Diageo names new $115m Bourbon distillery

Diageo has revealed that its new US$115m Bourbon distillery in Kentucky will be called The Bulleit Distilling Co. as it broke ground on the site yesterday.

Diageo has named its new US$115m Bourbon distillery The Bulleit Distilling Co. after its flagship brand

Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, Diageo North America president Larry Schwartz and Tom Bulleit, founder of the Bulleit Bourbon brand, attended the first day of construction on the site.

Diageo confirmed that it hoped the distillery, which will have capacity to produce 750,000 nine-litre cases of its flagship Bulleit brand and other Bourbon and North American whiskeys a year, would be operational by 2016.

An additional six maturation warehouses will be built on the 300-acre site with a total storage capacity for 330,000 barrels.

The Spirits Business reported earlier this month that Diageo would be making American whiskey a major focus as it works to increase its share of the market with Bulleit, George Dickel, the Orphan Barrel whiskey programme and additional, “future” brands which will be introduced in the next 12 months.

The drive behind the category comes as analysts warned Diageo its focus on “highly competitive” vodka brands rather than American whiskey – the States’ fastest growing category – could lead to “continued share losses”.

On the new distillery, Tom Bulleit said: “When I walked away from my career as a lawyer to revive my great, great grandfather’s high-rye bourbon recipe, people thought I was crazy.

“Twenty-seven years into this entrepreneurial journey, it’s humbling to know this amazing facility right here in Kentucky will bear my family’s name. It’s an honor I’m not sure I will ever fully be able to describe.”