Midway Views
Pinhook Bourbon
As Bourbon Lane’s Derby-hopeful Bourbon War was rounding the turn and coming into the straight last week, you can bet that the horse was being toasted with a few glasses of Pinhook Bourbon. Mike McMahon’s partner in business ventures, both equine and otherwise, explained the bourbon connection to Bourbon Lane Stable.
As we talked, Hill was updating his lists of purchases since they started in 2010. To the point he was comparing, the McMahon and Hill team had bought 195 horses that had a total of 2,914 starts. The total purchase price for those horses was $14 million, and those horses have earnings of roughly $18 million – a positive of $4 million. There have been 30 stakes winners and 53 stakes horses for the McMahon and Hill purchased client horses. And a total of two G-1 stakes winners, six graded stakes winners, and nine graded stakes placed horses. Impressive stats.
“From all the horses that we have purchased, we have 10.45 percent graded stakes horses, 29.85 percent stakes horses, 17.16 percent stakes winners, (an) average purchase price (of) $75,000, average earnings (of) $116,000, and in the money 42.2 percent of the time,” explained Hill, studying the data, which changes daily.
Bourbon Beginnings….
But how did Pinhook Bourbon, your bourbon company start?
“It started with my best friend from high school, Jay Peterson. He is a television producer in Manhattan, and he started going to dinner at a bourbon-themed restaurant named Maysville owned by Sean Josephs and his wife, who own restaurants in New York and New Orleans. Jay brought Sean to Kentucky and soon, Sean, Jay and another friend, Charles Fulford III, all good friends – decided to buy some barrels of bourbon back when vodka was all the rage. They had no idea what they were going to do with it, but one day at Keeneland, we had an amazing day and tried to come up with ideas. One of the things that had not been done before was to truly tie in horse racing with bourbon. This was in 2009. Over time we named the bourbon Pinhook Bourbon because Mike (McMahon) and I have our main business in pinhooking (buying young horses like weanlings and selling them a year later as yearlings) horses.”
“Each batch we bottle is named after one specific horse, and when it’s sold out, it’s sold out,” added Hill. “Now we are producing at Castle and Key Distillery. Will Arvin, who owns Castle and Key, is one of my very good friends. When Will bought the old distillery, I said to him,
‘We are going to be your first contract partner.’” “We proof everything according to what tastes best to make the best flavor profile,” explained Hill.
“Bourbon Courage was our first bourbon release for Pinhook Bourbon, named after one of Bourbon Lane’s horses. We have a new rye bourbon that I love, and Bourbonize was one of my favorites of the ones we have released. But they are all good. As of the end of 2018, we are in 24 states. In 2017, we were in four states!”
Midway News
James Archambeault
Renowned Kentucky photographer James Archambeault passed away Feb. 26. He was 76 years old.
Originally from Michigan, Archambeault made his home in Kentucky, and lived between Midway and Georgetown. He had a connection with Midway through Bill and Leslie Penn’s Historic Midway Museum Store. They met Archambeault at a book fair, and he regularly held book signings at the Penns’ Midway store. Archambeault was a huge fan of Midway and once spent four hours sitting in Midway’s Main Street waiting for the light to be just right and there to be no vehicles before taking the photograph he wanted.
Perhaps more famous for his photographs of Shakertown horse farms and horses, he has five books in print and his images have been used in many Kentucky publications. Whilst Archambeault may be gone, his beautiful images of Kentucky will live on forever. Historic Midway Map Restoration Fund
The Penn’s are the force behind the move to preserve a unique map of Midway dating from 1852. A Historic Midway map restoration fund raiser is planned. The City of Midway, along with the Midway Renaissance’s Living History Committee is restoring the map, which has been displayed for years in City Hall.
The map is currently at Old World Restorations in Cincinnati, a business that specializes in restoring old maps. They found the map was drawn on silk vellum, which is now extremely fragile. Restoring the map would stabilize the map, and after cleaning and removing the map from the current backing board, they would flatten and reframe it with archival backing and use UV protective glass.
The map is estimated to be worth $2,000-$4,000, but in reality, its worth is priceless as a piece of Midway history. Whilst the Penn’s hope to obtain some grants to help pay for map restoration, they are also asking for donations. They say Old World Restorations requires $1,000 before starting the restoration, which they hoped to raise with collections and donations from people in the community. Midway Museum, Inc., a 501(C) 3 non-profit will be collecting donations.
Once they have raised this amount through donations, the City of Midway will be asked to budget the remaining $1,000. Donations can be brought to the Historic Midway Museum Store, 124 E. Railroad Street in Midway. They can also be mailed to Leslie Penn, Treasurer, Historic Midway Museum Store, Midway Museum, Inc., P.O. Box 4592, Midway, Ky. 40347 – with checks made payable to the Midway Museum, Inc. A copy of the map can be seen at City Hall.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
A final reminder about the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this coming Saturday: The parade will be at 4 p.m., but stores will open at 10 a.m. and restaurants at 11 a.m. There will be events going on all day, pop-up booths along Railroad Street, and anyone coming to the event is encouraged to wear green or Irish-themed clothing. This should be a lot of fun!
Special thanks to the main sponsor – Kentucky Farm Bureau, as well as Shadwell Farm, Bluegrass Hospital, McDonalds and Woodford Reserve.