Old Forester Distilling Co. (Brown-Forman), 119 W. Main Street, Louisville, will open on National Bourbon Day, June 14, making its long-awaited return to Louisville’s historic Whiskey Row. Advance tickets are now available for purchase at OldForester.com.
The $45 million, 70,000 square foot distillery will guide guests through the Bourbon making process from fermentation and distillation, to the barrel-making, aging and bottling of America’s First Bottled Bourbon™. It’s the only downtown distillery with a fully-operational cooperage. Old Forester Distilling Co. will join ten other distilleries as an official member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour.
The distillery will be open weekly Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The tour and tasting will be offered at $16. The distillery will offer extended hours throughout opening weekend; full tour details are available at OldForester.com.
Additionally, tickets are now on sale for A Toast to Whiskey Row, set for Friday, July 15, giving guests the opportunity to be among the first to experience Old Forester Distilling Co. The event includes cocktails, hors d’ oeuvres, live entertainment, a progressive tasting of special Old Forester offerings, bottle engravings and signings and Q&A with Old Forester President Campbell Brown and Jackie Zykan, Master Taster. Tickets for the event are limited and available for $150 per person at OldForester.com. This event is open to guests 21+.
“Nearly 150 years ago, my great, great grandfather, George Garvin Brown, signed and sealed Old Forester with a pledge to craft Bourbon of the highest quality and utmost consistency,” said Campbell Brown. “We’re thrilled to return to our former home and share with the world the spirited story of the Hometown Bourbon of Bourbon’s Hometown.”
During the economic boom following the Civil War, Louisville’s Main Street was the hub of the Bourbon business in Kentucky. Once home to 89 Bourbon distilling companies, only one of those companies has operated continuously to present day – Brown-Forman and its founding brand, Old Forester. Old Forester Distilling Co. is housed in the same building that the brand called home prior to Prohibition.