2014 August Bardstown, Kentucky

First stop on the Bourbon Trail, was Makers Mark distillery.  They bottle 9000 cases a day.  Below is a picture of the distillery when it was founded in 1953.  Above is the house of the original founders in the background.

The trademark on Makers Mark bottles is a star with an S  IV.  The star stands for the name of the farm that the founders owned near Bardstown.  The S IV is for 4th generation of Samuels that run the distillery.

Below is where they cook the mash (grains with yeast and distilled water).  Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US, but the limestone in this area of Kentucky filters the iron out of the water, which makes it superb for distilling whiskey.   Above are the copper kettles used in the distilling process.  Bourbon is distilled twice for purity.

A few of the many bourbons bottled by Makers Mark.

The labels are all made right here in their facilities.  This operator can make 63,000 labels a day.

Makers 46 is one of their more popular labels.  46 stands for the recipe number that was decided on when the company was creating a new bourbon.  There are 4 requirements in order for a whiskey to be called a bourbon.  1.  It must be aged at least 2 years.  2.  It must be aged in a new white oak barrel.  3.  It must be at least 51% corn.  4.  It must be made in the USA. 

The first distilleries in this area were started in the early 1800's.  Most of the whiskey was put in barrels and shipped to New Orleans, where it was shipped all over the world.  One distillery accidentally caught on fire and the barrels were charred.  Instead of making new barrels to ship the whiskey in, he went ahead and shipped the whiskey in the charred barrels.  When the whiskey got to New Orleans, those who bought it immediately fell in love with the amber colored whiskey. The art of charring the interior of the barrels before aging the whiskey was born.   The coopers who make the barrels for the distilleries have many different ways of charring the interior of the barrels.  So Makers decided on recipe #46 for their new bourbon.

Below is the building where they bottle 9000 cases a day.  They take 150 barrels from different warehouses and blend them before bottling.

 

Empty bottles being filled above.  All the necks are hand dipped in the signature red wax.

Filling the cases above.  The entire line from start to finish below.

The truck is full and ready to be shipped.

On to the tasting room.  The one on the left is called Makers White.  It is only aged a short time.  Makers 46 is on the right.  It's aged for 7 years.

 

 

Cliff got to dip his own bottle with a special founders label on it.  Oops!!  Just a little too much wax.

On to Heaven Hills distillery.  There signature bourbons are Evan Williams and Elijah Craig.  Heaven Hill's Master Distiller is a descendant of Jim Beam.  Above just a few of the 44 aging rick houses that hold thousands of barrels.

 

Below is a sample of the charred slates they use in the interior of the barrels.  The slates vary a great deal in the degree that they are charred and what is used to char them.

In the 4 corners of each building are hanging plum bob's indicating how level the building is.  When they load or unload barrels, they have to be careful that the same amounts are taken from different sides of the building.  Otherwise the whole building could collapse. 

Beautiful tasting room at Heaven Hill.  I'm starting to like this bourbon.

 

Above is a very small distillery called Willett.  It's called a craft distiller which is the name given for these small operations.  Below is the distilling kettle used to distill all of their bourbons.  A picture of this Aladdin type distiller is used on their labels. 

 

So we made it to 3 of the distilleries.  Several more to go between Bardstown and Lexington.  Guess it will have to be another trip.

2014 July Ford Motor Plant

Above a statue of Henry Ford encouraging a young man to pursue higher education.  In the background is the Rouge Ford Motor Company plant.

The museum started us out with a great film showing the history of Ford Motor Company.   They had several wonderful old cars on display. 

Notice the price of these automobiles on the plaque below each one. 

 

Below to the right is the assembly plant for Ford Truck 150's.  They produce 600 a day.  It's one of the most advanced assembly plants in the world.  Henry Ford was a terrific innovator, always looking for ways to improve the assembly line process.  The innovation continued after his death.  I just wondered how proud he would have been of this amazing plant.  The roof of the plant is covered with vegetation to help keep it cool.

Cliff decided he's got to have a 150 now.  This 150 Raptor had all the bells and whistles.  Again, no photos were allowed in the plant.  They had a raised platform all around the edge of the assembly area so you could walk through and see each part of the assembly.  I loved seeing how it all came together.

After the Ford plant tour, we visited the Ford Museum.  You could spend a week in this museum.  One interesting display was the limousines that past presidents have used. 

Eisenhower's limo above.

Truman's limo above.

An original VW camper.  Was camping fun then?  Probably!!

After the museum, we took a quick tour of Greenfield Village.  Another area you could spend a full day in.  Henry Ford grew up in this home with 5 brothers and sisters.  When would the car have been invented if Henry had stayed on the farm? 

Cliff viewing the exterior of the Ford home.  Greenfield Village is a great reproduction of the late 1800's era.  Many shops and restaurants.  We ate at a restaurant that served period food.  No cokes, just Strawberry sasparilla.   I had fried perch. 

2014 July Ann Arbor

 

We took a very interesting tour of the Jiffy plant in Ann Arbor.  The silos above hold the wheat used in their mixes.  This company has a very stringent quality control and it starts with their wheat mostly grown in Michigan.  They try to buy most of their ingredients from farms around Michigan. 

 

Harmon Holmes was the founder of Chelsea Roller Mills (now Jiffy).  It is still family-owned and Harmon's great grandson now manages the company.  Harmon's wife was the one who came up with the original corn muffin mix.

Below is the transition from Court House labeling to the current Jiffy Mix Corn muffin label.  The company even has very strict quality testing for the blue color of their boxes.

 

In the theatre after viewing a really informative movie about the Jiffy plant, we had to put on hair nets before the tour of the plant.  When they told us how many boxes they produced in one day, it blew my mind.  Over 1.5 million boxes are produced each day. No photos were allowed inside the plant, so I have none to share.  Take my word, it's very busy in the plant.  Conveyor belts everywhere.

Chelsea Teddy Bear Company was the first company to make bears in the USA.  They started production in 1904. 

Flag made with miniature teddy bears.

Teddy bears got their name from Teddy Roosevelt.  During a hunting trip in 1902 when he was president, the hunting party was unable to shoot a bear.  Teddy's staff member went and caught a cub bear and tied it to a tree so that the President could brag about a successful hunt.  Teddy refused to shoot the bear.  Thus the name started.  He used a teddy bear pin during his Presidential campaign in 1904.

We ended our Ann Arbor visit with a tour of "The Big House" (University of Michigan's football stadium).  It's the largest football stadium in the US,  110,000 seats.  The halls are full of pictures of past great players and memorable games.  This is a view from the press box which has 138 seats.

Our group enjoying the tour guide's enthusiastic stories of one of the greatest traditions in football.

Of course there are lots of pictures of Bo Schembechler, the most famous coach MU has ever had. He coached 20 years from 1969 to 1989.  He died at 77 in 2006. 

 

For just $60,000  a year (and a 3 year commitment), you can lease one of these suites.  Comes with a stocked bar, and catered food. 

"The Big House" is a very profitable operation.  They are open for tours during off-football season.  Many weddings are performed on the field.  They recently hosted a high school prom.

Inside the locker room.  The "M" on the floor is sectioned off.  No one is allowed to walk on it. It's very  bad luck especially on game days.  They have a plaque above one of the uniforms with Gerald Ford's name on it. 

What a neat experience to walk down on the field.  I can't imagine what the players are feeling looking up at 110,000 people.