Sazerac buys Garrard County Distilling for $20m
Tom Collins Distilling, which is affiliated with Buffalo Trace owner Sazerac, has purchased the former Garrard County Distilling property located in Lancaster, Kentucky.
The company won a US$20 million bid for the property on Friday 26 June, during a court-ordered auction held at a master commissioner sale in Garrard County. The property was reportedly appraised at more than US$27.9m.
According to the Garrard County Justice Center, Tom Collins Distilling was the sole bidder for the lot.
Court records indicate that Tom Collins Distilling held a judgment against the distillery and was its primary creditor after acquiring the property’s associated multi-million-dollar debt in March this year.
Established by Atlanta-based Staghorn, Garrard County Distilling began production in January 2024 as the largest independently owned Bourbon distillery in Kentucky. The property, which is located 30 minutes from Lexington, covers 210 acres.
The business halted production and entered receivership in April 2025 after Truist Bank filed a lawsuit against Garrard County for a debt totalling approximately US$26m. The debt reportedly included unpaid property taxes, loans, and millions of dollars in liens.
In a statement to Lex News, Diane Bisher, executive director of the Garrard County Chamber of Commerce, said the vacant distillery has “torn” the overseeing parties in the county “apart for the past year”, stating that “the judge executive, the mayor, the whole county, the city council, the chamber – everybody’s been waiting to hear the news that we heard today.”
Michael Gaffney, mayor of Lancaster, also commented on the sale: “I feel pretty confident it will be a successful venture, just seeing what they’ve done in the past and their history. I think it’s really, really important for us to get that thing [distillery] back up and going.”
The Spirits Business has reached out to Sazerac for more information about the purchase.
Earlier this year, Sazerac reportedly made a bid to take over Brown-Forman, the owner of Jack Daniel’s. The latter rejected the US$15 billion offer last month (May).
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