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My Memories of Kinsey Distilling


dave ziegler

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Here are some more Kinsey Pictures taken today! I was nuts enough at 61 yrs old with Asthama to go there by myself and crawl in the old Warehouses all hooked together E,F,G to get these pictures. And I crawled down to get on my feet at what was the lower level for Pipes to walk in. Note on the warehouse Pictures inside the old Barrels that sat there till all the whiskey dryed up and they fell apart! Also look at the pictures up looking at all the levels where there were barrles at one time. These 3 building made into one were the second oldest warehouse buildings built just before prohibition! Building H on there left was built in 1936 when Kinsey had reopened it is on the Picture Ludy Gave me! I am going to call Ludy this week and ask him if he remembers just how many Men we had in each gang. I am not sure I am thinking around 10 at least! Note on Picture 6 a name written on the Rail I knew Old George Kuterbach.

Other pictures are of Building O, Then Building P and looking up from Building R plus a shot of signs on Building M. Very Last picture is of the outside of Building E,F,G

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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I just talked to Ludy and the Barrel gangs were between 5 and 6 men on each gang. One Lead man, one Checker who took down the serial numbers of the barrels we dumped and 3 to 4 Barrel rollers! There were around 8 gangs of 6 Men those days and we pulled and dumped about somewhere between 125 to 150 Barrels every day Per Team that were dumping as some teams at times would be racking new Barrels also!

The Old Wood And Brick Warehouses held around 20,000 barrels of Whiskey full each. And a big Bottle house had enough People working 2 shifts that they did not have much overtime and did not need to Hire any extra people as there was around 600 people working there back then!

The Big Bottling House ran a full first and full second shift and the small Liquor Bottling house ( Old Kinsey One ) ran day shift and there was only day shift in the warehouses.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Here are 4 pictures of the most Beautiful Continental Distilling Barrel Head I own! I found this one in a bundle that never got sent to Scotland in one of the old Buildings a few years ago it was a job carring it for over a mile plus but for the sake of Kinsey History I made it and now it is safe at my home.

It will someday go to the Getz when I am gone. I remember well using the stenciles and ink roller and letterng these heads and when they were shipped to Scotland the center would have been painted out with white special paint we used so it could be relettered Malt Scotch! I have some other neat heads one Scotch one Just says Whiskey and one Corn whiskey. I will take pictures of them some time also. This one is the very best one I own!

The thought of it being thrown in a pile of wood to burn just kills me. I have been told by Friends that if I could I would have brought the whole distillery home and If I could I would for the sake of True History and each item is to me priceless! To Me Continental Distilling Was The Greatest Distiller in Pa History and An Amazing operation who's greatness came from a Man I will always Admire Mr Si Neuman!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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When I get a chance I am going to take some pictures of Different Letters that I have from the last days of Continental and some pictures of my 3 other barrel Heads and some other stuff from Kinsey. It is my passion to preserve as much as I can for History. And for the memory of the 600 people that worked at Kinsey!

Dave Z

===================================

It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

====================================

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Last night I went to see Ludy to get the two pictures his daughter took of him with the Barrel Stave I had fricky make me up with Ludys years of service and a Blown up aerial picture of Kinsey I made up from a broshure called the Place with space from the early 1980's. Ludy turned 90 in Sept.

Picture one Ludy with his Stave

Picture two Ludy with his Barrel stave and the Picture which is laminated and has his years of service there on it like the Stave does 42 years as He was layed off 2 yrs till Continental was able to buy Kinsey in early 1941 it sat from Fall 1939 till then being watched by the feds till it could be sold as there was a good bit of Whiskies in barrels there. Mr Kinsey went Bankrupt in fall 1939. Ludy Started there in spring 1936 and worked there till Nov 1980. His daughter is going to try and get him to a computer so he can see some of my Pictures of Kinesy and read some of my writtings.

In the next couple of weeks I am going to scan some of my Letter heads and some of my promotional stuff and put them on here.

