As Cordell Lawrence and Caleb Kilburn have set off into their next venture in the bourbon industry, the conversation inevitably turns to the following question about Eastern Light Distilling: Why build it in Rowan County? Or for that matter, why Eastern Kentucky?
The answers, they said, of their planned all-in $143.7 million investment in Morehead are numerous.
For one, Kilburn is a native of nearby Bath County.
“For me, growing up in the area, [I’m] very familiar with just how much potential has been unrealized in Eastern Kentucky, being educated there and being one of the many young people who have to leave their hometown because there’s not an economic opportunity there. I knew just how much potential was underneath the surface there.”
Like Lawrence, Kilburn has joined the Eastern Light after spending many years at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. in Louisville, having served as its master distiller since 2018.
“It’s a portion of the state that has been unfortunately overlooked even though it’s resource bountiful,” said Lawrence, who serves as Eastern Light’s co-founder and CEO.
Lawrence’s statement brings up other reasons for Eastern Kentucky: The surrounding natural resources and the plentiful access of working with nearby farmers when it comes to the life cycle of grains — from fresh corn, rye and barley to stillage (grain byproduct after distilling) for the cattle — compared to state with many distilleries nearby.
“The challenge is that saturation causes issues in terms of the waste stream,” Lawrence said. “There's only so many cattle that you can feed that to. Over in Rowan County … there’s plenty of cattle, both dairy and beef, that are available to feed on that stillage, so we plan on making this more of a community building opportunity as well.”
Furthermore, Cave Run Lake will serve as Eastern Light’s water source, powered by what will be the “most sophisticated water treatment plant in the state,” Lawrence said, when it is completed in August.
Lawrence — who was recently named as the new chair of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, replacing David Mandell of Whiskey House — is from the Louisville area, but has strong connections with family members who live in nearby Carter County.
Eastern Light hopes to be up and running in the second half of 2025, Cordell said, after the construction of a 50,000-square-foot facility and one of 20-plus rickhouses that can hold around 35,000 barrels on its 230-acre campus. Last week, it unveiled its website and branding after first announcing its formation in June.
This first phase will cost approximately $60 million, with Louisville-based Joseph & Joseph providing the design and Bardstown, Kentucky-based Buzick Construction building the edifices themselves. Eastern Light is in the middle of raising $30 million in capital, with particular interest in Kentucky-based investors.
The distillery will feature two, 36-inch column stills created by Louisville-based Vendome Copper & Brass Works. The facility will also have 14 fermenters with the ability to hold 30,000 gallons each. When fully operational, the distillery should be able to produce 5.25 million original proof gallons per year.
According to a document filed with Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA), the distillery committed to having 50 full-time jobs within a 15-year span, but the plan is to have 50 employees when it opens its doors. Furthermore, a portion of those jobs will be on the leadership team as Lawrence, Kilburn and a panel of undisclosed advisors hope to add 10 leadership positions within the next nine months to a year.
When the distillery is operational, nearby farmers will not have to drive their grain two hours away to a distillery — or have to pay for distillery byproducts on the flip side. Instead, they will receive the stillage at no cost.
“It’s going to be something that is going to be a massive community goodwill gesture,” Kilburn said.
'More makers'
As of Friday, Lawrence said that his company had already sold “thousands of barrels” under contract that will not be produced until 2025 with five brands — and was in discussions with four others, some of which are based in Eastern Kentucky as well.
“We saw this opportunity arise a few years ago with a lot of the contract-focused distilleries being acquired by other entities and so therefore that took a lot of the contract available barrels off the market, creating this opportunity,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence called the approach that his distillery is using with his clients as “radically different” than others due to the options that brands will have, from being able to have more than the standard line of mash builds to being able to bring in their own distiller/blender in the process — or just rely on Kilburn and his team to handle all operations.
“[It] allows for more makers to be part of the space,” Lawrence said. “Having this radical transparency, that's a big part of the innovation.”
Added Kilburn: “We are infinitely customizable. We are willing to do anything within reason. … We want to make sure that a customer walks away very satisfied that we’ve pulled out all the stops to allow them to be very unique within the marketplace.”
Eastern Light plans to join Kentucky Distillers’ Association and be a part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Clients will be able to offer customizable tour experiences for their brands and have their apparel sold at the distillery’s retail area, Kilburn said.
Although the lion’s share of its barrels will be going to contract distilling services, Kilburn did say that the distillery would be holding back around 10% of its inventory to take its own line of expressions.
