Sometimes the Best Plan is by Chance

Thursday was the big day. Winding through shoulderless, narrow Kentucky backroads we found Loretto, home of the Makers Mark distillery. For those that are not aware, the lads and I share a common affinity for bourbon whiskey, and I specifically for Makers Mark. My guess is that the opportunity of this tour is the only reason Kent willingly agreed to spend nearly 24 hours in a car with his parents.

As we approached Loretto, we passed by a dozen or so huge buildings placed out in fields just outside of town, each the same size and shape, about 7 stories tall and all painted black with rows of small windows. A couple were under construction, exposing their dense wooden structures throughout. We later learned these were just a few of the many identical buildings planted in various parts of Kentucky to store aging barrels of Makers Mark whisky. After waiting their 5 to 7 years to maturity, the barrels are returned to the distillery for packaging into their classic and very distinguished wax topped bottles.

When we arrived at the distillery, the grounds were manicured and clean, almost Disney-like. We parked, walked to the tour office, and were rushed along to join a tour that had just started. The timing was perfect. For about an hour, we were given an in depth lesson on distilling, aging, packaging, and branding of Kentucky Bourbon whisky*.  The still itself is the original and only still of the company. All of the bourbon made by Makers Mark, all of the barrels stored in all those buildings of barrel racks, come from that one, single still.

As with all tours, this one ended up in the gift shop. Many years ago, Eric joined the Makers Mark Ambassador's club, as did I many years later. When you do so, you're offered the opportunity to put your name on one of the barrels just filled and heading for a long sleep. When that barrel matures, as Eric's had, the member if given a window of 5 months in which to claim bottles from that barrel, only available through a direct visit to the distillery. Each bottle has the members name included in the bottle label. Eric wanted four of them, so each of us were given the opportunity to label, hand dip and stamp the wax on one of his bottles. It was all great fun.

After eating a scrumptious lunch at their Toll Gate restaurant, located in the actual toll gate building that at one time collected tolls from those traveling on the road that crossed the distillery's property, we collaborated on what to do next. Kent noticed that the Mammoth Caves National Park was on our route to Nashville. By then it was getting a bit warm, so a nice, cool cave might come in handy.

None of us were aware that Mammoth caves extended into the longest (400 miles) set of passageways in the world. Layered on top of each other in up to five levels of caves, they looked like a bowl of spaghetti when shown on a map. When we arrived, a tour was just about to start. Great timing once again, as it was the last tour of the day. It was to be two hours long, progressing 370 feet down into the ground, which meant a five story climb up a scaffolding staircase construction installed in 2008 by the National Park Service. In between were narrow passageways, low hanging ceilings, great caverns, and lots of fallen rock from ages ago.

The day was capped with a visit to downtown Nashville, walking by all of the nightclubs, record stores, and bars, each with its own band or singer trying to get discovered in this music capitol. Instead of those options, we choose dinner in a non-band bar so we could still talk to each other. We had a good chance to get the feel of the place, though.

The evening ended when Kent and I shared a glass (aka Hampton Inn paper cup) of the new Cask Strength Makers brew, only available for purchase direct from the distillery. It's exactly 113.2 proof, putting both of us nicely to sleep.

Footnote: Notice the spelling of whiskey. Makers Mark is the only brand that spells it "whisky," without the e. We were told that they are allowed to do that because the Samuels family, originators of Makers Mark, were of Scottish decent, therefor allowed to trade with the Scottish exclusive spelling. We also learned that the name, Makers Mark, was created by the founders wife, Margie Samuels, a collector of fine English pewter, who was inspired by the "maker's marks" pewtwersmiths and silversmiths put on their very best work. She also inspired the bottle shape, use of the color red, and the use of the distinctive and trademarked red sealing wax into which each and every bottle is hand dipped.

All the mash is distilled and process through these two vats.