Maker's Mark Tour and More Quilt Museum Quilts

Good morning, my friends. And it is a good morning because I'm happy to report that my hip pain has improved until it is almost non-existent. It's hard to believe because it was nearly unbearably painful for the past two days. We went on the Maker's Mark tour yesterday, which involved a LOT of walking. Sorry, no shuttle bus for the day. After the tour, we were able to pick up my medicine. I took one 20mg tablet of prednisone and a muscle relaxant, and today, the pain is nearly gone. It's practically a miracle.

So with that bit of news out of the way, let's head over to the Maker's Mark distillery for our tour. We took the scenic route, which included a scarily narrow road. Along the way we saw several barns.

This last one is a distillery. You can tell by the black color.

Arriving at our final destination, let's take a look at the Maker's Mark distillery. Mike is more of a scotch drinker, but the one bourbon he drinks is Maker's Mark. We learned why he prefers it yesterday, and I'll get to that in a minute. For now, follow me. We have a lot of walking to do so put on your most comfortable shoes.

As we approached the distillery, we passed by these pretty purple iris.

On one side of the walkway was this sign.

On the other side...this barn. I believe this is the mill the sign refers to.

The grounds here were like a beautiful village. If given an opportunity, I could live here. Just outside the entry was this interesting tree. The white stuff there looks for all the world like fringe.

Inside were some commemorative bottles.

And this cat. Her name is Whiskey Jean. And that laptop she's lying on is fake. It's intended to be a cat heating pad. She tolerated petting up to a point, but took a swipe at another woman when she'd had enough.

There was also a bar where you could purchase a cocktail made with bourbon. They had menus posted.

We were given our tickets.

There was a recipe on the back.

Like I said, the grounds were picturesque.

We walked this way at the start of the tour. The still is the big tall tank on the right.

The distillery is designated as a National Historic Landmark.

And it's also a Guinness record-holder. They've been making bourbon since 1805.

Inside, we saw where grains are milled. They use corn, wheat, and malted barley. And this is why Mike prefers Maker's Mark. They use wheat instead of the rye used in other bourbons. The rye imparts a bitterness.

From there, it is cooked.

Off to the left, we could see the fermentation vats.

Here's what it looks like as its fermenting. There was lots of bubbling action.

I took a short video so you could see how active the yeast is. I've realized that if you get the newsletter format of this blog from Follow.It, you won't be able to see the video. If you want to see it, simply click on the title of this post to be taken to the actual blog. You can see it there.

Outside, we crossed over a wooden bridge that spans a stream. To our left, they were building a new bridge made from Kentucky limestone. I wanted you to see how white this new limestone is.

Contrast it with the limestone blocks already in use, and you can see that it has picked up the black mold associated with the sugars in the distilling process. The mold is completely benign.

And look at the tree trunks here. They are all black with mold.

In the next building, we learned they print their own labels. That is done in this print room.

Here's a souvenir label. To the left of the word "Mark" you'll see a symbol with S and IV. It stands for the name of the founder Bill Samuels, and indicates this is a fourth generation distillery. Thus, the "Maker's Mark" is SIV. 

From there we visited one of the many large buildings where the bourbon is aging. Our guide told us that Maker's Mark is one of the few distilleries that rotates their barrels. It's a labor-intensive process. Each barrel weighs about 500 lbs. and every single one is moved to a different structure every six months. This is done to maintain consistency from bottle to bottle.

In this building, the bourbon is aged. It's a stone structure built into the side of this limestone hillside. Building it underground like this, helps to maintain the temperature below 50°F. 

Oh...and that sign out front...this is what it says.

Indeed, we're in the area where tornados happen. So far, we haven't been in an area where tornadoes are touching down. We have a weather radio, and we're faithfully watching the weather reports on television. Also, when we check into a new place, I ask where the storm shelters are. Interestingly, some people seem surprised when I ask. Hey, dude (or dudette), it's important!