It is my Hope that this is going to keep the History of the Many People that worked at Kinsey & Continental and the History of the Company and what a great Company it was to work for " I was very Proud to work for them' And they were the most Prolithic Maker of Alcohol in their time under Mr Si Neuman. Ludy has told me many times about How Mr Neuman stopped at the door way to the Maintaince shop walked in and talked to him. He said to him anything I can do for you and Ludy said I would love a ride in Your Rolls Bently!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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

Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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Here are some pictures of stuff I have from Kinsey / Contiental Distilling including my gate Pass card from 1969 which you needed to get your Pay and my Pay check stub from Dec 1969 which i have had all these 39 & 3/4 years. Also my new Insurance cards from early 1969. A Federal tax sticker. Rare Linfield Bourbon and Sweepstakes Whiskey Labels and Rare 3 Kings Straight Rye Whiskey Distilled by Kinsey Distilling back in the 1930's.

A Sheet of Alabama Tax stickers, Some rare labels including a Peach Brandy Kinsey label a sweepsatkes Whiskey label some Old Hickory Labels including a very rare strange 75 Proof Label never saw any 75 Proof Old Hickory?

A Notice from the Bottle House about Childeren being in the plant and a 1974 Letter Head to the Gov about tank expansion! And Much More.

Also some rare Labels from our Family of A&P Whiskeys which Continental Had the rights to make all of them at Linfield! An Old Label from back in the forties for mailing stuff from Kinsey says Dist #10 on Pic 5, Our Midwest Straight Corn Whiskey Label Bottled in Bond. Also the Still Brook brand we bought from American distilling And grain and Ethyl Alcohol Labels

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Here are many Pictures around the Plant I took on Sunday Afternoon! Here are many of my shots including the Kinsey Fire House just a building built againest a Big Blue Water tank.

Pictures are

1. A complete shot of 0 Building showing How big these warehouses are

2.&3. In Building J abandon caases of Whiskey Bottles

4. Valve at Big Tanks area

5. Vavve at Big Tanks

6. Cases falling over in Building J

7 & 8 Building Signs

9. Looking behind the tanks at the back of some of the Buildings

10. Shot of Building J

11. Thru 16 The Kinsey Fire House I crawled in the weeds to get to it.

17. Thru 25 Inside Warehouse G I crawled down in shot 24 to look for Barrel staves

Other shots show where the Rail cars came in to the plant, Grain silo's and the dryer building and where charlie Seipler Used to pull out in his buggy and shots of where the #12 used to stand and a doorway in the wall where you used to go into the tunnel. Also a round Cement Tank that sat at the Bottom of the still building also ruins of Boiler room and the Old Oil Boiler still in the building beside the Grain dying room.

I will be posting some more shots later today

as my Home Computer is down and not working so doing these from work.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Here are some more Pictures out front of Warehouse D inside it the set of short rails we used to bring Barrels out and on the rails that run behine the old Bottle House. You can from Picture 9 through 17 see the Old Kinsey Plant Mantaince barn it was a cold place, Picture one of these if you click you can see where it says Ludy and a old time Phone number and Pottstown. The second to last shot if you look on the table are a Windshield Wiper Motor a Carberator and Generator for a 1941 Ford Trucks. I put them there to get the shot they were laying in differant spots on the table. Two shots inside the still standing Bottom floor of the Old Kinsey Bottle house shots in Warehouse D and Uprights in the DSP-PA-10 Barn. For some reason the two pictures showing the Old Bottle house falling down are still to big so I will have crop them and post them another day as my Home computer is down and doing this from work.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Dave, this may sound like a silly question, but do you think secreted here and there on the grounds there may be, still, some whiskey in the barrel or in bottles? Or is this impossible by now? Could a full case be buried somewhere, say?

Gary

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Dave, this may sound like a silly question, but do you think secreted here and there on the grounds there may be, still, some whiskey in the barrel or in bottles? Or is this impossible by now? Could a full case be buried somewhere, say?

Gary

Gary There May well be some there but it is real hard to find as I only ever found one bottle of Governors Gin on a desk. My friend found a bottle of Governors Whiskey but it and the peanut Liqour we found were buried under burned skids of Whiskies that Kids set on fire many years before I got there! It would be safe to say if there is any it is sitting where someone hid it many years ago to drink! I would think that the barrels that were in those racks were full and sat till they dried out. They would have to been full and just never got pulled till they were shot as we never racked barrels till full. Did you see Ludy's Name on the mantaince wall Picture? The weird part is the Peanut Liquor I got in the burn pile is fine even though very Hot above it during the fire even some caps melted but once you got them off and put a new one on the stuff was wonderful. I would think that way back there was lots of Whiskey they never were able to sell once they went to Antifreeze back then and went most likely the two guys that watch the Place if there was any most likely got it all or the outfit that said they were going to fix it up and stole all the copper from the still then let their option to buy it go and left!

