A rendering of the Heaven Hill’s upcoming Bardstown distillery, expected to open in 2024. (Image: Heaven Hill)

Heaven Hill, the largest independent, family-owned and -operated distilled spirits supplier in the United States, on Wednesday announced plans to build a $135 million distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky.

The new site, set to open in 2024, will increase Heaven Hill’s distilling capacity to meet increased global whiskey demand. Initial production at the new facility is projected to be 150,000 barrels a year, with the capacity to increase that annual number to 450,000 over time, according to a news release.

“The people of Bardstown have helped us create and build our brands over all these many years, so it’s a special homecoming to bring distilling back to this community,” Max Shapira, president of Heaven Hill, said. “Our new distillery will honor our long-time Bardstown roots while applying state-of-the-art equipment and processes to produce the highest quality American Whiskey and build upon our meaningful partnership with Bardstown and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

Heaven Hill will build the distillery on a vacant 61-acre site at 1015 Old Bloomfield Pike, off of KY 245. Construction is planned to begin this spring.

This will be a homecoming of sorts, as the original Heaven Hill Springs Distillery was founded in 1935 in Bardstown. After its distillery burned down in 1996, Heaven Hill purchased Bernheim Whiskey’s distilling space in Louisville and moved its production there.

Heaven Hill came back to Bardstown in 2021 with the opening of the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, but this new site will mark the return of Heaven Hill’s distilling to its original hometown. Heaven Hill will continue to age bourbon at existing locations, and the Bernheim distillery in Louisville will continue to operate at full capacity.

Here at Whiskey Raiders, we do more than write about current events in whiskey. We are the only media property reviewing whiskeys and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the whiskey world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of whiskey in your morning email, sign up for our Daily Dram Gram!