Bardstown Bourbon offers ‘game changing’ barrel financing

Kentucky’s Bardstown Bourbon Company has revealed plans to create third party whiskeys and launch a “game changing” barrel financing programme when the distillery opens next year.

The new Bardstown Bourbon Company distillery in Kentucky is set to open next summer

Plans for Bardstown Bourbon Company’s US$25 million distillery in Nelson County were first unveiled in 2014.

Expected to open in the summer of 2016, the distillery will feature a “collaborative” whiskey, Bourbon and rye wholesale distilling programme, where customers can work with Bardstown to launch their own custom spirit brands.

According to Bardstown, many craft brands source their liquid from “large industrial distilleries”, and as such are ‘reluctant to promote the location and source’ of their whiskeys.

However, the company said it has the ability to “expand the explosive growth” of the craft sector by offering a collaborative approach with its clients, as well as custom mash bill development, a barrel-financing programme, on-site storage and a production location clients can “celebrate and promote”.

“We are very excited to offer a suite of much needed services that we believe will help foster continued innovation and growth in the whiskey industry,” said David Mandell, president and CEO of The Bardstown Bourbon Company.

Launched in collaboration with Live Oak Bank, Bardstown’s barrel-financing initiative offers customers financing of newly filled barrels with terms of up to 10 years.

“This program is a game changer,” said Daniel Linde, chief financial officer of the company. “As the first company to offer a comprehensive barrel financing program for whiskey, we are helping our customers continue to develop and grow their brands, without tying up all of their capital in production.”

Bardstown Bourbon Company will have an initial distilling capacity of 1.5 million proof-gallons and a storage capacity of 185,000 barrels. However, the 37,000 square foot distillery has been designed to ‘easily expand’ as demand grows.

Bourbon Hall of Fame member and former Maker’s Mark master distiller Steve Nally has been recruited as master distiller for Bardstown.

“This is such an exciting time for Bourbon,” he said. “I look forward to working with other distillers and brand owners to make great products. We also look forward to integrating some of these brands into the Bardstown Bourbon Company’s visitor experience, and we will use our facility to highlight and promote their brands.”

Once operational, The Bardstown Bourbon Company will be the fifth distillery in Nelson County.