After numerous delays, the highly anticipated reopening of Islay's Port Ellen Distillery is expected to happen early this year.
We’ve entered a new year, and with it, a flurry of hotly anticipated distillery openings. Several distilleries are being built in Scotland, with a host of brand-new names joining the fray, and another re-opening after a decades-long closure. In the States, Kentucky bourbon remains a hotbed of investment opportunity. Beyond the Bluegrass State, a couple of craft brands that have made serious strides as non-distiller producers are taking the next step this year and opening their own distilleries. Read on for all the distilleries set to open, or have a groundbreaking, in 2024.
Scotland
Openings
Port Ellen
Islay distillery Port Ellen shuttered in 1983 amid one of whisky’s great downturns. The whisky that remained in the warehouses gained a cult following in the decades after its closure and correspondingly high prices for the finite inventory of remaining bottles. Fast-forward to 2017, when Diageo announced an investment of $44 million to revive Port Ellen. While delays have slowed progress, the distillery is officially set to finally reopen this year, with its first new whiskies releasing by 2031. While whisky styles have evolved since Port Ellen closed, Diageo says the new Port Ellen will aim to make single malts that taste as they did decades ago. It will have a capacity of around 800,000 liters, and all whisky produced will go toward Port Ellen, as opposed to being used in blends like Johnnie Walker. A visitor center will also be on-site.
Ardgowan
Ardgowan was initially set to start construction on its new malt whisky distillery on the Ardgowan Estate in Inverkip, Scotland (just 45 minutes northwest of Glasgow) back in 2017, but a series of delays and much bureaucratic red tape stalled the project until late last year, when a groundbreaking finally took place. The first phase of construction will unfold over the course of this year, giving way to the completion of the distillery’s primary production components. While there’s no timeline yet on when the first barrel will be filled, the distillery expects its first bottling to release by 2030. The state-of-the-art facility will be carbon-negative, and initially it’ll produce just under 265,000 gallons of malt whisky per year, with the potential to double that in the future. The distillation team includes whisky maker Max McFarlane, master distiller Ian Macmillan, and master of wood Stuart McPherson; together, they have well over a century of scotch whisky experience.
Groundbreakings
Laggan Bay
Also debuting on Islay is Laggan Bay, a new malt whisky distillery and brewery formed from a partnership between The Islay Boys, an independent bottler and brewer, and Ian Macleod Distillers, which owns Glengoyne, Rosebank, Tamdhu, Smokehead, Sheep Dip, and other scotch whiskies. The site, located just under a mile from Islay’s Big Strand beach in Laggan Bay, will become the 12th active malt whisky distillery on Islay once it opens. While whisky making will be the focus, the development will also include a brewery for Islay Ales, which is Islay’s only brewery (The Islay Boys acquired it back in 2018).
United States
Openings
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Whiskey House of Kentucky
Set to open this summer, the Whiskey House of Kentucky comes from three founders of Bardstown Bourbon Co.: David Mandell, John Hargrove, and Daniel Linde. Unlike many distilleries, which are ostensibly opened to make whiskey for their own brands and attract new fans, Whiskey House will be closed to the public, as it’ll be distilling exclusively for those who need highly customizable contract distillation, making it a sort of high-end and more experimental MGP. To that end, co-founder Mandell has said that there will be an infinite number of mashbill options, and customers will be able to pick custom toast and char levels for their barrels. The distillery itself, situated on 176 acres in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, will be a state-of-the-art facility with an annual capacity of 7 million proof gallons, or 112,000 barrels. There will be 16 traditional rickhouses on-site that will be able to store 41,500 barrels apiece, and one 50,000-square-foot palletized warehouse. Other features include a spent grain processing facility, bottling plant, and a rail system.
Jefferson’s
Pernod Ricard has been placing bigger bets on Kentucky bourbon as of late, and Jefferson's marks its most substantial investment yet, with a $250 million state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral distillery set to open this fall. Up until this point, Jefferson’s co-founders Trey and Chet Zoeller had contract-distilled at Kentucky Artisan Distillery. The new facility will have a production capacity of 7.5 million proof gallons, producing about 115,000 barrels per year, and a number of new warehouses will be on-site as well.
Heaven's Door
Since its inception, there's been talk of some sort of brand home for Heaven's Door. At first, this meant a converted church in downtown Nashville; now, a distillery set upon 160 acres in Pleasureville, Kentucky is on the horizon, opening up this spring. The distillery will feature two separate stillhouses housed in converted horse barns, as well as a visitor's center, grist mill, restored cabins, and a restored Moravian barn. Technically, the distillery itself is not new, having been up and running with a single still since 2018, but Heaven's Door has done a great deal of restoration work since purchasing the property last year.