It is such a giant place there well may be some hid somewhere but if you don't just run in it by luck you will never find it.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Here are the two pictures of the Old Kinsey Bottling house showing how the roof fell down from having been set on fire many years ago. And part of the wall coming down. I found that by sending the pictures reduced in size to my Office from my work computer and running them on the resizer again made them fit now as my Home computer is in the shop. The Old Kinsey Bottling house was fairly big for its time and the whole second floor which I put pictures of last year was where the Cases and labels and everything where kept then sent down through the floor and bottled there and the front room they were cased! If you go back to the page before this one and look at Pictures 17 & 18 number 17 is the front room where they cased the Liqours and picture 18 was the big room which was full of Singer Bottling Machines! The second floor also had another section which had fallen down before I ever got back to the plant after all those years and it had a lower floor also that was where the Dump trough I put a picture back a couple pages of, in the alley in one of the Pictures where the Barrel rails are the white wall across from Warehouse D was that two story part of the building, and there were Bottling machines in that section also with the dump trough. They could do enough Liqour's in that bottling house that Companys like Jacquins would call them up to make lots of Liquors for them when they had big Orders. it was one of those times I went in there in 1967 to clean with the yard gang. Also they could run barrels out of Old Warehouse D right into the old Bottle House and dump them.

I remember well how excited people were as it brought alot of extra Liqour Bottling to the Old Bottle House ment more poeple getting jobs. The Hardest Thing was getting the stuff out be be taken to the New bottle House Shipping but that was done by putting the cases on a pallets at the far side facing the New bottle house as there was a small cement Pad and a sign knocked own now by the falling down of the walls and fork trucks would be coming all the time taking Liqours. They Had the Place set up so good it was Ideal for making batches of Liqours and they did much contract work in the Old Kinsey Bottle Houes.

Dave Z

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It seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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

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Here is a picture of the second floor part of the old Kinsey Bottling House that was still standing till lately when I was up there in the spring of this year This was where they sent down the cases, Bottles and all things needed to bottle below! Note that it had a skylight in the roof when you look at the pictures of it down you can see the skylight in the wreckage!

Dave Z

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

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Last night I called Ludy as I wanted to get the exact layout when the Old Kinsey Bottling House was running! First He told me about the very first Bottling house which was in the Kinsey Dsp-pa-10 Barn right next to the Still. When he started there in early 1936 they had 3 small lines going with him a blender from NY and 13 Ladies. They had a rolling on wheels tank for product and when they made a Blended Whiskey Product he would stir the product with a wooden Paddle as the Blender From NY would put the mixtures in!

Once What I call the Old Kinsey Bottle House which I have the pictures of was built that year here is how it was layed out!

I have in #212 a picture of what was left of the Second floor, on the part that had fell down there was a dump trough, below it on the fallen in first floor part was another Dump trough which I took a picture of back on another page with wreckage on it. Also upstairs in the Picture on #212 were two 500 gal tanks, boxes, labels caps and anything else needed. Also a section up stairs was for the finished product to be put.

Ludy said in that Bottle House one of the Jobs he had was running a small lift platform up to a trapdoor in the first floor sealing and the Finished product would be kept up there till it was taken out through two doors that were at the top of the wall for forklift to get them on skids. When it was run for liquor all those years they did the same thing till the end.

Now here is how the Bottling was layed out I was right about that if you go to Page 21 #208 Picture #18 is the end of the floor all the way out near the road, the Lines ended there where they cased the product then used a hand truck to pull it over along the wall on the right side facing out there to go up through the trap door.

Picture #19 is looking down toward the end there where 3 lines running down through there where 50 to 60 people working there 3 shifts back then and each line had one of the Singer Bottling Machines like I have put in pictures before. Next there were Ladies puting Front Labels on by Hand then ladies putting Back labels on and finally people packing and skiding product to be pulled under the trap door and lifted up to the second floor for shipping out. When they needed Supply there was another open place in the floor which I put a picture on in one of these threads where a rolling line came down and they would put whatever you needed on it send it down you would catch it and use it all bottles cases labels and everything esle came down through this hole.

