Makers Mark Distillery Tour

Our visit to the Makers Mark distillery was wonderful. Like Buffalo Trace, it was a step back in time as soon as we arrived on the property. The grounds and the buildings are beautifully maintained.
Our tour started out with the introduction of Makers Mark 'Ambassadors' who were present for the tour. In effect, Ambassadors are a Makers Mark club. It's a promotional thing. More about this later.

What happened next has become my favorite story from our visit to Kentucky. We had a large tour group, and as we approached the first building on the tour, we were hit with the smell of 'Angels Share'(the smell of Bourbon evaporating through the barrels, see Buffalo Trace blog post). One of the tour members blutered out "whats that smell?" Our tour guide spun around, her eyes got huge, and a little too loudly she exclaimed:

"THAT'S BOURBON! WE ARE A BOURBON DISTILLERY."

Whereas the Buffalo Trace tour focused mostly on the barrel aging, Makers Mark concentrated mostly on the distillation and bottling processes. These two tours are a nice combination in that regard. Of course, there is a tasting at the end of the tour. The tasting took place in their very elegant and beautiful gift shop, which seemed a little out of place in the rustic Kentucky compound. I was curious how they were going to make the tasting interesting, because Makers Mark only makes one product, and nearly everybody who tours their distillery has already tried it. Well, they came up with something clever. At the tasting, you are given one glass of 'white dog' and one glass of finished Makers Mark. 'White Dog' is the distilled product that goes into the barrels for aging. It's perfectly clear and tastes like pure alcohol. Essentially, it's a before-and-after of the barrel aging process.

Makers Mark of course is known for their bottles that are hand dipped in red wax to seal the cap. At the distillery, you can dip your own bottle in wax for a keepsake. It's something that sounds cooler than actually doing it, but it makes for a nice story and I am happy to have the memento.

Interestingly, the bottles that you buy for the dipping are half the size of the normal 750ml bottles, and you can't buy any other Makers Mark bottles at the distillery. The reason given was that they did not want to compete with the local retailers.