel proof 1792 at Barton. Had some more 4 Roses samples in Lawrenceburg. Bettye Jo gave me a sample of Barrel Proof Elijah Craig. Nothing like barrel proof whiskey.

Joe :usflag:

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You are very right Joe the stuff straight from the Barrel is most times unbelieveable! I remember back in those days trying lots of different Years distilled straights from the older warehouses. The Old guys always knew were to send you for some good Whiskey, as they had barrels they had opened and filed ready to pour in alot of warehouses. The Rye which was the first Whiskey I had ever Had was just amazing stuff and the old timer said it was to be dumped for Rittenhouse Rye! The old guys would move barrels up just enough to leave room in the rack to roll the one you wanted whiskey out of front enough to have it pour right through the u filed in the bung. As I have said before it would flow perfect and clean if the Bung cloth was put back in right, it was a great filter. They would remember which rack it was in by counting the steps from the end to the right rack and write it with chauk on a wall somewhere like end of last row 10 steps from this end row,they would write it with a flashligt in the first row so no one would see it. My Boss showed me how to do all this as soon as I went in the warehouses after being bumped from the yard gang! Guys would also put full bottles places and then forget where they put them. A few years ago I found a bottle like that in the plant on top of a metal desk back in a corner Governors club Gin! It is so sad to see the place in ruin now and the buildings wasting away. But the days are gone and only the memories live on and that is what I hope I am doing keeping the place alive with memories!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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I remember just walking in a warehouse and finding bottles put in some of the weirdest Places by guys. One guy told me back then he had one in every warehouse so he could get a drink quick. Bonda the traffic guy always came in early and filled his bottles then kept them under the seat of his 1951 Pylmouth. I would see Bonda having a drink at 7:00 Am most days. I can still see him shifting then grabing his bottle and taking a hit!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

---------------------------------------------

Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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One of my Favorite Products which I am lucky enough to have many cases of is Continental Peanut Lolita, which was a Peanut Liquor made with Bourbon. It is 53 proof and a delightful drink by itself or by adding a big shot of Bourbon to it which I do offten. I am not much for Liquors but this Peanut has a kick to it like a good Bourbon should with a very nice Peanut flavor. Continental was the only company ever to make a peanut Liquor from what I know. They sold a lot of Liquors in those days and mine was bottled in the old Kinsey Bottle House out front. In those days Continental was always ahead of the times with products and they had very good quality control too! Tasting the Peanut Lolita its gives you a crisp Peanut flavor with heavy over tones of good Bourbon and a sort of Roasted Peanut smell. It is very pleasant, not to sweet with a nice kick for only being 53 proof. I often enjoy a glass with an extra shot of Bourbon or Rye in it. At your first sip you feel that inhale feeling you get with a good Bourbon hard to explain sort deep breathing it in and it never gets to the point that you feel it is too sweet.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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One of the things I remember from the old days at Kinsey was how much Continental went out and found neat ways to market their Products. Example the Old Hickory Figureen of Andy Jackson, the Liberty Bell for Phila Blended Whiskey. they had differant Boxes for every season. And they had so many solgans. An Example of that was their Skol Vodka on the top of the case it said Just say Skol instead of Vodka! I have a set of 3 old time 1950's Coffee Carafes Pints that came with 100 proof bottled in Bond Old hickory in them, and a booklet telling you to use them after you were done to heat coffee or water and pour some Old Hikory in them to drink! I had one given to me by an old friends son his dad had been a friend of mine back then he was a government man. I also had one from my Dads stuff and I had one from when I worked there. Years later I found the box that two of them would have been in and the owners manuel laying on the floor in an old building there. They were the only one I ever saw to make a Pint Bottled in Bond Bourbon in such a contaner and I am lucky to have them as I have never seen any others for sale anywhere. They had all kinds of sizes for stuff from 1/10th to 1/2 Gallon and their bottles were always the best you could buy heavy bottom weighted glass. They said in the Manuel why not heat some water or coffee in your Carafe now when you use it and put a shot or two of Old Hickory in with it, the flavor will jump out at you! That was some smart marketing some one buys the carafes then when one is empy they heat some coffee or water on one of those old tin things you put on a burner then pour some old hickory in and find a whole new way to enjoy your Bourbon! Is it any wonder that our Nurse loved Coffee and Bourbon! I am going to scan the book and put it up after I finish here so you can see what they looked like!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Here are two pictures of the Booklet that came with the carafes and a Picture of two of them together. I have never seen these anywhere.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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That's some wild stuff!

