Bourbon historians needed!

[CL]

I remember your Grand Father Mr Bryant I worked at Kinsey right out of High school in 1966. You are right the House is down by the River at the end of the Plant road. I remember a young girl living there at one time also. Your Grand Father was a nice man and came up from Phila to run the place and to get the Bottling operation running right. The worst days were When Sy Neiman the Chairman came to ride around the Place in his Bently. Do you remember seeing that? The House was beautiful then, it is in ruin now. I remember your Grand Father came suddenly as the man running the Place named Bill can't remember his last name has died. I worked for my first years on the yard crew mowing the Lawns hauling stuff to the dump which was up between the house and the old steer Pens. Dave z

Hey, Dave, thanks for the info and the kind words. No, I don't recall ever having seen the Bentley. What was Kinsey? An affiliated company?

Was the young girl my Aunt Margie who was still in High School in 67? She was a sight. ;-) I do remember a middle-aged or older couple living on the first floor in the house. I believe their last name was Romeo, but I wouldn't swear to it. My grandparents had the second floor and third floors.

So did you cut the grass at the house? If so, we probably ran into each other. I probably had to get out of your way one time or another.

Yeah, the house was beautiful back then. I saw it two years ago this month when I was in Philly for business. I went to stay with my uncle and aunt that night in Trappe. We went to the plant the next day. They were doing some environmental clean-up, so the front gate was open and we went in. We nearly drove past the house for lack of seeing it, it was so overgrown with trees. (Good thing I was in a rental car!) The road was like a narrow path through dense overgrowth of trees - a big change from the open cornfields on the left and the large yard on the right when I was there in 67. The house was in too bad a shape to walk into, but the barn had held up well inside. We went inside it. I did take plenty of photos of the both the house and the barn.

I'll run your name and some of the other names you mentioned by my Grandmother. She's still in L'ville, 91 years old about a week ago, still in good shape and kickin'.

Good hearing from you!

Edit: I posted some of the photos from 11/2004 at

http://chuckvt83.smugmug.com/gallery/2134098

[TNbourbon]

...Good hearing from you!

And you, too.

[CL]

And you, too.

Thanks, Tim. And thanks to Jeff, The Heavy, for emailing me about Dave's post.

[jeff]

You're welcome Chuck, good to see you around here again! :toast:

[dave ziegler]

Hey, Dave, thanks for the info and the kind words. No, I don't recall ever having seen the Bentley. What was Kinsey? An affiliated company?

Was the young girl my Aunt Margie who was still in High School in 67? She was a sight. ;-) I do remember a middle-aged or older couple living on the first floor in the house. I believe their last name was Romeo, but I wouldn't swear to it. My grandparents had the second floor and third floors.

So did you cut the grass at the house? If so, we probably ran into each other. I probably had to get out of your way one time or another.

Yeah, the house was beautiful back then. I saw it two years ago this month when I was in Philly for business. I went to stay with my uncle and aunt that night in Trappe. We went to the plant the next day. They were doing some environmental clean-up, so the front gate was open and we went in. We nearly drove past the house for lack of seeing it, it was so overgrown with trees. (Good thing I was in a rental car!) The road was like a narrow path through dense overgrowth of trees - a big change from the open cornfields on the left and the large yard on the right when I was there in 67. The house was in too bad a shape to walk into, but the barn had held up well inside. We went inside it. I did take plenty of photos of the both the house and the barn.

I'll run your name and some of the other names you mentioned by my Grandmother. She's still in L'ville, 91 years old about a week ago, still in good shape and kickin'.

Good hearing from you!

Edit: I posted some of the photos from 11/2004 at

http://chuckvt83.smugmug.com/gallery/2134098

Hi chuck I remember her as having Blond Hair and she used to sit out in the Sun in the summer. I always trimed the lawns down there so we must have met. Your grand father really knew the Bottling Part and really did allot to keep it going then. Sy Neiman would come around every Now and then in His Bently with his wife in a Mink stole and their Pure bred Hunting Show dogs in the car sometimes. It was always a headache for your Grand father when He came around but after he died it never did good again so I guess Mr Neiman knew what He was doing. He had a Large House down the main Line and Called it Inver House after their Distillery in Scotland which still exsists as they sold it. Dave Z

[CL]

Well look at this, Bettye Jo. It is referring to Publicker Industries which is who Grandpa Bryant worked for in Pennsylvania after he left Lawrenceburg, KY.

