Closed Kentucky bourbon distillery taken over by court. Bank alleges $26m+ owed
A Kentucky distillery that closed this year after less than 14 months in operation owes at least $28 million, according to a pair of recent lawsuits against the company.
Much of the money is owed to Truist Bank, which filed suit April 11 claiming the company had defaulted on loan payments for more than five months.
Garrard County Distilling Co., at 450 Southern Soul Way in Lancaster, built a $250 million distillery that aimed to ramp up production last year, but the lawsuits outline a financial collapse instead.
The distiller was placed into emergency receivership last week after Truist Bank claimed it was owed more than $26 million. The company has also been sued over unpaid bills related to construction of its distillery.
The distillery’s parent company, Staghorn in Atlanta, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Founder Ray Franklin, who left the company last year, was also not immediately available for comment.
Staghorn, which also operated under the name All Nations, sold bourbon and whiskey sourced from Wilderness Trail Distillery while it began producing its own for aging on site.
Truist Bank said in its motion for an emergency receiver that Garrard County Distilling’s “poor performance ... coupled with the fact that Borrowers’ operations have ceased completely — leads to the unavoidable fact that the Borrowers’ business has failed and the value of the Business Assets is unquestionably and rapidly diminishing.”
With the consent of the distillery’s owners, receiver Aurora Management Partners Inc. was appointed by Garrard County Circuit Court Judge Hunter Daugherty to take over the distillery.
Aurora is empowered to file for bankruptcy, or to operate and manage the business, as well as sell off some or all of the assets, subject to further orders of the court.
The agreed order was signed by the chairman of All Nations Investors, Staghorn and GBRE, Shashi Reddy.
Reddy, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the former CEO of Case-Mate and lives in Atlanta.
According to Truist’s lawsuit, in October 2022, All Nations, under the corporate name GBRE, began taking out various loans with Truist, including a mortgage on the Garrard County property.
By Jan. 30 of this year, All Nations and GBRE defaulted on the loans, according to the lawsuit. According to the terms of the loan agreements, Truist can call in the full loan amount because of the default, and it now has.
Truist said in the lawsuit that as of April 3, 2025, All Nations and GBRE owe $26,159,069.16, including principal, interest, late charges and other fees, according to the lawsuit.
Truist said in the lawsuit that Garrard Distilling is also in default because it is delinquent on taxes and has two liens against it.
Contractors Doss & Horky have also sued the distillery and has filed one of the liens for $2.2 million owed on construction of the distillery.
According to WLEX 18, the distillery also owes more than $250,000 in unpaid property taxes, due in April.
In an affidavit supporting the request for a receiver, a bank officer said, “Unfortunately, I and Truist reasonably believe that the business assets securing the notes are less than the total amount presently due and that such collateral continues to decline in value.
“Truist Bank has reason to believe that the borrowers’ day-to-day business has been shuttered, the borrowers are without sufficient cash to operate their businesses or even maintain, protect and/or preserve the real and personal property business assets, necessitating and warranting the appointment of receiver.”
Garrard County Distilling opened in January 2024 on 210 acres in Lancaster, about 30 minutes south of Lexington. It had a 50,000-square-foot distillery, 18 fermenters and three rickhouses.
Franklin, the company’s founder, said in an interview that they started construction in 2020 and “quietly built one of the largest all-new distilleries in the country.”
They planned to produce bourbon and other whiskeys on contract for sale as well as their own branded products, he said.
Franklin left the company last year and, as of November, is chief revenue officer for Spirits Capital, an Arizona-based online barrel exchange platform.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 10:08 AM.