When I was in the Bottle house back then there were at least 40 to 50 people in there, and I asked Ludy since he worked in every Bottling house they ever had at Kinsey if they ever made Liqours in the New 1966 Bottling. He said they never bottled any Liqours there they were always till the very end all made in the Old Kinsey Bottle house. Back when He worked in there they bottled whatever Continental wanted then as they used it for Whiskey bottling till They closed DSP-Pa-10. Then all whiskey was bottled at their old Phila Bigler street Bottle house, till 1965 fall when they opened the Kinsey State of the Art bottling house which had 12 or 13 operating lines!

Now I have a question for Gary or anyone that knows! Did any of the Ky Distillerys use Bung Cloths in their Barrels. I brought back two Barrel staves with Bung holes for Fricky to restore for us, with them I got two nice Bungs from the Dump trough at O building and two Bung Cloths. Continental always used a Special cloth which they would pound in with the Bung after filling a barrel and I when I told fricky I got the cloths he said he had never heard of or saw such a thing in the Barrels at Distillerys in Ky. Myself having never been to any Distillery except Kinsey thought everyone used them. Now I am wondering did anyone else use them or was this another Continental Distilling Idea? Gary or Anyone esle who knows please answer this for me. When my Home Computer is running again I have pictures I took of the staves and bungs and cloths!

Dave Z

==================================

It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey

Philadelphia The Heritage Whiskey

=====================================

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Thanks for the information earlier Dave about whiskey possibly being onsite. I sometimes wonder if any is buried around the old Gooderham and Worts site in Toronto, or in the rafters. I think no by this time due to all the redevelopment work going on in and around that site, although who knows.

I do not know if Kentucky distilleries ever used cloths around the bungs when hammered in, I think some did, but am not sure.

Gary

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Here are a couple of Old Kinsey Bottling Hpuse Pictures first the line coming down to the first floor from second to suppy, Then the first floor room where the Singer Bottle machines where, and the end room where they cased the Product. Also if you look on the pictures on the last two pages note the skylight to bring in light to the second floor, you can see it laying on top of the wreckage when the roof fell in a couple of weeks ago!

Dave Z

========================================

It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

==========================================

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When I went to see Ludy yesterday We were talking about the One Mechanic Dickie Pfiefer He was always in a bad mood and they built a special spot for him to work on the Old Cars and trucks and it seemed no matter How hard he tried people just kept messing them up. So it was no wonder he was mad.

There was a space between Warehouse A&B and the Kinsey #10 Rye Building Dsp-Pa-10 they ran some Heat pipes and hung a Raditator up in the air Left side, Put a Large fan on the other side for Summer there was a Stone wall at the point that went from Warehouse b to the Rye Building to close it off so they put on a Roof and Hung a old Roll door and That space was just big enough to pull trucks and cars in and leave the doors open. It was one cold spot but Dickie told me one time he liked being by himself as he got mad alot. He Had a chain lift to pull engines and would set the cars and trucks up in a way once he had pulled an engine that He could do them quickly.

I can't tell you How many Engines he had in those Old 1941 Ford trucks but as hard as they worked they were real good for what they did. At the end when I worked there one of them had no windshield and they had no wipers and two of them No Doors. They would Back up and catch the doors Open. No Mirrors and They Kept Dicky very Busy. If you look back a couple of Posts here you will see A Picture I took of an Old !941 Ford Carb, Wiper Motor and Generator! They were sitting on the table in maintanice and never got rebuilt! They had five guys keeping the Whole Plant going and The 1966 Bottling house had its own group of Maintaince Man and Ludy went to work in the Bottling house as a mechanic after it opened and never went back to coopering. He at one time had been in Maintaince in the plant besides being a cooper. So he did just about everything there in his 42 yrs.

Dave Z

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

It Seems All Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

______________________________________

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I am still hoping to hear from someone who is an expert on the Use of Bung Cloths as about 90% of Continentals Barrels had them only the oldest ones did not for the most part. Was This a Continental Distilling thing only? I remember them well and on my last trip into Kinsey I found a place open with a dump trough and got a couple to use in the Two barrel Staves with bung holes I got for myself and Fricky. They were a sort of a heavy Linen material and worked well less leaks and easier to get the Bung out to check the Whiskey or dump it.