Were these type servers popular in restaurants at one time? What would you put under these when heating them...or just strait on the burner? Maybe you heated them with hot water? Did I miss that part of your story?

Great info either way. Keep 'em coming, Dave.

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Jeff In the old days you could either heat the water or Coffee and pour it in them or put a little metal ring thing on the Burner turn the heat on low and warm them slowly there then you would sit it in the cup it had a samller bottom with a lip just up from the end and the heat would radiate back at the carafe till you were ready to take it out and pour the Water or coffee in the cup and add the Bourbon. Places you ate at back in the old days had the same thing and they would bring your Coffee about 2 cups a Pint out in the carafe sitting in the cup then you would pour a cup worths put the cap on to keep the rest warm its an early thermal type of Glass. So Continental decided to take it a little farther by selling Old Hickory Bottled in Bond in these neat old Carafes In the 1950's. I had two of the carafes most of my Life the third was given me by The old Government Man Smitty's son as a gift. It had a cap the others were missing, I was lucky enough to find caps for them and the owners Manuel and the gift box for two of them at the Plant a yr back or so!

I don't think any other Distillery ever made anything like this!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Jono I am very Lucky to have that very Stock Cert in a Uncanceled state! Here are the rest of the Pictures from my Trip to Kinsey with Fricky & Phils fan!

Pictures are

1.The Ladder I had to climb in Warehouse E to get to the 6th and all Levels

2. One of the Old racks still in ok shape

3. through 7. Pictures taken in the old Kinsey Bottle House which was used for Liqour Bottling till fall 1979 when they stopped bottling of all Drinking Alcohols.

8. Facing the back wall of the old Kinsey Dsp #10 Rye still, the space to the Left is where they set up a Bottling Line back in 1936 where the first Barrel was dumped Rittenhouse Rye.

9. Phils Fan (Joe) and Fricky standing Beside where Old #12 Still was to the Right, behind them some of the old Grain Buildings behind to the left of picture the old Maintaince Barn.

10. Looking down from the front at Warehouse H and at the back Warehouse M

11.& 12 the Old Hickory Clock that Bourbon Joe gave me I took it home and spent the night getting it running again it is now stone quite and runs good!

I want again to Thank Bourbon Joe for this wonderful Clock I want to Thank Fricky for my Lunch and the sipping of Bourbon at his home and I want to Thank Phils Fan for the Wonderful Bottle of Very Old barton Bourbon 100 proof He gave me. What a great bunch of Guys! Siped weller, Old Fitz from 1980 that Phils Fan brought and some 15 yr Old forester a special one forget the rest of the name I had such a good time!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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Siped weller, Old Fitz from 1980 that Phils Fan brought and some 15 yr Old forester a special one forget the rest of the name I had such a good time!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

-------------------------------------------------

Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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The 15 yr old was actually Wild Turkey......

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The 15 yr old was actually Wild Turkey......

Dam you are right 15 yr Wild Turkey I was so much having fun I forgot as we also had some good Old Forester the better stuff there! Sometimes when you are having a good time you get mixed up at my Age, Sorry about that!!

Dave

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We had a really overcast day in the Plant but as you can see our Pictures turned out very good. On the other post Fricky put a couple with me in them, One in the Old Kinsey Plant lunch room and one on the dock of one of the old buildings and one With Phils fan At Building O the old Government Building.

