Bardstown Bourbon Company continues to innovate in the industry in terms of whiskey tourism, food and cocktails and popular house brands, all while remaining a leader in the contract distilling market.
BD: YOU RECENTLY RAMPED UP YOUR SINGLE BARREL PROGRAM. ME: We’ ve been ramping that up for us and for our clients as well. We’ re helping out a lot of folks with that. It’ s what customers want now. We’ re developing internally a new piece of equipment, a kit, so that we can increase our capacity to sample single barrels fivefold.
BD: DURING A RECENT TOUR AT BARDSTOWN, I HEARD THAT YOU JUST IMPLEMENTED A NEW ERP( ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING) FOR YOUR DIGITAL SYSTEMS. ME: That came online in September. We had too many systems pieced together from different entities. It had been a slog.
Putting in the new ERP was a lot of work. And it’ s always a tough transition in terms of people changing their habits and learning a new system. But now our new ERP helps clients see their products in a timely fashion. They can see exactly where and when their products are in the system.
The new system, made for distilleries and perfected at Lofted Spirits, will be available for others in our industry. We hope to see this level of collaboration and transparency grow across the industry.
BD: TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE GREEN RIVER ACQUISITION. ME: We’ ve always talked about Bardstown Bourbon bringing innovation to the industry while also adhering to its history and tradition. Steve Nally, our master distiller, is an oldschool talent, while we brought in a lot of high-tech practices when we opened. Along those lines, Green River is a historical brand. [ The brand originated in 1885.]
Sometimes when we’ re pouring at an event, we bring the two brands together, Bardstown and Green River. Other times we have them separate. We want the Green River brand to grow on its own, the same way that Bardstown Bourbon is growing on its own. That’ s also why we started Lofted Spirits, our parent company. We hated telling people that Green River was owned by Bardstown Bourbon. We want Green River to be its own brand. We’ re much more excited to be seen as a house of brands.
BD: HOW DOES BARDSTOWN BOURBON— WITH ITS TOURS, KITCHEN AND BARS— HANDLE THE BOOM IN BOURBON TOURISM? ME: We want to provide visitors with creative experiences. That’ s what people think about when they think about bourbon. They think about how they experienced it. That’ s why we have the outdoor bar, the glass warehouse. We’ ve tried to come up with new, creative experiences. We have a vintage whiskey library, such a unique space on the bourbon trail. We’ ve opened up two new tasting rooms in downtown Louisville, for Bardstown Bourbon and Green River.
BD: AS THE WHISKEY INDUSTRY GOES THROUGH A CORRECTIVE PHASE, WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE YEARS AHEAD? ME: Everyone is talking about what’ s cyclical versus what’ s structural. The data shows that we’ re going right back to moderate growth. We had that big ramp up during Covid and now we’ ve come back down. Moderate growth is more realistic.
On the custom-distilling side, there’ s more capacity than demand, so it needs some sorting out. We’ re confident that we’ ll be here when it sorts. On the branded side, if it slows down, we’ ll keep investing. One thing is for sure: the tourism is not slowing down. There’ s been no slowdown in excitement for Kentucky’ s native spirit. •
24 Beverage Dynamics • Winter 2025 www. beveragedynamics. com