New Louisville distillery expanding its operations in Shively

LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- Its roots are in Pennsylvania but the brand is now produced in Louisville and it's another bourbon brand that's making a comeback.

Michter's has had its bottling operation up and running for several years on New Millennium Drive in Shively and it will soon add a distillation process there.

The Michter's brand has only been distilled at other bourbon operations in the state.

On Thursday morning, as a drone capturing the activity hovered above, two copper stills manufactured by Louisville company Vendome were carefully lowered into place.

One was a pot still, the other a 46-foot-long column still.

"Today is really a milestone for us," says Michter's Distillery president Joseph Magliocco, "our team has been working really hard for years and this puts us in a position to grow."

When the stills are up and running next spring, they will produce more than 100 barrels of bourbon a day.

The Mitchter's brand traces its roots back to Pennsylvania in 1753, but the brand went bankrupt in 1989. Then Chatham Imports purchased the brand in the 1990's and resurrected it.

While the company has its headquarters in New York, it decided that Kentucky is the best place to produce the bourbon.

So it built its $10 million production facility in Shively just off Seventh Street Road.

"Kentucky has the greatest distillers in the United States," says Magliocco, "you have whiskey resources in Kentucky that you are not going to have anywhere else in the country."

Michter's has also been pouring millions of dollars to restore the old Fort Nelson Building at Ninth and Main Streets into a small distillery and tourism center.

Adds Magliocco, "I think it is very exciting what the city is doing, what the industry is doing developing the bourbon district downtown."