Old Forester Moving Forward For 2017 Opening

By Richard Thomas

As the Bourbon Boom has driven a parallel rise in bourbon tourism, the city of Louisville has begun to put some substance into its claim as the world’s bourbon capital. Many bourbon tourists enter Kentucky by either driving or flying to the Derby City, so it was only logical that the city itself would evolve from a base to explore Bourbon Country to hosting whiskey attractions of its own.

First came the Evan Williams Experience, then came Peerless Distillery and Jim Beam’s own tourist experience in downtown Louisville. These will soon be joined by Angel’s Envy, which should be operational in it’s location across from Slugger Field before the end of the year.

Back down on Whiskey Row, a different kind of project is in the works for Old Forester’s downtown distillery. Peerless and Angel’s Envy are both the craft distilleries and the homes of their respective brands. The Evan Williams Experience and Beam’s Urban Still House operate the equivalent of a small micro-distillery on the premises, as part of their bourbon-making presentation, and are most definitely not the seat of those top bourbon brands.

Old Forester promises to be in a different class. Unlike Peerless and Angel’s Envy, Old Forester is one of Kentucky bourbon’s major legacy brands. The urban distillery will differ from Evan Williams Experience and Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse in being the real seat of that brand, producing not one or two barrels of bourbon per day, but roughly 14 per day.

“The distillery will make about 100,000 cases a year,” said Old Forester project manager Mike Beach, “and that would have more or less met the needed volume at the time we announced construction. Since then, demand has grown.”

So as the seat of the Old Forester brand, the distillery will operate in much the same way that fellow Brown-Forman stablemate Woodford Reserve: much or most of the whiskey will be made at the namesake distillery, supplemented by production from Brown-Forman’s main distillery, also in Louisville.

Another feature that will set the Old Forester Distillery apart from any of the other urban distilleries in Louisville, or indeed on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, is that it will have an in-house cooperage. While the facility won’t have all the features of Brown-Forman’s famed cooperage, also in Louisville, it will not be a mere show for tourists. The Old Forester coopers will raise and char a projected 15 to 20 barrels per day, matching or exceeding the current production expectations for the distillery.

The original planning called for the $45 million distillery’s completion this year, but this was derailed when the buildings next door suffered a major fire in June 2015. Contractor Messer Construction Co. did not actually begin work until January 2016. Although today the site is essentially a hole in the ground with an antique front wall, the biggest challenges have all been cleared: the foundation, historic facade, and structure of the adjoining buildings are all secure. They expect to have the fermenters installed in March 2017, the building’s skeleton completed in April, followed by a major event in June, when the still is lowered into the building.

Of course, major construction project rarely go completely as planned, and if the Old Forester project rolls into the finish line without any major hiccups, it will prove blessed indeed. Still, barring anything like another three-alarm fire next door, Old Forester should open its doors late next year.