Stoli vodka group plans to build $150 million distillery in Bardstown

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 — The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has approved incentives for a $150 million distillery project for the Bardstown area proposed by a subsidiary of the same company that owns Stolichaya Vodka.

According to documents released Thursday, Strigiformes LLC plans a distillery, rickhouses, visitor center and other facilities required for the production of bourbon.

The tax incentives approved total $2 million. The distillery project is expected to create 77 new jobs over the next 10 years at an average salary of $25 per hour.

Strigiformes’ projected investment in the new Bardstown distillery will be substantial: $2.75 million for land, $115.6 million for buildings and improvements, $26.4 million for equipment and $5 for start-up costs.

Strigiformes’ parent company, SPI Group, purchased the Kentucky Owl Bourbon brand in January, which is the company’s first entry in the American bourbon market. It is expected the new Bardstown distillery will be used to create the super-premium bourbon. The word “strigiformes” is the scientific classification for one of the families of owls.

ABOUT KENTUCKY OWL. The Kentucky Owl Bourbon brand was revived by Dixon Dedman, the great-great-grandson of Charles Mortimer Dedman, the pharmacist who founded the brand in 1879.

Kentucky Owl — known as “The Wise Man’s Bourbon” was distilled by the family until Prohibition. In 2014, Dixon Dedman decided to try his hand at reviving the brand. He spent six years, hand-selecting from the best bourbons and testing various processes to finally create a Kentucky bourbon good enough to continue his great-great-grandfather’s legacy.

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