Getting back to the distillery. We're inside that stone building now. This is where Maker's Mark differs from other distilleries. After the bourbon has aged for a certain number of years (usually 9), Maker's puts it through another process known as "finishing."

In the finishing process a combination of wood slats are added to the barrels, and they are left for another 9 weeks to absorb the flavors in the wood slats. Here, you can see a package of the slats, and you can see the inside of a barrel. The barrels are "toasted" for 30 seconds to give them that char.

Each barrel and each slat is used one time only. Then, the barrels are shipped to Scotland where they are used to make scotch. That's our guide there. Her name was Taylor.

In a back room, these are barrels that are "finishing." Look toward the back, and you can see that back wall is Kentucky limestone. It was cold in this room. The temperature never gets above 50°F.

Turning around, there was a glass wall where we could see a tasting room on the other side.

This distillery was notable for its beautiful art work. I've only shown you a fraction of it. The stained glass work in some of the buildings was stunning.

These two stained glass panels were inside the building where the bourbon is bottled. Below is a short video showing the bottling process from one end to the other. It's not unlike what I explained in my previous post about the Jim Beam distillery.

At the end, the tops are dipped into red candle wax...twice...and then they're ready for boxing and shipping.

At the end of the tour, we were invited to taste a flight of bourbons. They all tasted nasty to me, although each one was a different kind of tasty. On the right was a glass of water. That tasted good.

As we left, we passed through a hallway with this beautiful stained glass skylight.

Included were four cherubs that represented the bourbon that is lost to the heavens in the form of vapor.

Okay, and that's all I have to tell you about the Maker's Mark tour. It was enjoyable, even though I was in a lot of pain. From there, we picked up my medicine, and made one stop at the local grocery store to pick up a few items. When we returned to the RV, I took the medicine and then sat for the rest of the evening. Mike made dinner and breakfast this morning. And I'm happy to have some relief from the excruciating pain.

So let's end on a happy note. Here are some quilts from the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. I'll show the quilt first, and then the artist's name.

This is a detail of the quilting. I can only think she used a very lightweight thread to get these tiny stitches.

This one was so realistic, you might think you could just walk on in.

Here's a detail of the thread painting.

Moving on, this one was all sparkly. It had thousands of hot-fix crystals, and it looked magical.

Sadly, the crystals don't sparkle in pictures.

This is the quilt that's on the t-shirt I bought there.

It used metallic threads. I love the look of metallic threads, but they can be a bugger to work with.

I just liked this one.

I actually saw this quilt many years ago at a Machine Quilters Expo (MQX). It was the last year that MQX came to Portland.

Most of the design is done with threads. Here's a single block.

Turning it over, it looks just like the front.

Of course, I needed this picture of the Bluebonnet quilt.

This one made me think of a plate I purchased in Tillamook when there was a Zimbabwe's Artists Project exhibit at the Tillamook Quilt & Textile Museum. First...the quilt.

This is my plate. I think the quilt reminded me of the activity in the plate.

Here's the artist who made my plate.

Here are a few more quilts from the quilt museum.

And finally, this one for my bug-loving friend, Judy, who watched the eclipse with us.

That's all I have for you today. Tomorrow I'll show you the mural wall in Paducah along with whatever else happens today. We're having a chill day. I've taken one more of the prednisone tablets. They gave me five altogether. If it's better by tomorrow, I'll stop those. Prednisone has some unpleasant side effects. Other than that, we're going to have a day of rest. I had my eyes on a walk through historic Bardstown, but I'm probably better off giving my hip a break from any more walking for the time being. I want to be in good shape for our tour of Mammoth Cave on Thursday. 

Today is our last day here. We'll move on to Bowling Green, Kentucky, tomorrow. Mike wants to visit the Corvette Museum, and we'll see Mammoth Cave National Park. Those are the only two planned activities, but we'll probably find some other things to do in our four days there. After that, we'll be in Lexington, Kentucky, for our farthest eastern stop. From there, we'll turn the wagons around and head west again.