The couple bungs I got were in the trough and fine no breaks at all. The More I think about Kinsey / Continental Distilling the more I see How much they were ahead of everyone back there in the 1960's. As Most know by now Continental Distilling was founded in 1933 right after Prohibition ended and During that time they made up the Brand names they would first use. Publicker having been founded back in 1913 by Harry Publicker made all industrial Alcohols up to and through Prohibition and afterwards and it was Si Neumans Idea to create a special division for making Drinking Alcohols. And That is How Continental Distilling started.

Kinsey was known as a special Affiliate to Publicker so my Pay stub says and Continentel was a division of Publicker! We had at least 5 or 6 or more kinds and sizes of Bungs. So I sure would like to know if we were the only one to use Bung Cloths. Ludy said also that they were something we used all the time. He is going to get me a picture of his 6 gal barrel he made by hand at Barrel Coopers school!

One other thing I remember now what the two water tanks had on them.

They used to say

Publicker Inddustries

_________________

Continental Distilling Division

_______________________

Linfield Pa.

Written in Black with Silver Backgroud.

Dave Z

___________________________________________

It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

__________________________________________--

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Is it possible that the bung cloths were used so that the bungs could be easily removed and then the bungs could be used in another barrel?

Doug

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I am really leaning towards the hardwood bungs, theory.

If(and I am not cutting my only Publicker bung, up) Publicker used hardwood bungs, they would not soak up the distillate like Poplar bungs would. This keeps them from making a good seal with the staves. So, to counteract the effects...Publicker went with the bung cloth. This way the cloth would fill in the gaps, make reuse of bungs possible, and any other reason I have not come up with yet.

When Poplar comes into contact with distillate....it swells up and gets fat. This makes a great seal with the barrel staves.

My bung from Publicker has alot more grain texture than any of my Ky sourced bungs from the last two years. It is also about .25 inch shorter than any of the Ky bungs.

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Working at Kinsey for Publicker at age 19 in 1966 was an amazing thing as for the very first time I made enough Money to buy a good car and because I worked at Kinsey my Credit to get a car was easy for a 19 year old! When I started there I totaly fixed up my 1955 Chevy but then it got hit and it was time for a Newer car. It was 1966 and I was able to buy a 3 old low miles 1963 Chevy. it was 3 speed on the Colume with overdrive and it was awesome. And as I have said before Thanks To Frank Kurtas a Kinsey maintaince man My first and only break down was Fixed by Him cost me nothing as He got me a generator put it on while I worked and told me don't worry about it you can't aford it with your Payments. This was what working at Kinsey was like people helping each other doing our jobs and making the Best Whiskey's, Gins, Vodka's and everything else we made. You never minded going to work as you knew if you did your Job you would have a great day. For me to get a job with about 10 Holidays full insurance and Paid Vacation! That much was unheard of at most jobs back then but at Publicker it was the standard! And you were treated with respect by our boss's.

We worked 5 days a week 7:00 to 3:30 PM and had Lunch and 2 breaks could go out at Lunch and they did not watch to make sure you were back at the very exact time. Our Insurance was the best then with Persriptions for I think a $1.00 co pay and full coverage, Blue Cross & Blue Shield. And the Years I worked there no more Layoffs as there had been back when Bottling was down in Phila. It was something amazing for me and the first time I got my first weeks Vacation I took a trip down to the Old Atlantic City and I will never forget going over the Walt and seeing the Stack with It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory in Neon on it with Andy Jackson. I was so proud to work for Continental Distilling!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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Great thread, Dave! I read it start to finish over the past few weeks at work, sure makes me wish I had a job like that instead of one where I sit at a desk all day. (Then again, I guess it's not all bad; it did afford me plenty of time to read this thread! :] ) I actually had a Kinsey item and I didn't realize it until I read this thread; not too long ago we had a collectibles shop by me and I picked up an Old Hickory ashtray for a couple of bucks.

Anyway, I'll look forward to reading whatever else you're going to add!