Willett
While Willett built its home base in Bardstown, Kentucky, this new expansion sees the family-owned distillery build out a new home in nearby Springfield, covering 70,000 square feet across 150 acres. Once it’s up and running, the new, $93 million distillery will support the family’s collection of whiskeys, ranging from the popular Willett Pot Still Reserve and Willett Family Estate rye to more widely available releases like Noah’s Mill, Rowan’s Creek, and Johnny Drum. Unlike the original estate, which offers a variety of tours as well as The Bar at Willett restaurant, this new distillery will be focused more on production than welcoming visitors, but Willett fans should celebrate all the same, given that the additional space will help the Kulsveen family share more of its wares down the line. As of now, the distillery doesn’t have an exact opening date.
Conecuh Ridge
Conecuh Ridge Brands has long sourced whiskey for its Clyde May’s label, but that won’t be the case forever, with a new distillery in Troy, Alabama opening by June. Once operational, the new site—which is located just 20 miles from where notorious Alabama moonshiner Clyde May first made his moonshine in the 1950s—will be the largest distillery in Alabama. Moving forward, all Clyde May’s whiskeys will be produced and bottled on-site, as will the newer Conecuh Ridge bourbon, which debuted late last year. In addition to a 24-inch column still with the capacity to produce 600,000 gallons a year, the Conecuh Ridge campus will include a bottling plant, a warehouse with a capacity for 9,000 barrels, tasting rooms, a retail shop, and food trucks. Five tours will be offered at the distillery, ranging from $20 to $45.
Traverse City
Traverse City, Michigan is getting a new distillery this year, as Traverse City Whiskey Co. looks set to open a 70,000-square-foot campus by year’s end. In addition to production equipment, the new site will have traditional warehousing, processing and packaging spaces, administrative offices, a visitor center, tasting room, and a variety of entertainment spaces both indoors and outdoors. While it started as family-owned craft whiskey venture (and remains family-owned today), Traverse City has expanded far beyond its humble beginnings; this new site will become Michigan’s largest distillery and include end-to-end production, increasing the distillery’s capacity to as many as 24,000 barrels of whiskey a year. A visitor center and tasting room will also be part of the package.
Groundbreakings
Eastern Light
Peerless master distiller Caleb Kilburn and chief operating officer Cordell Lawrence caused quite a stir last summer when they announced they were leaving their Peerless posts to start their own distillery out in eastern Kentucky. While details on the new venture remain scant, a groundbreaking will take place this year in Rowan County near the town of Morehead, which sits roughly 66 miles east of Lexington. The project represents an investment of $143.7 million, and similarly to the Whiskey House of Kentucky, it’ll first and foremost be a custom contract distiller; unlike Whiskey House, however, Eastern Light will be specifically aimed at craft whiskey makers in Kentucky. Once it’s complete, the new distillery will have a production capacity of 90,000 barrels annually.
Blue Run
Last March, Blue Run unveiled plans for a 35,000-square-foot distillery and a 20,000-square-foot rickhouse in Georgetown, Kentucky, a small city situated on the outskirts of Lexington. At the heart of the distillery’s structural design is the “Meander,” which is inspired by the Royal Spring from which Blue Run gets its name and will mimic the winding path that water takes from the ground to the bottle. The roof will be made entirely of solar paneling, and a visitor center will also be on-site. While Blue Run isn’t sharing details quite yet, it's working on bringing its distillery vision to life, with more exact timing on a groundbreaking and opening available down the road.
And Wait 'Til Next Year...
Heaven Hill
In 2022, Heaven Hill broke ground on a new $135 million distillery in Bardstown, to be named Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in honor of Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery, which was built in 1935 and burned down in 1996. The facility marks Heaven Hill’s return to distilling in Bardstown following a gap of nearly 30 years. The new distillery’s annual production capacity will initially be 150,000 barrels, but over time expand to 450,000 barrels, making it the same size as Heaven Hill’s Bernheim distillery. While Heaven Hill Springs was set to open this year, it's now eyeing an early 2025 debut.
Portintruan
Just a mile along the road from Port Ellen Distillery, independent bottler Elixir Distillers is building Portintruan (pronounced Port-nah-truan) Distillery that's slated to open this year. Located on a historic farm estate just outside of the town of Port Ellen, the new distillery will feature two buildings for distillation—one a main distillery and the other a smaller, more experimental facility. There will also be a visitor center, complete with a bar, restaurant, and tasting room, as well as an educational facility that will host an apprenticeship program. Fourteen houses will also be situated on the property, designed for distillery workers and their families. Elixir co-owner Sukhinder Singh (who co-founded online spirits retailer The Whisky Exchange in 1999 and eventually sold it to Pernod Ricard in 2021) is keen on using old-school production techniques at Portintruan, among them floor maltings on-site and direct-fired wash stills for distillation. The new distillery will be led by distillery manager Georgie Crawford, who previously oversaw production at Lagavulin.
