Billion-dollar bourbon barrel campus coming to Taylor County, Sazerac says
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- Sazerac plans $1.02 billion barrel aging campus in Campbellsville, Taylor County.
- KEDFA approved up to $2.75 million in tax incentives tied to the project.
- Neighbors in other counties report whiskey fungus damage and threaten legal action.
Sazerac Distillers, the maker of some of the most-sought after bourbons including Pappy Van Winkle, Blanton’s and Buffalo Trace, is planning to build more whiskey barrel warehouses in a new project planned for Taylor County.
While the company has not shared the timeline for the new campus, or what it will include, according to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority’s documents the facility will cost about $1.02 billion. Sazerac confirmed they’d purchased land for the warehouses.
“Sazerac has acquired property located in Campbellsville, Kentucky as part of the company’s long-term vision for sustained, strategic growth,” according to a statement from the company. “The property will be home to new barrel aging warehouses.
“We are grateful to the state and local officials who continue to support this impactful investment and look forward to being a trusted community partner in Taylor County. We will share further updates on the project as it advances.”
The $1 billion includes land, equipment and buildings. KEDFA approved a potential $2.75 million in tax incentives for the facility.
Such large-scale campuses of rickhouses, which can house thousands of barrels of bourbon as they age for years, have become increasingly controversial in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The aging barrels release evaporating alcohol, known as “the angel’s share,” that can cause a whiskey fungus to coat homes, cars, street signs and even trees with black, mold-like growth that is hard to remove.
In 2022, homeowners in Anderson County unsuccessfully fought a new Buffalo Trace barrel warehouse campus outside of Lawrenceburg. A similar expansion in Franklin County was eventually halted by opposition, and Sazerac turned instead to Laurel County.
There, they have built 14 rickhouses and five more are under construction, according to the company.
Now, homeowners in nearby London are upset that their property is showing increasing signs of whiskey fungus and threatening legal action.
In previous years, many cities and counties with barrel warehouses looked upon them as a mixed blessing: Despite whiskey fungus, they brought in significant tax revenue. But Kentucky’s General Assembly voted in 2023 to begun sunsetting the tax on aging spirits, and over the next 20 years it will gradually dry up.
The tax rate is scheduled to drop by 4% beginning in 2026. Because the inventory of barrels has expanded as distillery capacity outpaced demand, there are more barrels than ever: 16.1 million as of the end of 2024. Distillers will pay about $75 million in taxes on those barrels next year.
