Board of adjustments approves permit request for new craft distillery

The building with the red roof is where the craft distillery will be housed. The Bardstown Board of Adjustments voted to approve Whiskeycraft Distillery’s conditional use permit application after a public hearing Tuesday night. Click image to enlarge.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 11 p.m. — A needed conditional use permit for a craft distillery proposed for the Bluegrass Entertainment and Exposition Center on Sutherland Lane south of Bardstown was approved Tuesday night by the Bardstown Board of Adjustments.

NFL football legend Lou Palatella and his wife Marci Palatella are behind Whiskeycraft Distillery, the company that wants to bring the Bourbon Capital of the World its first craft distillery.

Bardstown attorney Tom Donan and Marci Palatella answered questions posed by the board during the public hearing.

Donan said the Palatellas have no plans for structural changes to the three existing buildings at the site. The center building (the one with the red roof visible in the site plan shown above) will be where the still equipment is located, along with a tasting room and possibly a gift shop, Donan told the board.

The distillery will operate between the hours of 6 a.m and 10 p.m., while the tasting room and gift shop will operate between 10 a.m. to no later than 10 p.m.

The complex has long been used for weddings and community events, and Marci Palatella said they plan to continue to offer all three buildings

As a craft distillery, they will be limited to no more than 50,000 gallons of product produced per calendar year. They plan to distill bourbon and other spirits, and said they plan to bring in other spirits for blending purposes.

Ninety-five percent of the product produced will be shipped off the site, Donan said.

The board discussed if the 50,000 gallon limit was just for product distilled on-site, or if that limit included spirits brought in to the site for blending purposes. Planning commission director Jan Johnston-Crowe told the board that the limit includes spirits trucked in as well as those distilled on the site.

The only change to the existing structures will likely be some sort of stack to vent heat from the distilling process, which will be fueled by propane of three-phase electricity already at the site, Marci Palatella said. Coal as a fuel is not an option.

“Our goal is to do everything locally,” Palatella told the board. “We want to source locally and employ locally.”

Bardstown Fire Capt. Todd Spalding suggested the distillery petition the city to put in a fire hydrant close to the distillery to help with fire suppression.

No one spoke in opposition to the conditional use permit application.

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