Coopers such as this one at the Brown-Forman Cooperage in Louisville can make up to 250 barrels a day. The facility produces around 3,000 barrels each day and 650,000 annually. The typical cooper will transfer to another job in the facility after a few years of putting barrels together by hand.
Lexington, KY – In just the past two years, Kentucky’s bourbon industry has seen its workforce doubled and number of licensed distilleries tripled, according to a new report commissioned by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board and the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
In the last two years, the study states, distilling’s gross state product is up 67 percent from $1.8 billion to $3 billion, while there are now 15,400 people on the payroll of distillers in Kentucky, up 77 percent from 8,690 in 2012.
“We all knew the bourbon renaissance was taking this iconic industry to new levels, but this data is absolutely phenomenal,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a press release issued by his office. “The amount of progress is unrivaled and unparalleled. The bourbon boom is real and producing results for all Kentuckians.”
The study (available in full here as a PDF) was conducted by the Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville.
Other findings in the report:
• New craft distilleries employ 127 people, with salaries totaling more than $4 million. They have invested $30 million already and plan to spend another $25 to $30 million in the next five years.
• Total property tax assessments have jumped to $2 billion from $1.3 billion in 2012, a 54 percent increase.
• More than $166 million in tax revenue for local and state governments is generated by spirits production and consumption, up from $126 million in 2012, a 32 percent increase.
• Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey account for $1 billion of the total $1.5 billion in distilled spirits exports, up from $768 million in 2012. It is, by far, the largest export category among all U.S. distilled spirits.
• Barrel inventories are at their highest levels in 40 years, with more than 5.3 million aging currently in Kentucky. Production levels are up 53 percent in the last two years and 150 percent in the last 15 years.