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This cold Morning I am thinking back to the cold & Old Days of long gone times at Kinsey! I remember well going into work wearing the Nice Sub Zero WI Army Coat they gave us every year. They had no problem with us wearing them home and also got us discounted Shoes paid almost nothing if we went to the old Work men Suppy in Pottstown. They also aways made sure we had Good Leather Gloves and what ever else we needed to do the job safe. We would take our breaks in the old Lunch room in Building Building O. Those were simple times and a pack of Lance crackers and a bottle of A treat soda were just fine for break then. We also had a Cig Machine and Walt Harrington ( Good Guy ) would always be there selling Kinsey Benefit Club tickets and Fire House Tickets and Baskets of Cheer from the Catholic Church in Linfield. We had about 10 minutes then Mike Zuno would truck us on the back of the Old 1953 Dodge truck back to the Buildings we were working at! When I was in the Yard crew John Zuber our Boss would take us in the 1951 Ford Pickup we used. Guys would always make sure to have their bottle with them and I can remember one very Cold day having one of the Old Timers tell me when I had to leave that gang to fill in another one that was short, He Said Dave or Ziggy as they called me Don't forget your Flask its cold out there! Everyday was interesting as especialy when we went in one of the Old Wood And Brick Warehouses you would see dates from the 1950's on some of the barrels. It was such a big place that allot of time was spent just going from warehouse to warehouse and if the truck was busy we would walk no matter how far out in the plant. Those days the Plant just sparkled it was so clean and well kept. Summer Flower Beds and perfect lawns. Winter salt put out and snow cleaned up asap. It looked Like a Jewel on the river Peninsala and Even in the winter we kept watch that the lawns were clean and free of Junk. When I talk about Kinsey it is like taking a trip back in time to a special and amazing place and when I take my walks there I in my mind can see things working back in those days of old! I can hear the 3 Boilers roaring and see the Old Clark Michigan Loader taking coal into the 2 coal boilers. I can see the Old Number DSP-Pa-12 standing there looking like it was ready to fire up and I can see all my Old Friends long passed on there working and singing and rolling endless barrels of Whiskey to be Made into the Finest of Bourbons and Blendeds. For me it is a trip back to the Future and I love it every time I go there!

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

Join The Switch to Kinsey

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Dave it is too bad the location is not restored somewhat like the Distillery district in Toronto...those are brick period buildings...very nice area....I just wonder how many buildings on the Kinsey site would be worth restoring and could they be used for either shops, craft brewers, restaurants etc.?

P.S. Did you realize at the time how much you enjoyed your work and how special it would be in later years?

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Dave it is too bad the location is not restored somewhat like the Distillery district in Toronto...those are brick period buildings...very nice area....I just wonder how many buildings on the Kinsey site would be worth restoring and could they be used for either shops, craft brewers, restaurants etc.?

P.S. Did you realize at the time how much you enjoyed your work and how special it would be in later years?

Jono First I do not think I really knew how much I liked the Place back then and I had a neighbor then that talked me into becoming a Phone Company Truck builder for the old Baker equipment which was one mile from my house. Within 3 weeks I knew I had made a very big Mistake and that I could not go back and I wanted to badly, you make mistakes like that when you are young.

I was going on 25 years old and Once I saw how hard I worked How Rotten we were treated and less pay and buying tools I really knew I had been nuts. I do not think I really Knew then How special the Place would be to me till many years later and then when I saw what happened to the Company I wished I could have been there till the end Helping all I could to keep it going. A then somehow I knew I had to find a way to write About it and saw looking on the web about SB and A fellow Named Chuck who was writting about his Granfather who Ran the Continental Distilling Bottling house I knew it was (Mr Thomas Holman Bryant ) and I joined to write to him and the Rest is History as not Knowing How to go about writting a book about How Special Kinsey was I can write and share my stories and History here and I love to talk about those great days! Most times in our Lives It turns out that stuff in the beginning is the stuff that was special!

Jono it is sad as I think at least 12 of the Explosion Proof warehouses could be saved you could call it the Distillery Shops on the River at Kinsey! And the other two are saveable too. The Q Building even though it has the hole in the wall could be fixed as it is strong and firm yet. Also a couple of the front buildings could be preserved. The Still & Kinsey Bottle Hose are done but the Walls from the Old Brick warehouses could be used to build Distillery Loafts. With all the lawns still there you could make it a beautiful Historic Place & Park but People do not think about those things, or That the Still and the front buildings when it shut down could have been made in a History Musuim!

Jono I can only Hope that my Writtings can open peoples eyes to what a great place Kinsey Distillery was and What a great Company Continental Distilling / Publicker Industries was to work for and The Joy Of A Job that You Loved and will always remember with Love and Joy in your Heart!

Dave Z

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It Seemss All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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