Day 3 - Passing thru Bourbon Country

 Monday we left the Hoof Hearted Brewery a bit after 8AM and drove south towards our next stop, Maker's Mark.  We wanted to do at least one stop in Bourbon country, most tours are booked months in advance but we were lucky enough to get into a Maker's Mark tour at 1:30PM.  The drive was roughly 300 miles so we did not have time to goof off too much, we ate lunch while on the road and arrived at 1:10PM.

The last leg of our trip we were "Googled" in Ed's words. We were put on a single lane road which was roughly a mile long. It was single lane for a car, for our RVs if we had met another vehicle it would have been a standoff. We managed to get over it without meeting another vehicle but the nice people at MM have preprinted direction cards to avoid that road when leaving.  Why they don't tell google or put it on their website, I have no idea. 

One of the most striking things about MM is that all their Bourbon is distilled here. All of their flavors and it is not a huge facility.  It is a beautiful location but not overwhelming like Bardstown that June and I toured last year.

The tour was fun, our guide, Lexi, was cheerful and had that southern twang that was pleasant. The tour is a bit over an hour and ended with a tasting...and the gift shop :-). 

June and Jean checking out the stills. These two stills make all of the MM, just seems impossible. 

To appreciate this room you have to smell it, these vats are 12' in diameter and 12' tall. It smells delicious. 

The tour takes you through a Rick House that is their oldest and smallest. 

The history told at this distillery really starts around 1953 when T. William "Bill" Samuels Sr., purchased the "Burks' Distillery" in Loretto, Kentucky, for $35,000 on October 1, 1953. His wife Margie was into pewter and back then smiths put their 'mark of the maker'  or 'maker's marks' on there work.  Margie is credited with the name 'Maker's Mark'. She also was a bit of an artist and all thru the tour you can see Margie's influence.  This picture was taken in a room that displays Margie's pewter collection. 

They do actually hand dip all the bottles; it still amazes me that it is all done here, when you see MM all over the world. 

We ended the tour with a tasting and then of course the gift shop. The pricing in the gift shop was remarkably the same price as the VT Liquor store. The VT sale price is a few dollars cheaper. 

After the tour we drove to Bowling Green to park at a Cracker Barrel, we had requested a stay at a Harvest Host but never got confirmation, so we just moved on. The blizzard driving on Sunday coated our RVs and Scooters with salt, but we found a car wash very close to our CB that our RVs could fit into.  That made Ed happy. 

The twins made a good chili we had for dinner and we will have breakfast at our CB host before we set out for Nashville this morning. It is 39F so no worries of frozen plumbing....all good.