Planned bourbon distillery in Manchester would complement larger redevelopment effort
Manchester would be home to a craft bourbon distillery under plans announced Monday.
Trevor Lee, an owner in the venture, said the plan is to start construction on the distillery next March and have it open in 2025.
Lee made the announcement at an event at the Eastern Kentucky University campus in Manchester, where officials announced funding for a number of other projects that are part of a larger effort to redevelop the downtown and boost tourism, business and jobs in Clay County and the area.
One key piece of that is a planned downtown marketplace.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican who represents the area, got a $2.2 million earmark set aside to help fund that project.
“You’re making progress and you’re doing it together,” Rogers told residents at the announcement.
The distillery, with an initial investment of $10 million, would be next to the marketplace.
Both are planned in a part of town that was blighted before a civic group called 1 Clay County helped lead an effort to buy run-down buildings in the area, tear them down and get the site ready for redevelopment.
Local leaders believe the distillery will help spur other projects.
“That just stimulates growth all around,” said Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican from Manchester.
The distillery project would be in a renovated building that would also have a tasting room, an event space and a restaurant, said Lee.
There is a history behind the venture — the bourbon would use a four-grain recipe that the grandfather of Paul Blackstone, who also is involved in the venture, came up with in Owensboro, Lee said.
The company does not yet have bourbon on the market.
Lee, an architect with a firm in Jacksonville, Fla., said the developers picked Manchester as the site for the distillery after he worked on a project at AdventHealth Manchester, the local hospital, and met local people who were passionate about trying to make improvements.
The hope is to expand beyond the initial distillery project, Lee said.
“Really this is just the beginning,” Lee said.
The goal is to ultimately become part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a signature tourism attraction.
There are currently 46 stops on the trail, which will mark its 25th anniversary next year, said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
