One of the largest contract-only distilleries in Kentucky opened its doors for business on July 1.
Whiskey House of Kentucky — located on a 176-acre campus in the T.J. Patterson Elizabethtown Hardin County Industrial Park — is now distilling custom bourbon, rye and other American whiskey mashbills for customers using the most technological, large-scale production processes available to do so, according to the company.
Whiskey House will soon be producing approximately seven million proof gallons annually, or 112,000 barrels per year.
“Whiskey House truly sets a new, high bar for advanced manufacturing in the whiskey industry,” said Whiskey House and President and COO John Hargrove in a news release. “We’ve created the most flexible distillation system in the country, capable of producing excellent whiskey while enabling tremendous customization at the same time.”
Hargrove is one of three co-founders — David Mandell and Daniel Linde being the other two — who started the venture in 2022. Hargrove came from Bardstown Bourbon Company, which has been one of the pioneers for contract distilling after offering the service in 2016.
Whiskey House also uses AI to analyze data throughout the production and aging processes. The distillery earned a Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub Grant to help implement AI into its operations, per the release.
“Our technology infrastructure provides customers unprecedented access to every datapoint about their whiskey production, including critical financial, inventory and quality metrics,” Roger Henley, Whiskey House’s vice president of engineering and technology, said in the release. “This information will not only help our customers improve their businesses, but it will help brands tell deeper, richer stories, leading to more innovation and transparency across the industry.”
Furthermore, the facility’s design will allow it to capture and reuse latent energy throughout the production process at an unprecedented level, affording it to have approximately 50% less energy consumption than those distilleries that have been named Energy Star Certified Distilleries, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The project was expected to cost around $350 million, with an initial investment of $100 million, according to Mandell, when I spoke to him about the project back in October.
The distillery is being financed by Truist Bank, per the release. Bardstown, Kentucky-based Buzick Construction built the facility.
Unlike other new entrants into the contracting distilling space, Whiskey House has no plans to ever have its own brands. Its 50,000 square foot facility will also not be open to the public.
“Thanks to our incredible team, construction partners, service providers and vendors, we’ve delivered the most advanced distillery in the United States in just over two years,” said Mandell in the release. “Our state-of-the-art facility not only provides unmatched quality, flexibility and production capabilities, but we’ve also assembled the best team in American whiskey to deliver exceptional customer service for our exclusive brand partners.”
The facility features a 48-inch column still and 14 fermenters at 33,000 gallons each. Mandell told me that by 2027, a second still would be added, allowing the distillery to double their output to 14 million original proof gallons or 224,000 barrels a year.
Whiskey House is also in the process of building 33 rickhouses that can each hold more than 41,000 barrels, as well as a 50,000-square-foot palletized warehouse, a spent grain processing facility, a bottling facility and a rail system.
Back in April, we reported that Whiskey House had filled out its leadership team on its way to approaching a planned headcount of 50.
On a related note, Eastern Light Distilling in Morehead, Kentucky, was scheduled to have its groundbreaking on Tuesday morning. The $143.7 million facility should open sometime in 2025.
