Michter’s Distillery LLC is one step closer to bringing its whiskey production in house.
Today company officials looked on as Louisville-based Vendome Copper and Brass Works Inc. installed a 46-foot high still tower at its facility in Shively. I was among members of the media who watched — as did a flying robot — because, yep, that’s reality now.
You can find a slideshow of the still tower installation attached to this post.
Right now, Michter’s is made at another Kentucky distillery. Michter’s president Joseph J. Magliocco declined to say which distillery, noting that he is bound by a confidentiality agreement. But with this new still, the company plans to start its own production. Magliocco said that production could begin by April.
The 65,000-square-foot Shively facility is off New Millennium Drive. It formerly was a manufacturing plant used by Caldwell Industries Inc.
The still tower was installed on an 800-foot expansion that is being constructed on the back of the property.
Michter’s has been using the building since early 2013. Inside it has six fermenters with 64,000 gallons of capacity. The company’s bottling line is housed there, and there also are two small test stills inside.
Magliocco declined to say how much the company has invested in the building but said it is multiple millions. By the time the facility is completely finished, he said, it should employ about 26 people.
The facility is coming online at a time when the distilling industry is really growing. Earlier this week, a report was released that illustrated how significant that growth has been in recent years.