Governor Steve Beshear joined company officials and local leaders to announce The Bardstown Bourbon Company LLC plans to build a distillery in Bardstown.
The Bardstown Bourbon Company will create 35 jobs and invest $25 million into the project.
“This is another exciting day for one of Kentucky’s signature industries,” said Gov. Beshear. “The world’s thirst for bourbon continues to grow, and The Bardstown Bourbon Company’s announcement will help satisfy that demand. I look forward to seeing this distillery up and running and the positive impact it will have here in Nelson County and across the Commonwealth.”
The Bardstown Bourbon Company plans to build a 45,000-square-foot distillery on 100 acres in the Nelson County Industrial Park, where it will produce bourbon and other spirits using local ingredients. The company also plans to build a visitor center and warehouses.
“The Bardstown Bourbon Company will be a celebration of the Bardstown community, from the local ingredients we use to produce our product and the team that designs and builds our distillery, to the employees that distill, barrel and store our bourbons,” said David Mandell, president and CEO of The Bardstown Bourbon Company. “It was the people and community of Bardstown that attracted us. We are here today because of the exceptionally strong leadership at both the state and local levels, and we want to thank these leaders for their tremendous work.”
The distillery will be a destination experience, bringing bourbon enthusiasts as close as possible to the bourbon making process. There also will be a culinary dimension to the distillery and the company plans to partner with restaurants in the community to incorporate local flavors.
The Bardstown Bourbon Company has brought on Steve Nally as its master distiller. Nally has more than 40 years of experience in the industry and is a member of the Bourbon Hall of Fame.
“Simply put, we will make great bourbon,” Mandell said. “We will be innovative, and our campus and distillery will present the craft in a very approachable and educational fashion.”
Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer, and the facility is expected to be open in 2016. Once operational, The Bardstown Bourbon Company will mark the fifth distillery in Nelson County.
Bourbon distilling contributes nearly $2 billion in gross state product each year and has more than doubled its importance to the state’s overall economic activity in the past 13 years. Kentucky exported $383 million of its distilled spirits in 2013, a full 21 percent of the U.S. total.
To encourage the investment and job growth in Bardstown, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $1 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
KEDFA also approved the company for tax benefits up to $300,000 through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, which allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing equipment.
“It certainly is an exciting time to live in Bardstown,” said Sen. Jimmy Higdon, of Lebanon. “As the bourbon industry continues to grow, Bardstown is becoming one of Kentucky’s most visited cities. I appreciate companies like The Bardstown Bourbon Company investing in our community.”
“The Bardstown Bourbon Company, with its unique brand, will only enhance our reputation that if you want to market great bourbon, then you need to be in the bourbon capital of the world,” said Bardstown Mayor Bill Sheckles. “We are very fortunate to attract such a class operation to the Bardstown community.”
“We are very excited about this new venture coming to Bardstown and Nelson County,” said Nelson County Judge-Executive Dean Watts. “We truly believe it will be a great fit for our community.”
Nelson County has been certified by the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board as a Certified Work Ready in Progress Community. The certification is an assurance to business and industry that the community is committed to providing the highly skilled workforce required in today’s competitive global economy.
A detailed community profile for Bardstown (Nelson County) can be viewed here.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at www.ThinkKentucky.com. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion on Facebook or follow on Twitter. Watch the Cabinet’s “This is My Kentucky” video on YouTube.
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