Lexington, KY - Alltech has broken ground on a new 20,000 square foot distillery on the edge of downtown and Lexington's burgeoning Distillery District.
The $4.5 million facility is scheduled to be complete this time next year and vastly increase capacity for the bio-tech company's adult beverage arm.
The new distillery will move stills currently producing the group's malt whiskey, Pearse Lyons Reserve and Town Branch Bourbon - set to be released in October, from the Kentucky Ale brewery across an ally to their new home.
The first batch of Town Branch Bourbon, named for the creek that runs below downtown and once fed local distilleries, will amount to about 1,000 cases according to Alltech founder and CEO Pearse Lyons. But the new capacity can bring production up to 40,000 to 80,000 cases between the two whiskeys, Lyons said.
The beverage division of Alltech currently employes 34, of which 14 were hired in the past year according to an Alltech release. Not including construction jobs, the expansion at the corner of Pine and Cross streets is expected to add another dozen jobs in the next year.
The Kentucky Ale Brewery produces Kentucky Ale, Kentucky Light, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale and a limited quantity of Kentucky Appalachian Ale, a hoppy ale that won an annual home brewing contest and will be submitted to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver at the end of September.