Blue Run Unveils Plans for New Distillery

blue run spirits distillery headquarters Georgetown kentucky whiskey bourbon
The proposed Blue Run Spirits distillery and headquarters in Georgetown, KY.

The fast-growing company Blue Run Spirits has revealed the first look of its planned whiskey distillery and headquarters in Georgetown, KY, designed by international architect firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).

The 35,000-square-foot distillery and a 20,000-square-foot rickhouse will break ground in 2023 at the Lanes Run Business Park.

Projected to open in 2025, distillery operations are anticipated to bring at least 45 fulltime jobs to the local economy.

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“We are thrilled to be able to reveal an early look of Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new Blue Run Spirits distillery in Georgetown, giving everyone a glimpse at where we are heading in developing a welcoming, unexpected and modern facility with a true focus on sustainability,” says Blue Run Spirits CEO and cofounder Mike Montgomery. “This will be a game-changing addition to Blue Run’s long-range business plans, allowing us to meet forecasted and unforeseen demand, while also giving our Whiskey Director Shaylyn Gammon and Liquid Advisor Jim Rutledge a home base of operations.”

The design, called “Meander,” is meant to evoke the journey of the water of the Royal Spring in Georgetown as it winds through the distilling, aging and blending process. The Royal Spring, called the Blue Run by one of the founders, serves as the company’s namesake.

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“For Blue Run, we have boiled the entire process of whiskey-making down to a single linear sequence, from distilling to maturing to bottling,” says Founder & Creative Director, BIG, Bjarke Ingels. “The half-mile long process meanders through the gentle hillsides creating bends and banks, inlets, and outlooks. A single shingled roof of photovoltaic tiles twists and turns to maintain optimal orientation even as the activities underneath require grandeur or intimacy. In the same way the Royal Spring is shaped by how the water flows through it, Blue Run Distillery is shaped by the flow of the whiskey and the processes and people who make it.”

Blue Run Spirits has introduced 13 bourbon and rye whiskey releases since the company launched in October 2020, selling 21,000 9-liter cases in 2022, the company reports, for a 300% year-over-year increase.

The company recently announced expanded distribution in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota and Ontario.

Blue Run Spirits can be purchased in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas and Washington (Republic National Distributing Company); Georgia (Savannah); South Carolina and Tennessee (Advintage); Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. (Prestige-Ledroit); Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, and Wisconsin (Breakthru); New Jersey (Fedway Associates); New York (Empire); Kansas (Worldwide Beverage Group); Arkansas (Arkansas Wine and Spirits); Connecticut (Connecticut Distributors, Inc.); Massachusetts and Rhode Island (Horizon); Alberta and Ontario (Evergreen); and online, powered by Seelbach’s.

Founded in 2005, Bjarke Ingels Group is based in Copenhagen and New York City and has offices in London, Barcelona and Shenzhen. BIG’s practice includes architecture, planning, landscape, urbanism, interior design, product design, research and development. Notable projects include Google Headquarters, Lego Brand Museum, Audemars Piguet Museum and Hotel, the San Pellegrino Flagship Factory and the Copenhagen restaurant Noma.

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