Bourbon distillery, visitors center could be coming to downtown Lexington
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- State tourism authority approved up to $1M in tax incentives for the $4M project.
- Partners seek federal DSP license, must distill 600 proof gallons and hire 4 FTE, 15 PTE.
- Brand ships whiskey to England for aging, launched US 2024 and won Best New Rye 2025.
An award-winning whiskey brand founded by a group of Lexington businessmen is hoping to bring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail right into downtown Lexington.
Developer Pat Madden and Brian Luftman, two of the partners behind Never Say Die Bourbon, named for a racehorse, have plans to put a micro distillery, tourism experience and brand home on Short Street, in the heart of the city’s restaurant and bar district.
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The $4 million project received preliminary approval Dec. 17 from the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority for up to $1 million in tax incentives from the state.
According to the proposal, Never Say Die plans to “create a distillery experience in downtown Lexington. There will be tours, tastings, and bottling experiences for visitors.”
The project could begin as early as the first quarter of 2026 and be completed by the fall, according to the proposal. Upon completion, the venue anticipates hiring four full-time and 15 part-time employees when fully operational.
Luftman said the partnership is in discussions to purchase the former Parlay Social/ELIXIR/High Proof Hideaway building at 249 W. Short St. to develop a visitors center.
What the distillery could do downtown
The group has applied for a federal distilled spirits plant license for the location and will need to distill a minimum of 600 proof gallons on site.
Once they have their federal and state DSP permits they will be able to store barrels, bottle spirits and sell directly to customers at the location, he said.
And Never Say Die is also in discussions to join the Kentucky Distillers’ Association’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail, he said.
“Never Say Die aspires to join the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, with a central downtown Lexington, English-themed bourbon tourism experience that honors how a 1954 underdog champion in England became a driving force for Lexington, Kentucky to become the Horse Capital of the World,” Luftman said in a statement.
In August, Lexington planning officials approved a zoning change to allow micro distilleries downtown that could produce up to 10,000 gallons a year.
Another micro distillery, New Era Whiskey, also is opening a facility in downtown Lexington on East Short.
How Never Say Die is made
Luftman said the vast majority of Never Say Die’s bourbons and ryes will continue to be produced and aged elsewhere. The brand’s whiskeys are made under contract by a major distillery in Danville.
Uniquely, their whiskeys are shipped overseas to England for aging before behind shipped back to the U.S. for sale.
The first bottles were released in England in 2022 and in the U.S. 2024.
Their rye won “Best New Rye of 2025” at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Their small batch bourbon received Gold at the Global Spirits Masters competition.
An English connection to the Beatles
What’s the English connection?
The whiskey is named for a racehorse, born at the Maddens’ Hamburg Place Farm, that (according to legend) survived a rough birth with a slug of whiskey.
Never Say Die survived and went on to win the 1954 Epsom Derby, the first Kentucky-bred horse to do so, at 33-to-1 odds.
(A Liverpool woman named Mona Best famously pawned her jewelry to bet on Never Say Die, then used the winnings to open a music venue with a stage for up-and-coming musicians. The opening band for her Casbah Coffee Club was The Quarrymen, who hired her son, Pete, as their drummer and renamed themselves The Beatles.)
Madden shared this story at the 2015 Kentucky Derby with a friend from England, and the idea to create a cross-ocean bourbon was born.
