Company plans craft distillery for Bluegrass Entertainment Complex site
This proposed site plan for a proposed craft distillery at the Bluegrass Entertainment and Exposition Center on Sutherland Road. The property owners and Whiskeycraft Distillery LLC are requesting a conditional use permit for the property which is presently zoned B-3 Regional Retail Business District. Click to enlarge.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, 12:30 p.m. — The county’s newest distilled spirits-related tourist attraction may make its home at the Bluegrass Entertainment and Exposition Complex at 426 Sutherland Road off New Haven Road at the Bluegrass Parkway.
The Bardstown Board of Adjustments will consider a request by the property owners and Whiskeycraft Distillery LLC for a conditional use permit to allow operation of a craft distillery on the property. The property is current zoned B-3 Regional Retail Business District.
The site plan indicates the craft distillery will use the three existing buildings on the 7.8 acre tract which was formerly known as Hillbilly Heaven.
A craft distillery is a distilling operation on a much smaller scale than traditional local distilleries.
The site plan notes that one of the buildings may be developed into a tasting room while others will be used for distillery operations or continue in use as an event venue. The buildings offer more than 16,000 square feet of usable space.
The exposition center has a long history as a location for community events, concerts, and tourism-related activities. The application states that as the first craft distillery in Bardstown, it would enhance tourism “and further reinforce Bardstown charm and place as the Bourbon Capital.”
Whiskeycraft Distillery LLC is a Kentucky corporation that was filed its articles of incorporation on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.
The Bardstown Board of Adjustment will consider the application to allow the county’s first craft distillery at its next meeting, 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in the Fiscal Courtroom on the second floor of the Old Courthouse Building.
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