SB meets… Dan Callaway, Bardstown Bourbon Co
Bardstown Bourbon Company’s master blender talks expansion, innovation and keeping up with contract clients.
*This interview was originally published in the March 2025 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
How does Bardstown differentiate itself as a contract distiller?
Coming out of the gate, the flexibility to do 60 recipes — unheard of in Kentucky. So the opportunity to have a Kentucky Bourbon customised your way. That’s how we were able to attract a brand like Jefferson’s.
What led to the decision to acquire Green River Distilling in 2022?
We needed more contract production because the brands we were distilling for were growing. It was an easy way to have more Kentucky Bourbon. Right after we purchased it, not really even thinking about the brand Green River, just the distillery, we learned about the brand, and realised there was magic. It made some of the greatest Bourbon of all time. So, we want to maintain its structure, just clean it up, and put some efficiencies in there.
Bardstown recently completed a huge distillery expansion. Where does that leave its contract business?
When I started, we just had one still, so we’ve quadrupled since then. This took us to over 10 million proof gallons annually. If we hadn’t expanded, we would be in a position where we were cutting brands off. So is it perfect for the expansion exactly lining up with contract needs? Probably not. But we can throw barrels to our brands. The good thing we did is maintain all of our partner brands.
What makes Bardstown and Green River special brands to work on?
We’re in such a sweet spot, an intersection where we are a small team – I don’t have to get approval from Milan or Japan – but we have the funding and we’re well capitalised to execute on ideas. There are so many craft distilleries that can do whatever they want, but maybe they can’t go out and fill 30 barrels as an experiment, and there are so many people that are well capitalised, but it would take them a year to pull off a project. So for experimentation, I believe I have the best job in whiskey.
You joined Bardstown in 2018. Do you feel new or seasoned in the industry?
Ugh, seasoned. I’m still somewhat of a new guy. If I hang around a lot of the old-time distillers, then I’m a baby. But day to day, I feel seasoned.
Who are your industry mentors or peers?
There’s no course or textbook for blending whiskey. To be successful you have to have mentors, you have to have someone show you how to do it. [2XO’s] Dixon Dedman would be someone I could pick up the phone right now and bounce ideas off.
[Jim Beam’s] Freddie Noe, I’m close with. [Heaven Hill’s] Conor O’Driscoll lives in my wife’s childhood home. We went to the Derby together. I came up with Nic [Christiansen] from Barrell.
In 2024, Bardstown released a collaboration with India’s Amrut Distilleries. What other innovations excite you?
That did incredibly well. People are starting to trust us, and are taking a chance to see what these innovations are. We’re leaning into so many cool things – wood ageing, combining spirits with other spirit types, and then our warehouses with this glass-finishing idea. We’re the only guys that have a full glass-front warehouse facing the sunset. You’re getting day-to-day shifts more often than seasonal ones. We can use it for finishing. You’ll see innovations in Green River, but they’ll be traditional minded – age statements, double barrels, things like that. Bardstown is an explorer brand, seeing how you can push Bourbon. For Green River, we say ‘savour what’s timeless’. So it’s about tradition.
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