J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery celebrated its grand opening in Frankfort, Kentucky. The distillery formally known as Bourbon 30 was founded in Georgetown by Jeff Mattingly, 6th generation descendent of John Graves Mattingly in 2010.
The new distillery is a part of a $6 million investment by Mattingly and his new investment partners Gold Corn Investors, LLC. The new location features 23,000 square feet, which includes a gift shop, tasting bar, and distillery with a 50-gallon pot still.
“We’re excited to be in Frankfort and we appreciate the warm welcome we’ve received from the community,” said J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery Founder Jeff Mattingly.
“Our slogan is ‘One Hell of a Pick,’ which came about when I was blending a batch with some bourbon experts from around the United States and it was so good we proclaimed it ‘One Hell of a Pick.’ That batch and that slogan will always have special meaning to me since it was one of the first bourbons sold and marketed in over 100 years under the Mattingly family name. Now, we’re starting another new chapter with our move to Frankfort, and we look forward to helping our guests blend their own ‘One Hell of a Pick!’”
The grand opening included presentations from Public Protection Cabinet Secretary Ray Perry, Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson, President of J. Mattingly 1845 Harry Richart IV; and Cameron Mattingly, Vice President of Production.
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Location, Location, Location
One of the things that makes this distillery unique is its location. The distillery and visitor center is located at 20 Reilly Road just a few hundred yards from Kentucky’s most visited distillery Buffalo Trace Distillery. Just the Buffalo Trace overflow traffic ought to keep the tourism flowing steady at this new spot.
Build Your Own Barrel Pick
The other thing that makes J. Mattingly 1845 unique is the visitor experience. The distillery offers two visitor experiences. The first is a standard tasting that includes a sampling of up to six different J. Mattingly 1845 bourbon releases. The other provides visitors with the VIP experience where they get to play master blender for the day as a part of the J. Mattingly 1845 Blending Experience.
J. Mattingly 1845 sources matured bourbon whiskey and then finishes it using their proprietary ‘double staved’ finishing process. They take the matured bourbon and drop in various combinations of used staves that get placed inside the bourbon barrels for a certain period of time creating a unique texture, richness and depth to the finished bourbon. If you are familiar with the Maker’s Mark Private Select program where they finish fully matured Maker’s by placing a variety of wood staves inside a barrel for a few weeks to make up a unique blend it is kind of like that. Visitors get to try four quarter ounce pours from four different Kentucky bourbon, wheated bourbon or rye whiskey finished with the double staved process. Then based on their own personal favorites they can blend their own bottle of bourbon using a percentage of whiskey from each of the four barrels. From there, visitors choose from three different bottles, a unique label, a closure, then they top off the bottle with a choice of red, green, silver or gold wax. After all that they get to name their new creation and take it home all in the same day.
The Mattingly family whiskey ancestry dates back to 1845 when John Graves Mattingly established Kentucky Registered Distiller No. 2, second only to Heaven Hill’s Elijah Craig Registered Distillery No. 1. The Mattingly name is so ingrained with distilling there have been at least nine distilleries in Kentucky in which a Mattingly had a hand in developing. The family also has connections to some of the most prolific bourbon barons in the industry, including George Garvin Brown of Brown Forman, the Willett family, and the Samuels family, with Margie Mattingly Samuels creating the iconic Maker’s Mark packaging, label, bottle shape and famous red wax.
What’s Next for J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery?
This current opening is just the first phase of their expansion plans. The next phase includes a new distillery and barrel warehouses on another property they have purchased in Shelby County, Kentucky.
The J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery is now open for tours, tastings, and the J. Mattingly custom bourbon blending experience. Reservations are not required but are encouraged, especially for the custom blending experience.
Related Story
‘Bourbon 30’ Changing Name to ‘J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery’ – Brings On Gold Corn Investors to Expand Business
Learn more about J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery.
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