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Top 10
Top 10 new American whiskey distilleries
American whiskey is currently the fastest-growing spirit category in the world, prompting a number of companies – large and small – to increase their foothold in the sector.
These are some of the most widely-anticipated new American whiskey distilleries
In order to capitalise on the momentous growth in American whiskey around the world, spirits producers have invested millions in building new distilleries to meet soaring interest.
While some are established brands seeking to increase capacity by moving to a larger site, others are smaller start-ups looking to make their first move into the sector.
It’s clear that American whiskey is experiencing unprecedented international demand, which does not look likely to wane any time soon, meaning producers are making desperate bids to increase their stocks.
According to recent figures released by the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus), the flavoured and super-premium variants of American whiskey helped the wider US spirits sector continue to steal market share from beer in 2014.
Larger drinks companies such as Diageo and Pernod Ricard which do not currently have a significant presence in American whiskey have been warned by analysts that they could experience share losses in the key US market.
Furthermore, a number of leading distilleries have announced expansion plans of their existing sites, while a handful of historic mothballed have been reawakened.
With so many new American whiskey distilleries planned, it can be hard to keep track of them all. So click through the following pages to view our pick of the most highly anticipated openings, including those scheduled to launch in the next 12-24 months, and those that have recently become operational.
Balcones
Open: October 2015
Balcones has certainly encountered its fair share of hurdles in recent months following the surprising exit of its founder Chip Tate, however work on the company’s new Texas site is thought to have been continuing unhindered.
In July 2013 it was revealed that the Waco-based spirits producer would be expanding its business after bringing on board a private equity firm, which helped put forward the funds for the business’s US$15 million expansion.
The firm will turn the historic 65,000 square-foot Texas Fireproof Storage building into a new distillery to significantly increase its production of American whiskey. The distillery will add a tasting room and will use the building’s 90-year-old fireproof vault to display and house its reserve stock.
Tate left Balcones in December last year after being bought out by his board of directors – led by majority stakeholders PE Investors with whom he had engaged in fraught legal battles over a number of months.
Old Forester
Open: autumn 2016
It was announced in September last year that Brown-Forman would be investing US$30m to open a new distillery and “Bourbon experience” in Louisville, Kentucky, to double capacity of its Old Forester brand.
Currently produced at he Brown-Forman Distillery in Shively, Kentucky, under the supervision of master distiller Chris Morris, the Old Forester Distillery is scheduled to open in autumn next year.
The new site will feature fermentation tanks, stills, a bottling hall and a cooperage, as well as a visitors’ centre offering tours, a tasting room, Bourbon-production demonstrations and exhibitions. Brown-Forman also appointed its fifth generation family member Campbell Brown to the role of president of Old Forester Bourbon as part of a bid to bring the brand “back to prominence” within the industry.
The Bulleit Distilling Co.
Open: 2016
The largest new American whiskey distillery currently under construction is undeniably Diageo’s Bulleit Distilling Co., plans for which were first unveiled in May last year.
The UK drinks giant said it intended to increase its presence in the American whiskey category by building a new US$115 distillery in Shelby County, Kentucky, to showcase its “current and future” Bourbon brands, later naming the site The Bulleit Distilling Co.
Distilling the Bulleit Bourbon brand – which is currently produced at the Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg – the 300-acre site will have capacity to produce 750,000 nine-litre cases a year and will feature six maturation warehouses.
Angel’s Envy
Open: 2016
Angel’s Envy Bourbon, which was recently acquired by international drinks firm Bacardi, is set to open a new US$12m distillery and “brand experience” in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2016.
Originally purchased by the brand’s former owner, the Vermont American Building and adjacent Baer Fabrics building will be converted into a “fully functioning” distillery, where grains will be milled and the whiskey will be bottled on-site.
Bacardi’s acquisition of Angel’s Envy for an undisclosed sum marked the Bermuda-based group’s first foray into the fast-growing American whiskey sector, though the brand will continue to operate as a standalone business and its expansion will go ahead as planned.
Old Taylor Distillery
Open: 2015
So not strictly a new distillery, but the reopening of the historic Old Taylor Distillery in Kentucky is certainly a widely anticipated event in the American whiskey world.
After lying mothballed for more than 40 years, Old Taylor will reopen later this year after local company Peristyle LLC pledged US$6.1m to renovate the 125-year-old building so it could once again distil Bourbon and other spirits.
Old Taylor was the first distillery to reach one million US Government certified cases of straight Bourbon and is said to have one of the world’s largest stills as well as one of the longest Bourbon warehouses.
Boundary Oak Distillery
Open: now
Opened in November last year, The Boundary Oak Distillery is the first legal Bourbon distillery built in Kentucky’s Hardin County in more than 100 years.
The first barrel of Boundary Oak Bourbon will be available in two years’ time, with the rest of the stock aged for a minimum of four years.
Owned by Brent Goodwin, who is also the company’s master distiller, Boundary Oak Distillery aims to eventually be included on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The distillery’s first bottle of Bourbon reportedly sold at auction for US$25,000, two years before it is due to be released.
Dueling Barrels
Open: autumn 2015
US spirits producer Alltech not only has a new Irish whiskey distillery in the pipeline, but is also progressing with the build of a brand new whiskey distillery in Eastern Kentucky.
The Dueling Barrels distillery is estimated to cost between US$10m and US$12m to build and is part of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative, which was launched to boost eastern Kentucky’s economy.
Bardstown Bourbon Company
Open: 2016
Set to open in 2016, the new US$25m Bardstown Bourbon Company will be run by former Maker’s Mark master distiller and Bourbon Hall of Fame member Steve Nally in its namesake Kentucky town.
The 45,000-square-foot distillery will produce Bourbon and other spirits and plans to build a visitor center and warehouses, as well as offer a “culinary dimension” to the distillery, partnering with restaurants in the community to incorporate local flavours.
Once operational, The Bardstown Bourbon Company will mark the fifth distillery in Nelson County.
Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery
Open: now
Charlie and Andy Nelson grabbed headlines last year when they re-opened a distillery founded by their great-great-great-grandfather which had lay dormant for more than 100 years.
Following eight years of planning, the Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, located in Marathon Village, Tennessee, was relaunched in August last year, producing whiskey for the first time since 1909.
The 19th century family business, founded by Charles Nelson, will initially produce Tennessee whiskey with plans to distil Bourbon at a later stage.
Maker’s Mark
Open: 2015
Beam Suntory’s Maker’s Mark isn’t opening a new distillery, but its US$67m expansion to double capacity certainly deserves a mention on this list.
The Bourbon distillery, based in Loretto, Kentucky, revealed the plans in February 2014, one year after admitting its stocks were running low and controversially claiming it was considering lowering its abv to stretch supplies – a decision which was swiftly reversed.
The expansion will see a third copper still added to the distillery as well the build of a number of new warehouses. Liquid from the new still will be barreled later this year, and bottled in six years time.