From 'bourbon ghost town' to craft distillery, Stitzel-Weller celebrates 90 years
Stitzel-Weller Distillery is the only stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail where you can tour a bourbon ghost town, sip on a 30-year bourbon and see an intimate five-barrel per week craft operation.
And this unique bourbon destination just celebrated its 90th birthday.
Today Stitzel-Weller, at 3860 Fitzgerald Road in Shivley, is home to brands Blade and Bow, I.W. Harper, and Orphan Barrel, but it also serves as a monument of sorts to the families, individuals, and brands who made history onsite during property's mid-20th century heyday.
Stitzel-Weller first opened in 1935 on Kentucky Derby day, less than two years after American Prohibition ended. The owners hung the five keys to the distillery on the front door, which served as a symbolic welcome to industry professionals and the public as well as a nod to the five steps in making bourbon. The distillery, owned by parent company Diageo, has a legacy of whiskey education, and it was known for sharing its expertise, resources and even its grain with other companies, said Nicole Austin, Diageo’s director of American whiskey liquid development and capabilities.
The Stitzel family powered bourbon production at the plant and the Wellers were sales icons with a nationwide reputation. Together, the two dynamic families shared their expertise with distillers throughout the commonwealth. So much so, that some of the most famous existing brands today – such as Old Fitzgerald, W.L. Weller and Pappy Van Winkle — have a heritage with Stitzel-Weller, Austin explained.
Stitzel-Weller Distillery entrance in Louisville.
“Even though they're not necessarily still owned here or based here, there's a lot of brands whose origin story traces back to this place,” Austin said. “And that's a pretty special piece of history to be responsible for.”
The bourbon industry took a nosedive in the 1980s and Stitzel-Weller stopped distilling in the early 1990s. Back then, workers walked out of the factory without putting away tools and some even hung their aprons on equipment. No one ever cleaned it up or sold off the machinery, so that dusty scene still exists today on Stitzel-Weller's tour.
The distillery grounds feel very “haunted” to Austin. In a way, the old barrel filling house and the distillery’s cooperage function as an eerie sarcophagus for the bourbon industry’s downfall in the 1980s.
“Reverence and respect” are the two words that come to mind when Douglas Kragel walks the grounds at the distillery. Kragel, the director of whiskey brand homes and hospitality for Stitzel-Weller's parent company Diageo, knows that preserving the property and its story is just as important as making good bourbon.
“We want to constantly find ways to bring as many people here, as we can, to share the space and share the whiskeys that are coming from it,” Kragel said.
Diageo reopened the distillery to the public in 2014 after the company purchased the old factory, 15 rickhouses and the bourbon those buildings stored as part of a larger acquisition. Those barrels and the distillery lore about the five keys link Diageo’s modern brand, Blade and Bow, to this historic property. Each rickhouse can hold about 35,000 barrels and most structures are about half full, Austin said. Over the years, she has incorporated the very old liquid aging on the property into Blade and Bow, whose name comes from the two distinct parts of a skeleton key.
“We have more very old liquid than I would have imagined, but less than I would have hoped,” Austin said of the warehouses, which she’s still sorting through. “I am so anxious to share with people all of the things that I've found.”
Stitzel-Weller's newly released Blade and Bow 30-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, for example, is made from barrels that date back to 1993. At some point during the maturation process, before Diageo acquired Stitzel-Weller Distillery, semi-empty barrels of bourbon were consolidated to maintain full contact with the wood, which preserved the spirit’s balance and allowed it to age longer.
Austin pulled from 42 different barrels to make this rare blend.
The importance of the old liquid stored on the property and the legacy that comes with it aren’t lost on Austin and Kragel.
“It is a little haunting, but I also find it extremely exhilarating ... if you think about the people that have worked here,” Kragel said. “From distillers to owners, to finance to bottling, whoever it is, they all have played such an important role in the (bourbon) industry through this place.”
The goal is to honor and preserve the spirit of Stitzel-Weller's past, while also building on its bourbon future. Earlier this year, the company expanded “Stillhouse B,” which boosted Stitzel-Weller's bourbon production from one barrel a week to about four or five.
Looking toward the future, Kragel is excited to increase hospitality options on the property and expand its food and beverage program.
While Stitzel-Weller's tour of the abandoned factory and its ghost-town vibe certainly sets the distillery apart on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, he wants Stitzel-Weller and its Garden & Gun Club to become a destination visitors return to again and again.
“This place was built on hospitality,” Kragel said. “The story of the five keys was not just about the five steps to making great whiskey, but was also about a symbol of hospitality in the bourbon industry, and so we want to advance that as much as we can.”
Reach features columnist Maggie Menderski at [email protected].
Stitzel-Weller Distillery
WHAT: Stitzel-Weller first opened in 1935 on Kentucky Derby day, less than two years after American Prohibition ended. Today, the bourbon brand is know for its Blade and Bow spirit. Learn more about the past, present and future of bourbon at the historic Stitzel-Weller Distillery on one of its many tours.
WHERE: 3860 Fitzgerald Road, Shively
WHEN: Monday, Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 12-5 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday
