In the summer of 1994, I was working as the archivist at United Distillers and was asked to take the artist, Ralph Steadman to the Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark distilleries. Steadman was doing the illustrations for the annual winter catalog for the Odd Bins liquor chain in England and the theme that year was American whiskeys. He had already spent some time in Tennessee visiting Jack Daniel and George Dickel and now he was in Kentucky. I have to say it was one of the best days I spent working for United Distillers.
Ralph Steadman is most famous in Kentucky as being a friend of Hunter S. Thompson and the illustrator of many of Thompson’s writings. He was in Kentucky with his wife and a representative from Odd Bins. They were very interesting and friendly people. We started our trip at United Distillers – Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Steadman included a drawing of the Rebel Yell warehouses in the catalog. Next we drove to the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky. In 1994, Jim Beam did not have much of a visitor’s experience so we did not spend much time there. Steadman included a sketch of the Beam campus in the catalog, but not much else from the trip.

The next stop was the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, Kentucky. I had the pleasure of discussing American distilling heritage with the Steadmans and he included a drawing of Carrie Nation in the catalog. Our last stop for the day was Maker’s Mark. The drive down to the distillery had us pass many farmhouses with rocking chairs on the front porch. Ralph and his wife both expressed how much they liked the idea of sitting on the porch in a rocking chair and watching the traffic go by – something they did not think they could do back home as the weather would not be as nice.

At Maker’s Mark, we took the tour. Maker’s Mark has always provided a very good distillery tour, taking visitors to see every step of production. The result is that Steadman has many drawings from Maker’s Mark in the catalog. My favorite is the “Maker’s Mark Bottle Waxer” illustration.

The catalog also has many illustrations from the George Dickel and Jack Daniel distilleries. The illustrations are fun to look at and I recognize several of the people illustrated at Dickel. We returned to Louisville but we stopped at a liquor store on the way back to his hotel. He wanted to get me a bottle of his favorite single malt – The Macallan 12yo. I bought him a bottle of Weller 107 7yo. I still have the empty bottle of the Macallan. Ralph made me promise to open and enjoy the bottle and that I did. I only wish now that I had asked him to sign the bottle. Thus ended a very good day at United Distillers.

Images from the archives of Michael Veach
October 9, 2020 at 12:24 pm
Wow, Ralph Steadman, one of my all time greatest illustrators. Fabulous story and fun to see his artistic take on the experience. Wonderful!
October 9, 2020 at 7:19 pm
I remember him as a really nice person as well as being very entertaining. A lot of laughter was had by all.
October 9, 2020 at 12:56 pm
What a great post, Mike…one of your best ever! As a Thompson and Steadman fan I can believe it was one of your best days on the job. Hope you and Rosemary are well.
Sam
October 9, 2020 at 3:43 pm
We are doing well. I hope all goes well with you as well. The Steadman / Odd Bins trip was a great memory, but I have no delusions – I was simply the local guide and driver. I doubt he remembers me other than being the driver.
October 10, 2020 at 3:59 am
If the Magic Jeep was involved I’m sure he remembered it for a long time to come, as is the case for The Goddess and I. Great piece, Mike.
BTW, this might show up twice; there was some kind of error the first time.
October 10, 2020 at 7:54 pm
Actually I was driving the distillery’s red Pontiac station wagon.
October 10, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Sorry, just trying to re-live a pleasant memory. I’ll try to be more careful in the future.
October 9, 2020 at 6:22 pm
What a great memory and telling of the story. And, I LOVE those illustrations!
October 9, 2020 at 7:17 pm
There are also illustrations from Tennessee – I particularly like the one of the charcoal burning at George Dickel.
October 11, 2020 at 8:25 pm
Any possibility you can post the other illustrations, or point us to where we can view them? The ones you show here are fantastic, but you have whetted the appetite for the others, especially the Dickel illustrations.
October 11, 2020 at 8:29 pm
You can find the catalog at Abe Books.