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Brown-Forman

Brown-Forman stirs up life in Louisville's Whiskey Row

Gregory A. Hall and Sheldon S. Shafer
(Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE -- The long-rumored whiskey tourism project at the heart of downtown Louisville's historic Whiskey Row block is a rumor no more.

Tax incentives for Brown-Forman Corp.'s planned Old Forester Distillery and visitors center received approval Thursday from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.

The $30 million project by the Louisville-based maker of Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's received approval for up to $1.3 million in incentives and could provide up to 20 jobs.

Old Forester, the brainchild of Brown-Forman founder George Garvin Brown, is the company's original brand and America's first bottled bourbon.

The company will use two historic properties it has bought on Main Street to build a distillery for Old Forester and a visitors center. The distillery will include fermentation, distilling, barrel-making, filling and dumping and bottling, allowing Brown-Forman to double the current production of its original whiskey.

The purchase price of the buildings, which collectively have about 55,000 square feet with 52 feet along Main, has not been disclosed, Brown-Forman spokeswoman Elizabeth Conway said.

A rendering of the planned Old Forester Distillery being built by Brown-Forman Corp.

The distillery will offer tours, a tasting room, exhibits, bourbon-making demonstrations and event spaces — and is expected to be the anchor of a mixed-use development on the block.

The two-year construction process could begin soon if zoning and other approvals are obtained, Conway said, with a goal of opening in fall 2016.

The Brown-Forman facility will join other tourism sites in Louisville and the region, including the nearby Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, also on Main, in capitalizing on the popularity of whiskey and bourbon.

"Bourbonism is real and just keeps growing in our city and our state," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. "Not only is Brown-Forman growing one of its strongest brands, it also is redeveloping two key structures in a historic block of our downtown, which will encourage more investment, more stability and more growth."

For more than 18 months, developers have been discussing the general outline of what would be at the site.

Developers previously have said the bourbon tourism facility would anchor a mixed-use development and have widespread benefits, including adding tax revenues to help pay debt on the nearby KFC Yum! Center.

Brown-Forman bought the two buildings from Main Street Revitalization, which includes members of the Brown family and the Brown-Forman company. Main Street Revitalization still owns three other buildings on the block. Cast-iron facades along the block have been preserved from one-time warehouses that were at the core of what once was a downtown alcohol business district known as Whiskey Row.

The new Old Forester Distillery buildings were built around 1857 and used for warehousing barrels of whiskey produced at numerous distilleries in the area. At least 19 distillers, wholesalers, and other whiskey-related businesses called that block of West Main Street home, according to Brown-Forman.

In fact, Brown-Forman used to own one of the Main buildings it just purchased, between 1900 and 1919, the company said.

"We're returning to our roots with this distillery, just another wonderful example of Brown-Forman's commitment to historic preservation and downtown development in Louisville," said George Garvin Brown IV, the company's board chairman and a fifth generation descendant of the company founder.

Brown-Forman Corp. founder George Garvin Brown, far right, in the office at 117 W. Main St. The building will be part of the Old Forester Distillery.

But the Whiskey Row name extended beyond just the block that would be used by the Brown-Forman project.

The site is expected to become part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail distillery tourism program administered by the Kentucky Distillers' Association. The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience already is part of the trail's passport program, as is the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Shively.

"Brown-Forman is a bold leader in Kentucky Bourbon and American whiskey, and we couldn't be more excited for them and their legendary Old Forester brand," distillers' association president Eric Gregory said. "This announcement is further proof that the historic resurgence of our signature industry is real, is revolutionary and has no plans of slowing down — especially in Louisville."

The distillers' association refers to Louisville as the "Official Gateway to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail" because many of the tourists in the program use Louisville as a base for their travels.

"Louisville has quickly become the epicenter of our mellow amber nectar, from the emerging culinary scene to the fantastic bars on the Urban Bourbon Trail and the growing Whiskey Row of distilleries," Gregory said.

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