The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1903-02-12
Interesting Facts Relative to How
They are Operated.
OF Particular Interest Now Because
Psducah Will Soon Have q
Distillery.
SURVEILLANCE OF OFFICERS

in a short time. Few people of this
section Of the state, where there are
no distilleries, have ever seen one, and
for that reason the following descrip-
ton, from the Louisville Times, ought
to be of general interest:
To the casual eye the distillery
plant looks like any other big manu-
featuring aggregation of buildings,
but when one enters its grounds and
is confronted at every turn by United
States government. officials the ides Of
rigidly guarded penal institution
dominates every other impression, and
the term "in bond" which is so fam
liar to every Kentucky ear, but
which it might perplex many Ken
tuckian TO define, becomes gradually
understood, says the Times.
While the warehouses on the distil-
lery premises are built at the expense
Of the distiller and form an integral
part of his plant, they must be bonded
to the government before they can be-
come the repositories of his whiskey.
Every gill of whiskey he makes must
20 into them when it is finished, for
Uncle Sam must make snre of his
Clio on the gallon. These bonded
warehouses must come up to govern
ment specifications as to safety.
Their heavy doors. their iron grated
windows prevent either entrance or
exit except under the eyes Of the ware
house storekeeper, who is q veritsble
turnkey. The rigid government sur
VIGILANCE begins, however, at the very
inception Of manufacture.
A revenue storekeeper. in charge
of the distillery when 1t is in opera
ton. He keeps everything under lock
and key; the grain, the still, the
doubler, the tanks. There is no
chance for addition, subtraction or
adulteration. The processes Of tine
distiller are, of course. his own, but
they must be clean and free from the
use Of foreign ingredients.
A United States gauger draws of
the whiskey into barrels when IL is
finished and after fixing a deposit
stamp on each barrel turns it over to
the storekeeper of the bonded ware
house. These barrels then begin their
term of imprisonment. Maybe eight
years--the bonded period-msybe less.
Once behind these doors, they are
watched as if they contained gold bull
lion. No drop can be added TO their
contents. A government bookkeeper
is stationed at the plant, who records
these entries into bond, Identifying
each barrel by a serial number. The
distiller may take a limited sample
from each barrel to study its improve
ment, or to advertise its virtue. This
must be done under the eyes Of the
storekeeper. Further than that the
whiskey must not be disturbed. Its
original purity must be preserved.
As the whiskey lies in the racks
year after year loss by evaporation or
possible leakage occurs. These losses
are provided for by the outage bill re-
Gently signed by President Roosevelt.
BY payment of the tax a dIstiller
can withdraw his whiskey at any time
and the government bookkeeper re-
cords it as tax paid.
When the product first goes into bar
rels it is almost the color Of water and
is oolloquially known about the distil-
lerY as gray mule. =" 1t is only after
it ripens IN the charred barrels in the
bonded warehouses that it attains that
rich amber color by which it is known
to commerce.
Seeing how the government often
maintains six or seven well paid Off
cisls at 9 single distillery, it is no
wonder that whisbey Sin bond" is
kept pure and intact.
Once tsx-paid it must leave the dis
tillery premises before sunset, and the
surveillance OF the government is viz
tually at an end.
The figures of one Of our most reli.
able statisticians show that at the
close of the fiscal year 1902 there were
put behind the locks and bars of these
buildings IN this state over "a, 0O0, 900 |
gallons of Kentucky whiskeyi into the
bonded warehouses of Pennsylvania |
about 5000, 900 gallons, constituting
the output of that state; and into the