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BEAVER DAM, Ky.— Few could be shocked {that a} Kentucky city bears a backwoods identify like Beaver Dam, however whiskey lovers who recognize massive distilleries could be impressed by the scale of Western Kentucky Distilling Co., situated right here. Set again 1 / 4 mile from the Western Kentucky Parkway, which divides this metropolis of three,500 individuals, is its practically 2-year-old 81-acre campus.
Development on the inexperienced construct web site started in late 2022, and by July of 2023, distilling was underway. Utilizing its 40-foot-tall, 36-inch-wide Vendome column nonetheless, barrels have been being crammed rapidly and prepared for stacking within the first of what now are three palletized warehouses onsite. Every 20,000-square-foot constructing holds 16,000 barrels, and there’s room for 12 extra similar to them. In whole, they’ll have area for 250,000 barrels.
Making extra nice whiskey continues to be No. 1.
Although a customer and occasions heart is within the works, it’s not on the high of the to-do listing, stated Jacob Name, cofounder, grasp distiller and chief working officer.
“We do need guests to come back right here ultimately, however there are different priorities in thoughts,” he stated. Making extra nice whiskey continues to be No. 1. “However I will be glad quickly as we get completed with building—end the asphalt and no extra monitoring within the mud.”
A distillery veteran, Name has earned the suitable to do a totally new construct. After a number of years in banking, Name joined his father to function Florida Distillers, a long-running customized blender and bottler for a lot of spirits manufacturers. A veteran distiller from James. B. Beam Distilling Co., Ron Name taught his son the enterprise, which later opened the door to a possibility again in his residence state of Kentucky.
“The Previous Medley Distillery in Owensboro had been shut down for 25 years, and nobody appeared fascinated with working it,” Jacob Name stated. “We took a go searching … knew it wanted a number of work, however we noticed a possibility to do one thing with it in 2014.”
Distilling began underneath the O.Z. Tyler identify earlier than the model was switched to Inexperienced River Distilling Co., based in 1885 as “The Whiskey With out Regrets.” Name cherished the model’s historical past, however the distillery was previous and in want of patching up. Regardless of its age, he and his crew managed to crank out 100,000 barrels a 12 months utilizing its spectacular 54-inch-wide column nonetheless.
When the Inexperienced River bourbon line rolled out in February of 2022, critics and prospects cherished it. A rye quickly adopted and a wheated bourbon was added a 12 months later. By then, although, Name was on to WKDC, the place he and cofounder and president, J.D. Edwards (then Inexperienced River’s immediate-past controller) have been busy organising the distillery.
“So far as Inexperienced River, we actually had no cash to improve it,” Name stated. “It was a number of asking, ‘How will we take this previous nonetheless and do what we have to?’
“With this place, we needed to make the entire thing linear from grain receiving, to the cookers, to the fermenters, to the nonetheless and to barrel filling. Every little thing strikes so simply in right here.”
The totally fashionable distillery will be run by three operators 24-7. Automation is in place wherever attainable, however whereas “that doesn’t make it foolproof, it does alert us to issues quicker than we’d study in any other case,” Name added.
Once I arrived in early July, the distillery was amid its annual shutdown and crews have been making ready for the tedious work of descaling the insides of the nonetheless. The column’s exterior acquired a tidy sprucing, however a starter-stalactite was dangling from a tray close to the nonetheless’s heart.
“Yep, that’s what it appears to be like like when it’s been run extensive open for a 12 months,” Name stated.
In the end, we wish to be identified for making nice, conventional bourbon and rye whiskeys…
Prospects’ whiskey first
As he did at Inexperienced River, the majority of the whiskey produced at WKDC to date is for contract prospects, lots of them craft distilleries. A partnership with Brindiamo Group created a digital gross sales pressure for WKDC since that firm finds buyers and distilleries wanting barreled whiskies.
The lone WKDC model in the marketplace is Hemmingway Rye, which is constituted of a mix of rye shares distilled at MGPI and Inexperienced River. WKDC has produced a number of thousand barrels of its personal rye for Hemmingway, however their launch is a few years away.
“In the end, we wish to be identified for making nice, conventional bourbon and rye whiskeys,” Name stated. “We do a quantity 4 char on all our barrels, however that’s to not say we gained’t do a toasted launch down the street.”
Requested why he selected palettized warehousing versus ricking, Name stated bluntly, “The price of ricking is outrageously costly. Additionally, to get going on the pace that we’ve got, there is not any manner I might have constructed conventional rickhouses quick sufficient. I favored having that quick begin.
“I additionally constructed these homes a little bit otherwise from different palletized warehouses. Now we have exhaust followers and aside from the roofs, they don’t seem to be insulated. They warmth up and funky down tremendous fast, and I’ve acquired spacing between barrels the place we will try this. Air circulation is sweet inside, and I can inform within the whiskey we’ve made to date that we’re doing simply advantageous.”
True to his phrase, samples he shared of 1-year and 18-month bourbons have been not like any I’ve had of that age: amazingly mature so quickly.
Making whiskies for others in his personal place is enjoyable, however to have our household’s identify on our personal distinctive manufacturers—a flagship model is what will get me up within the morning. It will get me excited.
Plans for future manufacturers will draw closely on the Name household identify and its whiskey historical past. The oldest of his clan was Samuel Name, who got here to Kentucky in 1791. Throughout Covid shutdowns, Jacob Name a employed genealogist to analysis his household historical past and located that within the six generations earlier to his father’s, there have been distillers. Even Samuel Name was a big participant for his time.
The genealogist discovered property data displaying Samuel Name had “a 75-gallon nonetheless, a 120-gallon nonetheless and 12 fermenters. So he was not a interest distiller,” Name stated. “Samuel Name can be a single barrel bourbon, and it’ll have his authentic signature that I discovered on his paperwork.”
Making whiskies for others in his personal place is enjoyable, he stated, “however to have our household’s identify on our personal distinctive manufacturers—a flagship model is what will get me up within the morning. It will get me excited.”
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