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Western Kentucky Distilling plans $30m distillery

The Western Kentucky Distilling Co is building a US$30 million ‘state-of-the-art’ distillery in Kentucky – the first official distillery in Ohio County.

Western Kentucky Distilling distillery
A render of the planned Western Kentucky Distilling facility

The distillery is scheduled to open in mid-2023. It will benefit from an initial US$22m investment, with a second phase due to bring an additional US$8m.

Kentuckian Jacob Call will lead the distillery as eighth-generation distiller, chief operating officer and master distiller. He will work alongside Kentucky native and distillery president JD Edwards.

Call said: “From the best ingredients to an ideal climate for ageing, Kentucky is known worldwide as the best place for making whiskey.

“As someone who’s family goes back eight generations in both Kentucky and distilling, I’m proud to be a partner and to help build the new Western Kentucky Distilling Co.

“At the distillery, we’re celebrating all things Kentucky, from our ingredients and equipment to our 100% Kentucky ownership. We look forward to opening next year.”

Western Kentucky Distilling plan
Western Kentucky Distilling’s distillery will open in 2023

The distillery is located at 1880 Old Liberty Church Road in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, in the Bluegrass Crossings Business Center.

The facility will span 25,000 square feet. It will include 15 warehouses, which will cover an extra 300,000sqft.

The distillery will be able to distil 50,000 barrels annually and will have room to store 250,000 barrels.

In the first two years of opening, the distillery predicts it will bring approximately 35 jobs to the region.

The distillery will focus on contract-distilling at first, before embarking on creating its own signature brands and a visitor centre in the future.

In other new distillery news, an application to build a new whisky distillery in Portavadie on the banks of the Loch Fyne in Scotland was submitted last month.

Most recently on the American whiskey scene, Diageo acquired Balcones Distillery.

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