Maker's Mark Distillery - Loretto, Kentucky

One of the first processes in the long road to the final Maker's Mark product is to turn the raw corn into a mash that's fermented - a process that turns the sugar content of raw material into alcohol. Here you see one of the giant vats full of mash. The bubbles you see mean the product is working/fermenting. The smell is sweet and heady, the taste is quite strange - somewhat sweet, kind of dry, not at all what you'd expect.