"They were probably also the suppliers of rye whiskey to Merle's Standard Distillers in Baltimore, for bottling Pikesville "Maryland-Style" Rye after their regular provider, Majestic Distilling in Lansdown, Maryland, ceased production in the early seventies. Heaven Hill, the Bardstown, Kentucky company that purchased the Pikesville brand in the early eighties also bought the Rittenhouse brand at around the same time -- and they bought it from Publicker/Continental."

HH bought my granddaddy's whiskey. Well, it wasn't his whiskey - he just bottled it. ;-)

http://www.ellenjaye.com/pub_publicker.htm

[CL]

I worked at Kinsey right out of High school in 1966.

Dave, I did some Google searches tonight with Kinsey and Linfield and found this - a photographer's view of the plant...

http://www.opacity.us/site29_linfield_industrial_park.htm#gallery52

[dave ziegler]

Dave z,

It's been several months since CL (Chuck) has posted here. I hope he sees your reply, but I wouldn't count on it.

You might want to click on "CL" to the left of his post and send him an email message.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

Thank you for the Help Dave I got in touch with Chuck and told him some good stuff about his grandfather! I worked at the Kinsey Distillery right out of High just turning 19 it was rather a wild place sometimes, I remember Christmas Eve 1969 Just about everyone in the Plant was Loaded. I always thought that of all the Bourbons I drank when I could that Old Hickory was one of the Very Best. Even though Publicker had lots of Brands they also were the very Biggest Industrial Alohol maker in the world. Chucks Grandfather was a really good Guy and got the Bottling running Better then any one ever could when He was there the Product was the Best! He was a Person I admired very Much so it was great to talk to chuck after all these years. I used to be on the yard crew the first 3 years and mowed his Grandfathers Lawn at the Company home he lived in. Thank you for the Help!

Dave Z

[CL]

I used to be on the yard crew the first 3 years and mowed his Grandfathers Lawn at the Company home he lived in.

Dave Z

Dave, I added some more photos to my smugmug site. I added more photos of the plant taken in 2004.

http://chuckvt83.smugmug.com/gallery/2134098

I looked through my parents' photos today for photos of the Kinsey site back in the day. I didn't find too many showing the outside of the house. Most of the photos we have, of course, are of family inside the house. But, I uploaded two photos from 1967. One of them shows the back of the house, but they both show a portion of the large side yard. You were probably the one mowing the yard during this time. ;-)

I also posted three photos from 1971, one of them showing part of the back of the barn. The other two show my grandfather grilling some steaks on the grill in the side yard.

[dave ziegler]

Dave, I added some more photos to my smugmug site. I added more photos of the plant taken in 2004.

http://chuckvt83.smugmug.com/gallery/2134098

I looked through my parents' photos today for photos of the Kinsey site back in the day. I didn't find too many showing the outside of the house. Most of the photos we have, of course, are of family inside the house. But, I uploaded two photos from 1967. One of them shows the back of the house, but they both show a portion of the large side yard. You were probably the one mowing the yard during this time. ;-)

I also posted three photos from 1971, one of them showing part of the back of the barn. The other two show my grandfather grilling some steaks on the grill in the side yard.

Boy do the new pictures bring back memories looking at the beautiful Lawns that we kept on the yard crew Makes me feel very Proud of the Job we did and seeing the Plant in the back ground is a very strange feeling knowing everything is now in ruin. Seeing the Picture of your Grandfather has made my night Chuck, just makes me remember what a great guy he was and what a very Smart Man!

Dave Z

[CL]

My grandfather's name was Thomas Holman Bryant; he went by his middle name. He was born on 1/1/11. I remember that he had referred to his birthday as the Five Aces.

My sister gave me the smackdown tonight. :smiley_acbt: I had forwarded her the link to the new posts on this thread and she saw that way back at the beginning of the thread, I had mistyped my grandfather's birth date. The correct date is 1/11/11. Now you can understand why he called it the Five Aces.

.......Ok, because she'll probably see this new post, I should say that she really didn't give me a smack down. But, she did notice it and took me to task (gently, of course ) for getting it wrong. (Little sisters always like to show up their big brothers.:stickpoke:).......