Distillery to open at business park

“At our Lexington facility we’ve had 25,000 (tourists) come through last year, and 95% of them are out of state. We’ve had people from every state,” he said. “We’re hoping to bring that tourism piece over there as well. People will come and tour the facility and learn about what we do here.”

The company is “aggressively” aiming to have at least partial operation started at the facility on June 1, 2024, but Wiseman said there are a lot of hoops to jump through before doors can open.

The project will generate 2-4 full-time positions with an average wage exceeding $20 per hour, and will employee 15-20 more people during the construction phase, according to a press release sent out on Nov. 13.

Barrel House Distilling holds the title of first craft distillery in the state, opening their doors in 2008 according to Wiseman. The company is a member of the Kentucky Distiller Association, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and a founding member of the Moonshine Trail, which Wiseman hopes will bring people into the location.

The company sources every grain needed for distilling, except for barley, from Kentucky, according to Wiseman. He said the bourbon industry in Kentucky “touches everybody,” from farmers, to loggers to bourbon drinkers.

The company had been looking to expand their reach right about the time Harrison County Economic Development Authority reached out about an availability at the business park, according to Wiseman.

“It was time for us to expand and we thought this made sense,” Wiseman said. “We looked at a few other places but the people over there have just been outstanding. It’s such a pleasure to work with everybody over there.”

Economic Development Authority Director Garnett Furnish said he reached out to the Kentucky Distillers Association to let them know his team is proactive in looking for distilleries, because of Cynthaina’s industry involvement dating back to the civil war.

He said the new addition will call back upon the history and heritage of Cynthiana and Harrison County, which had at least five distilleries back in the late 1800’s.

This past year, Furnish said the authority has sold three plots at the business park, an increase from the average of one plot before he cited before he took over. He compared economic development to a good bourbon, “it’s not cheap, it’s not fast and it don’t happen overnight.”

Furnish said some companies with a larger production volume reached out about the space, but the authority didn’t feel it would be a good fit for the area due to the possible negative effects of large storage capacity rickhouses. Rickhouses are used to store barrels of bourbon as they age.

The authority looked for a smaller outfitter that would keep a manageable operation, and lessen the possibility of fungus buildup, Furnish said.

“If you have a lot of barrels … of bourbon in a rickhouse, it will put off methane gas. Now what happens is, as it blows out of the building, that can adhere as a fungus to local housing or other buildings contiguous within a mile or mile and a half because there’s so much concentration,” he said.