Buildings to house thousands of bourbon barrels
BARDSTOWN, KY (WAVE) - There's a housing boom in Kentucky, but no one will ever live in any of the units. That's because this new construction will be home to barrels of bourbon.
The demand is so high that Buzick Construction of Bardstown has never had so many orders for warehouses.
The big buildings stand seven stories tall when they are finished. Some call them rick houses and everyone in the industry calls them a sign of the times. Buzick will soon finish a new structure at Makers Mark, near Loretto, then Jim Beam, then five or six more next year. Each one can hold more than 50,000 barrels of bourbon.
[SLIDESHOW: Buildings to house thousands of bourbon barrels]
In fact, the Bardstown company that's built most of these warehouses in the state since Prohibition will have to add around 40 new workers in the coming year.
"That makes us happy and Buzick Construction happy. It kinda warms our heart to drive by and see these warehouses going up, knowing that in just a few months, they will be filled with Kentucky's finest bourbon," said Eric Gregory, with the Kentucky Distillers Association.
With bourbon just starting to come on the scene in many countries, it's expected the export market will boom for decades. Younger people turning from their parents' Scotch habits and falling in love with the flavor of bourbon. But the thirst for bourbon in the homeland keeps growing too.
A few years ago, Kentucky was down to a half dozen or so distilleries. Now, many micro distilleries have come on the scene, and the state has more than two dozen locations making the native spirit.
The warehouses might not have fancy architecture on the outside, but they are a thing of beauty for the economy.
Gregory said, "Just in the past three or four years we've had $450 million invested in the state of Kentucky to keep up with the global thirst for bourbon."
That number is expected to hit 600 million in the next five years. Which means Buzick Construction will keep taking that Kentucky hardwood and turning it into homes for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the states liquid gold.
Buzick Construction Company President Tom Blincoe has watched grandparents and parents work on warehouse construction.
"Hopefully the grandkids are in it, the bourbon boom will still be going on," he said.
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