Brown-Forman Corporation tells BourbonBlog.com that it will expand the Woodford Reserve Distillery with a $35 million in investment to meet growing global demand for its super premium Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon.
For you thirsty fans who regulalry tell us how much you like Woodford Reserve Bourbon on our Twitter @BourbonBlog, 3 new warehouses capable of housing more than 165,000 barrels of bourbon are being built.
That will equal to 19,800,000 extra bottles of Woodford Reserve Bourbon!
We’ve been seeing the growth the last 8 years since we’ve been on our adventures on BourbonBlog.com as we interview Master Distillers like Woodford Reserve’s Chris Morris (watch the video below).
“Brown-Forman is proud to expand the Woodford Reserve Distillery, America’s oldest working distillery, located in the heart of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region,” Chris Morris, Master Distiller, Woodford Reserve tells BourbonBlog.com. “The world’s growing taste for premium North American whiskey is driving record exports of these U.S. spirits.
Woodford Reserve experienced a record volume of nearly 250,000 nine liter cases and grew net sales by 28% globally in fiscal 2013.
We believe strong consumer interest in bourbon will continue and we’re expanding our production capacity in an effort to meet this demand.”
The expansion of the Woodford Reserve Distillery, located off McCracken Pike in Versailles, Kentucky, includes plans for the addition of three bourbon maturation
warehouses, new stills, expansion of the existing bottling line, and improvements to increase general efficiency and productivity. It is projected to add 15 new jobs over the life of the project.
The three new pot stills, to be built as need dictates, will be made of copper and housed in the existing distillation building. Woodford Reserve Distillery was the first
distillery to use copper pot stills and the triple distillation process to handcraft bourbon today.
To encourage the investment and job growth in Versailles, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $2.5 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program.
Video interview with Master Distiller Chris Morris
The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets. KEDFA also approved Brown-Forman for tax benefits up to $500,000 through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, which allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing equipment.
Brown-Forman opened the Woodford Reserve Distillery and introduced Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon in 1996. Since Woodford Reserve’s introduction, it has experienced double-digit growth rates each year.
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For more than 140 years, Brown-Forman Corporation has enriched the experience of life by responsibly building fine quality beverage alcohol brands.
Now that is a mighty big number of years of sipping brands like Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Southern Comfort, Finlandia, Jack Daniel’s & Cola, Canadian Mist, Korbel, Gentleman Jack, el Jimador, Herradura, Sonoma-Cutrer, Chambord, New Mix, Tuaca, and Woodford Reserve. Brown-Forman’s brands are supported by nearly 4,000 employees and sold in approximately 160 countries worldwide.
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