We had a good time and the offer for anyone else who would like to look around still stands!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

-----------------------------------------------

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I hope sometime to take others through the plant while it is still there to see, it is one big 200 acre Place and we did alot of driving there in the old days they always had 3 or 4 cars and lots of old Trucks. We could most times only move about maybe 20 barrels on the truck we just made two rolled on rows and stuck a wedge under the last one on each of the rows! The Barrels on the big Piles were something else after the racks were gone two or three people to stand them once we got them up on the second level of the pile. Standing like that they leaked alot from the heads. Ludy told me the big ones were 300 gal or abouts. We saw an old Barrel ring from one of them down at the place the steer Pens were on Monday. It was really big, I remember the Coopers haveing one heck of a time with them. Ludy said they were no Dam good!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Working At Kinsey was like working where I am now I always went in early and was not in a super hurry to leave it was such a nice place to work. We worked hard but never really thought about it much. The one job I did not like on the yard gang was the unloading of the coal cars as you had to climb up in them to knock coal that would stick off the sides. One of my most enjoyable jobs was just weeping floors in the old Buildings, like the #12 Still. We always were told to keep everything clean and safe. The old buildings were fasinating and I still remember happy breaks in the old tunnel at the bottom of the Still building. The DSP-Pa-12 was built on a small hill and the mash tanks ran all the way down. We rang out in the front room where the Mash tanks were as I have said and fed the fish in the one tank. There were six real big Wood tanks for the mash and in one part of the building was an old Sisterin. Charlie Sipler showered in the old grain building and kept his mobil Buggy with his tools on it In the Barn out in front next to the Old Bottling house is where Frank Kurtas, and Harrison Tyson ( Shorty ) and Lou Steffy worked and Dickie worked in the home made room between the #10 Rye barn and old 1892 Warehouse B. The rooms were not much for room and they were fairly cold those days if you went and looked now you would see. Just an old Barn with stuff stuck in the ceiling to keep out the cold but they never complained. We always worked with what we had. The heat lines ran from the boiler room out front all along the plant to just before the steer Pens which was about a mile or more I would say, they were wrapped in Asbestos to keep them hot. If you look at one of my early pictures I have one with the Pink Mack they are running down the driveway in the back ground. We had real good insurance and coverage for medicine and as I have said made good money. In a old Pay stub dated Dec 9 1969 I took home after tax $101.20 which was real good for those days. We had plenty of Mowing around the plant there were 5 of us mowing every summer including all 3 company houses. And we had to make sure there were no weeds or danyloin. The Lawns were like you would see at a Mansion! We had riding mowers gang mowers and hand rotory and reel mowers the gang mowers were also reel type to give the Baseball field effect on the big lawns. Also there were flower beds and lots of nice trees like the one I put on here I took care of. And I never heard anyone say anything but good about our Whiskeys and other products back in that Day! I am glad I got to take the guys from SB so they could see how very big and how nice the place would have been then. I believe the Kinsey Distillery was the Most Beautiful Distillery there was back then It was like going to work in a beautiful Park!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Working At Kinsey was like working where I am now I always went in early and was not in a super hurry to leave it was such a nice place to work. We worked hard but never really thought about it much. The one job I did not like on the yard gang was the unloading of the coal cars as you had to climb up in them to knock coal that would stick off the sides. One of my most enjoyable jobs was just weeping floors in the old Buildings, like the #12 Still. We always were told to keep everything clean and safe. The old buildings were fasinating and I still remember happy breaks in the old tunnel at the bottom of the Still building. The DSP-Pa-12 was built on a small hill and the mash tanks ran all the way down. We rang out in the front room where the Mash tanks were as I have said and fed the fish in the one tank. There were six real big Wood tanks for the mash and in one part of the building was an old Sisterin. Charlie Sipler showered in the old grain building and kept his mobil Buggy with his tools on it In the Barn out in front next to the Old Bottling house is where Frank Kurtas, and Harrison Tyson ( Shorty ) and Lou Steffy worked and Dickie worked in the home made room between the #10 Rye barn and old 1892 Warehouse B. The rooms were not much for room and they were fairly cold those days if you went and looked now you would see. Just an old Barn with stuff stuck in the ceiling to keep out the cold but they never complained. We always worked with what we had. The heat lines ran from the boiler room out front all along the plant to just before the steer Pens which was about a mile or more I would say, they were wrapped in Asbestos to keep them hot. If you look at one of my early pictures I have one with the Pink Mack they are running down the driveway in the back ground. We had real good insurance and coverage for medicine and as I have said made good money. In a old Pay stub dated Dec 9 1969 I took home after tax $101.20 which was real good for those days. We had plenty of Mowing around the plant there were 5 of us mowing every summer including all 3 company houses. And we had to make sure there were no weeds or danyloin. The Lawns were like you would see at a Mansion! We had riding mowers gang mowers and hand rotory and reel mowers the gang mowers were also reel type to give the Baseball field effect on the big lawns. Also there were flower beds and lots of nice trees like the one I put on here I took care of. And I never heard anyone say anything but good about our Whiskeys and other products back in that Day! I am glad I got to take the guys from SB so they could see how very big and how nice the place would have been then. I believe the Kinsey Distillery was the Most Beautiful Distillery there was back then It was like going to work in a beautiful Park!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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One last thing about the Explosion proof warehouse Buildings they are so cool when you walk in them you feel like you are in the Most wonderful air conditioned building you could be, that part in the hot summer was wonderful and I admit I loved the smell of the Whiskeys it was just to me something wonderful!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Just a quick note on the Publicker / Continental Site I wish they would answer my E mails as I could tell them alot they do not know about the Place but they have never wrote back. I wanted to tell them about when the Still shut down as they seemed to think that it never ran when Publicker owned it, but It shut down in 1951 my 90 year old Friend Ludy told me all about that and they kept it in good shape for the sake of the Grandfather laws as they had hoped to build a new still there in the future back then. If anyone Knows John and Linda tell them to write me as I would love to give them some more information! I try to get as much out about the place as I can and it was trurely an amazing place in the old days a power House of a Company that was very inovative! I wish I could take every one back in time to see the place in the fall of 1969 one of our biggest years with box cars of Whiskeys leaving everyday and truck after truck till about a week or so before Christmas! There were People everywhere working and we were the safest Distillery in our time! And thanks to Si Neuman barrels were reused for Scotch as He was the first to ask the Government about doing that and next American Distillers and all the others, that was inovation! Something that was done over there but not here back then.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Something from the artice about Kinsey that I want to talk about. Mr Kinsey Did indeed Run the plant in his 70's he reopened in fall 1933 at 75 yrs old and at 81 years old lost and sold it at auction to Publicker. His Great Nephew Al Landis age 90 who I met at the talk I gave on Kinsey told me that at age 75 Jacob G Kinsey came to his home and told him I want you to work for me at my Distillery! Also Harold Ludof ( Ludy ) age 90 started there in 1936 He was hired by Mr Kinsey so Mr Kinsey was very much running the place in his 70's. These are facts told to me by living people who knew and worked for Jacob G Kinsey I talked to them to make sure all the story would be told! -----------Dave Z

Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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Yesterday I went to see Ludy again to ask more about the buildings in the front of the Plant and what a couple of them did exactly. The Pictures below are of two of them one was the Drying building for the grains, which is where Charlie Sipler kept his buggy in and the other Building was the milling building were the grain was gotten ready for the mash tanks!

Pictures of each building in next part had trouble with loading them!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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For some reason the Pictures did not load so here are two of them the others won't load.

Picture One is the Milling building where the grains went to be ground for Distilling.

Picture two the building with pipes coming out the one on the left is the maintaince barn is the Drying building where the grains were dryed first, these are original Kinsey Buildings from the begining of the Century and Ludy said when he worked there till 1951 they were used to get the grains ready for the old DSP-Pa-12 still. And am going to try loading the other two pictures yet but not sure I get get them on. When I went to see Ludy last night I took him a copy of an old Blue print of the plants buildings

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Here are the other two pictures it seems when you count on your Computer it will always let you down so sorry about having to put these in 3 sets of writtings but at least I got them on now! I am not the grestest with computers for sure but I still enjoy what you can do with them for History!

1. Picture one again is of the drying building and the bottom open door just behind the silo is where Old Charlie came roaring out every day!

2. Is another shot of the milling building.

I am glad I was able to get these on while what Ludy told me was fresh in my mind.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's most Magnificent Bourbon

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