LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bourbon is booming in Kentucky. The spirit is pouring serious money into Kentucky’s economy and that includes downtown Louisville.
Abram McIntire and his wife Meghen are going to gift a bottle of bourbon to someone after they fill it with barrel strength bourbon at Mitchter’s distillery in downtown Louisville. Stationed at Fort Knox, the bourbon aficionados were gifted a 10-year rye collection when they got married about a month ago.
“That was the best wedding gift. We can’t tell the rest of the family that,” Meghen.
Being in the military, Abram said he’s seen Kentucky bourbon on the shelves in Japan. He sees evidence of bourbon’s popularity growing abroad, even in places like France.
“One of my co-workers and I were bourbon hunting in Paris. Stopping by the stores and a lot of them were full, they’re packed. People are excited about bourbon and bourbon hunting and finding the good bottles, if you will,” Abram said.
On National Bourbon Day, the line to get in to Michter’s Distillery in Louisville went down the sidewalk. Andrea Wilson, the master of maturation and chief operating officer at Michter’s, said business has increased. Production is doing great and more people are coming to visit, she said.
“It’s very exciting. Louisville is a great city with a tremendous amount of tourism happening. For Michter’s, we just can’t possibly accommodate everyone, so we’ve had to expand. We’ve gone from five days a week to six days a week. We’re hoping to be at seven days a week here soon. We are accommodating more guests on tours. We’ve actually expanded this room to now have a couple of tables in here so we can accommodate more guests,” explained Wilson.
Wilson said they are seeing bourbon spark new growth downtown and on Main Street.
“That’s one of the things I think that’s so great because it is attracting business. People want to be where people are,” said Wilson.
The Kentucky Distillers' Association said that for the first time since prohibition, there are now more than 100 licensed distilling operations in Kentucky. The KDA said the bourbon industry now has a $9 billion economic impact to the Commonwealth every year.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years since we had no distilleries open for tours in downtown Louisville or Louisville, period. It wasn’t until the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience from Heaven Hill opened on Main Street across from the Kentucky Center that we had any distilleries open for tours. Now look at it. I think we have a distillery on every block from Slugger Field to Slugger museum and more on the way in the NuLu area,” said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers Association. “I think that the Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries in downtown Louisville and bourbonism and all that brings has definitely helped elevate tourism in downtown Louisville and really bring back the historic Whiskey Row.”
All you have to do is take a quick walk down Main Street in downtown Louisville. The area is called the Bourbon District. There are banners that say “Welcome to Bourbon City.” There are also markers telling people the experiences up and down Main Street.
“Now, I think the bourbon industry has just exploded so much that we’re filling up a month in advance, two months in advance. So, we’re seeing a huge, huge growth in tourism number of people coming in. We’ve had to open new experiences here for people just walking in the door without reservations,” said Christina Vassallo, the Kentucky Peerless Distilling marketing manager.
Because bourbon is booming in Kentucky.
Gregory, with the Kentucky Distillers' Association, said new distilleries are on the way in Kentucky. Some locations for the new sites include: Moorehead, Manchester, Louisville, Bardstown and four new distilleries in Washington County.