Lawrenceburg Indiana

Historic Seagram’s Distillery in Lawrenceburg

/ Roadtirementvintage / 6 Comments

Driving along US 50 through Lawrenceburg, Indiana, it is hard to miss the large complex of tall red brick buildings and multiple silver tanks that are part of the former Seagrams Distillery plant that straddles the Lawrenceburg and Greendale city boundaries. The current owner/operator of the facility is now MGP Ingredients, based out of Kansas.

This building has multiple floors of aging racks for 550 pound barrels of whisky

The Cincinnati Magazine published a fascinating and detailed story about the history of the Seagram’s Distillery, its current owners, and the ins and outs of the distillery business around the country. Read that article here. 

This paragraph is from the Cincinnati Magazine article.  “According to (Master Distiller Greg) Metze, it all starts with the water. MGP Ingredients sits on an aquifer, just a short walk from the Ohio River (most of the facility is actually in Greendale). That 56-degree water—low in sulfur and iron, high in calcium, and limestone-filtered—lets MGP make a lot of whiskey, and also have a continuous source for cooling the equipment. That’s why there were so many distilleries in Lawrenceburg in the 1800s. MGP’s began life as the Rossville Union Distillery in 1847; after Prohibition, in 1933, it was purchased by the legendary Canadian company Seagram. Right next door was Squibb, which opened in 1846 (though another distillery, Dunn and Ludlow, was on that patch of land in 1807) and became part of the Delaware company Schenley in 1933.”

More aging racks, and the tower houses multi-story continuous column stills

We were on a day trip to southern Indiana, the Ohio River and Lawrenceburg. The Seagram’s facility is huge, and we decided to drive over to the site, having never done that before.   Unfortunately we discovered that the new owners do not offer public tours of this historic distillery. At one time the Seagram’s plant employed over 2800 at the distillery and bottling plant. It is truly an iconic business with a rich and colorful history.

 

Great bourbon starts with the good water at Lawrenceburg

/ Roadtirementvintage / 19 Comments

Driving along US 50 through Lawrenceburg, Indiana, it is hard to miss the large complex of tall red brick buildings and multiple silver tanks that are part of the former Seagrams Distillery plant that straddles the Lawrenceburg and Greendale city boundaries. The current owner/operator of the facility is now MGP Ingredients, based out of Kansas.

This building has six floors (two of which are underground) of aging racks for the 550 pound barrels of whiskey

The Cincinnati Magazine published a fascinating and detailed story about the history of the Seagrams Distillery, its current owners, and the ins and outs of the distillery business around the country. Read that article here. 

This paragraph is from the Cincinnati Magazine article.  “According to (Master Distiller Greg) Metze, it all starts with the water. MGP Ingredients sits on an aquifer, just a short walk from the Ohio River (most of the facility is actually in Greendale). That 56-degree water—low in sulfur and iron, high in calcium, and limestone-filtered—lets MGP make a lot of whiskey, and also have a continuous source for cooling the equipment. That’s why there were so many distilleries in Lawrenceburg in the 1800s. MGP’s began life as the Rossville Union Distillery in 1847; after Prohibition, in 1933, it was purchased by the legendary Canadian company Seagram. Right next door was Squibb, which opened in 1846 (though another distillery, Dunn and Ludlow, was on that patch of land in 1807) and became part of the Delaware company Schenley in 1933.”

The tower houses multi-story continuous column stills

We drove by the facility last weekend during our day trip in the area. It is huge, and what we found was that unfortunately it does not offer public tours of this historic distillery. At one time the Seagrams plant employed over 2800 at the distillery and bottling plant. It is truly an iconic business with a rich and colorful history.

Lawrenceburg Indiana Bicentennial Monument

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

Lawrenceburg Indiana is on the Ohio River across from Kentucky. The pictured riverside monument was erected for the city’s 2002 bicentennial celebration. Two 12 foot diameter clocks face both the river and the land. A 30 bell carillon plays every hour with the peal of bells honoring the struggles of the “everyday man.” Stylized smokestack-styled columns frame the monument symbolizing Lawrenceburg’s long river heritage.

 

Honoring all branches of the service

Honoring first responders

The monument features bronze statues of soldiers and sailors of all branches of the service. On the opposite flank is a bronze statue honoring the police and firefighter first  responders in the act of rescuing a child and passing him to an EMT. The center of the monument is open to the riverfront, however there are flood gates that may be closed, as the monument is also part of the flood control levee protecting the city.

A busy day by the river

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Downtown Lawrenceburg

Even though it was a very cold and breezy day on Saturday, we still enjoyed a very nice day trip along a stretch of the Ohio River. It was one of those no itinerary trips. We just drove around and took in the sights.

Standing in front of a large wood chair in Aurora

We took the I-275 interstate bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky and drove through the Creation Museum grounds. Returning to Indiana we stopped at Lawrenceburg, followed the River Road and went as far as Aurora.  All in all we had a wonderful and exciting day as we took in the sights of southeast Indiana.