Whiskey House of Kentucky located in Elizabethtown, Kentucky promises to be one of the most sophisticated distilleries ever built. Whiskey House of Kentucky was founded in 2022 by David Mandell, John Hargrove and Daniel Linde, the team that started and built The Bardstown Bourbon Company, a company that knows something about producing Kentucky bourbon and rye whiskey for contract distillation.
The state-of-the art distillery will produce custom bourbon and American whiskey on a 176-acre campus in the T.J. Patterson Elizabethtown Hardin County Industrial Park about 30 minutes west of Bardstown, Kentucky along interstate I-65. The new distillery will invest $130 million in the first round of the distillery and more than $350 million over the next decade. The project will hire approximately 50 employees in 2024, and expand to more than 100 employees by 2027. Operations are expected to begin July 1, 2024.
Whiskey House is Designed for Contract Bourbon and American Whiskey Distillation
Whiskey House is the first distillery designed from the ground up to focus solely on large-scale, flexible, contract whiskey production. With no brands of its own, Whiskey House provides unparalleled customer service, competitive pricing, and unprecedented visibility into the manufacturing and barrel aging process for its Custom Whiskey Production customers.
“Whiskey House will reshape the contract whiskey market in the United States,” said Co-founder and CEO David Mandell. “As the bourbon market continues to grow, we see the need for additional distilling capacity and more customer focused solutions. We will provide the highest-quality production, guaranteed capacity, and exceptional customer service for our brand partners.”
Will Produce 112,000 Barrels Annually Expanding to 224,000 in 3 Years
Whiskey House’s property development plan includes 16, 41,500-barrel traditional rickhouses, a 50,000-square-foot palatized warehouse, a spent grain processing facility, a bottling facility, a rail system, as well as access to one of the highest yielding hydro stratigraphic limestone aquifers in the region, which sits 120 feet below the property.
Whiskey House’s distilling and processing equipment is built around a 48-inch Vendome Copper & Brass Works custom still and 14, 33,000-gallon closed-top fermenters. The company will begin operations with greater than seven million proof gallons of annual capacity (112,000 barrels), expanding to more than 14 million proof gallons (224,000 barrels) in 2027.
“Whiskey House sets a high bar for advanced manufacturing in the whiskey industry,” said Co-founder, President and COO John Hargrove. “We’re making major investments in the technological capabilities of the distillery that will immediately make Whiskey House the most advanced contract whiskey production facility in the United States.”
Implementing AI to Continually Monitor and Improve Whiskey Production
Whiskey House’s fully integrated operational and information technology infrastructure captures and analyzes data across the entire manufacturing process. With the addition of its artificial intelligence applications, the company can continually improve quality and efficiency, increase production yields, expand sustainability initiatives, and provide critical real-time information to customers about their liquid. As a result of its efforts and vision for the distillery, Whiskey House received a Microsoft for Startups Founder’s Hub Grant to accelerate the implementation of AI in all aspects of its manufacturing and distillation process.
“For the first time, our customers will have access to every data-point about their whiskey from start to finish,” said Engineering & Technology Vice President Roger Henley. “Not only will this information enable brands to create more innovative products and share more compelling stories about their whiskies, but it will also help optimize their businesses with critical financial, inventory, and quality reports.”
The Whiskey House project features architectural assistance from Joseph & Joseph Architect, construction is led by Bardstown-based Buzick Construction and financing is provided Truist Bank.
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