The Crestwood, Ky., distiller, home to Castle Brands’ Jefferson’s Bourbon range, is expanding its production to 10,000 barrels from 2,000.
That means a need for new warehouses. “To age for four or five years, you need someplace to hold them,” Stephen Thompson, Kentucky Artisan’s founder, told us. So the company will build three new warehouses, one a year. It currently has two warehouses, holding 15,000 barrels.
It will also build a new distillery.
The warehouses will cost about $3.25 million, and the distillery will cost around $2.25 million.
Financing for the expansion comes from banks, which is the “cheapest money available,” he said.
Kentucky Artisan already has a tasting room. In addition to Jefferson’s, it produces Whiskey Row Bourbon, which is Kentucky Artisan’s own brand, Highspire Whiskey, and Iron Quarter, a sister brand to Whiskey Row that’s only sold at the distillery.