SATURDAYS, DEC. 5 AND DEC. 12, 2009
 
LORETTO, KY – Maker's Mark Annual Holiday Tour this year is scheduled to feature an ice skating rink, a snow machine and other wintertime activities.
As all the Maker's tours, this one is also free with the special time of 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM EST on each of the scheduled nights of Saturday, December 5 and 12, 2009.

Along with the ice skating (skates will be provided free of charge), live music, special attractions and non-alcoholic refreshments, visitors can enjoy the specially decorated grounds and purchase unique holiday items in the gift shop.

Bill Samuels Jr., President of Maker's Mark: "Please come and enjoy this unique Maker's Mark experience with me.  As is our tradition, Master Distiller, Kevin Smith, my son, Rob, and I will be around on different nights to sign Maker's Mark bottles."

The distillery has been doing Candlelight Tours for about two decades with every year having a different attraction.

A big thank you to Ambassadors A. Kreutzer of San Diego, CA and Ambassador D. Vobrill of Cumming, GA for sending in two of the best Halloween costumes ever submitted. Join us in raising a glass of our favorite libation in celebration of their great costume innovations! Cheers!

   

I thought I'd share a picture of me with Coach Spurrier of the University of South Carolina. We had a post-game Ambassador event off campus and it was a real treat to meet Coach and chat with him a little bit. I'm not sure who his friend is, but a big thanks to the South Carolina team for making this great event happen.

Hello Everyone,
There are lots of great things about being the President and Ambassador-at-Large at Maker's Mark. One of the really fun things is getting notes from our Ambassadors and I just opened one from a fellow Ambassador in Alabama. I recently returned to Kentucky from family vacation in Florida, and before that I was in South Carolina for the UK football game (my son Rob graduated from USC) - this note was on my desk amongst all the other paperwork. Gave me a chuckle:

Mr. Samuels,

Thought you might like to know how important it is to always have some Maker's Mark available.

I finally got around to going fishing this morning but after a while I ran out of worms. Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth, and frogs are good bass bait.
Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with a frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog and put it in my bait bucket.
Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit, so I grabbed my bottle of Maker's Mark and poured a little bourbon in it's mouth. His eyes rolled back and he went limp.
I released him into the lake without incident and carried on my fishing with the frog. A little later I felt a nudge at my foot.

There was that same snake with two frogs in his mouth.

From,
R.W.C Gadsen, AL

-Bill Samuels, Jr. Prez.

Okay I admit this costume is pretty weak, but how many of you folks can say you have a batman hood laying around your office?! What we want to know is, what are you wearing for your Halloween get-up this year? If you send us examples we'll post them to the blog and you'll have all the bragging rights over our attempt. Go crazy, have fun and be safe!

-M-

Maker's Mark fan J.G. of San Francisco shared a blog post she wrote last week, detailing her experience of the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989. It's a pretty interesting first hand account of that day - I remember watching The Series on television, only to have the networks cut to aerial shots of the Bay Bridge. Pretty intense stuff. Were any of you Ambassador folks living in S.F at the time? Did you have any family out there?

http://thefamilyblog.typepad.com/judygordon/2009/10/a-makers-mark-moment.html

Emily

Our friends at Single Malt TV followed the runners and racers through the night for the Bourbon Chase and they got some great footage! Who knew that watching a foot race could be fun?!

Watching these guys and gals run through the beautiful Kentucky coutryside is very inspiring - maybe I won't eat that second cupcake after all :) Do you know anyone who participated in the race? See if they made the show!

http://www.singlemalt.tv/

Click on the Teaser videos on the left to watch the program - you'll love it!

-M-

This past weekend (Oct 9th) over 2000 people in teams of 12 began the first ever "Bourbon Chase", a race covering 200 miles in the heart of Bourbon Country.

For more than 24 hours along Kentucky's Bourbon Trail, from distillery to distillery, the runners started in Clemont, Kentucky and ended their run in Lexington on Saturday.

Maker's Mark Distillery offered bottles with special Bourbon Chase tags that say, "We are all about the run." You think you have what it takes to make the run? Information on Bourbon Chase 2010 can be found at http://bourbonchase.com

 

If so, you can pick up the ultimate Maker's Mark experience for yourself and your fellow Maker's Mark maniac. Just check out the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book for 2009 for information http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/sitelets/christmasbook/christmasbook.jhtml?xpage=58&icid=cb_fg__header 

Check out a few highlight photos from this year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival! What a hoot! If you couldn't make it to this year's event, but would like to see our little part of the world visit http://bardstowntourism.com for info!


Maker's Mark Barrel Rolling Team included Austin Spalding, Keith Nally, Jude Alvey, Johnny Johnston and Chris Spalding


The Maker's Mark Bar at the Great Kentucky Bourbon Tasting and Gala was a sight to behold! Listen y'all, the whole thing was MOVING!


A miniaturized version of our famous black and red stillhouse held court over the Bourbon Festival's great lawn


Maker's Mark won both the Distillery Division Champ and Grand Champion of the Mixed Drink Challenge - our gal Valerie Netherton holds up the awards. Check out the Maker's Mark Peach Cobbler cocktail (credit to Maker's Mark's Vancouver Diplomat Ron Oliver - go Ron!) Give it a try at home by checking out the recipe, below:

Maker's Mark Peach Cobbler
Created by Master Mixoligist and Maker's Enthusiast Ron Oliver
2 parts. Maker's Mark
.5 part Dubonet Red
one half ripe peach (or 3/4 oz. peach puree)
one pinch ground cinnamon
splash of simple syrup

Shake 10-12 times in a rocks glass filled with ice, strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a thin peach slice. Yummy (and perfect for fall!)

Whew! Time to get ready for next year!
-M-