By: Gregory A. Hall
Source: The Courier-Journal
Seven craft distilleries are being added to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, giving the Frankfort-based trade group its largest membership since Prohibition.
With almost more craft distilleries opening than industry officials can track, the distillers group conducted its first-ever membership drive in August, sending leather-bound packets and personalized copper membership cards to all existing and potential Kentucky distillers to explain its mission and criteria for joining. The campaign’s slogan was “We’ve been waiting for you since 1880,” a reference to the KDA’s founding.
The seven new craft members that resulted from the drive are: Bluegrass Distillers, Lexington; Boundary Oak Distillery, Elizabethtown; Casey Jones Distillery, Hopkinsville; Dueling Grounds Distillery, Franklin; Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co., Louisville; The Gentleman Distillery, Paris; and Three Boys Farm Distillery, Frankfort.
KDA President Eric Gregory said the group’s 27 members are the most since the 1930s following the repeal of Prohibition. Prior to the addition of the seven, the membership was at its highest mark since 1947.
Membership could hit 40 next year, he said, with more than a dozen distilleries announced or under construction.
The group is to hold its annual meeting in Louisville Monday.
