AUGUSTA, Ky. — The best bourbon in the world is made by a distillery 45 minutes from Cincinnati.
Augusta Distillery, still in its relative infancy in the bourbon world, won the coveted award for its Buckner's 13 Year Bourbon at the highly regarded San Francisco Spirits Competition.
The founders of the distillery say they aren't just interested in making fine bourbons, but in lifting up the community where they were established and doing for it what wine did for Napa Valley, California.
"It's just a really beautiful place to be," said Lalani Bates, one of the founders of Augusta Distillery and owner of the Beehive Augusta Tavern.
Bates lives in Augusta and said the community members deserve any good things that come their way.
The picturesque, riverside community also boasts a boutique hotel called the Augusta Guest House and now an old button factory will be the 50,000 square foot home of the Augusta Distillery.
"It will continue to be a manufacturing site," says Judd Weis, another Distillery founder. "We're just moving from buttons to bourbon."
Just with the restaurant established, the city's mayor said the number of visitors to the Kentucky town has jumped dramatically.
The massive renovations to the distillery building will adapt the factory to the needs of creating bourbon. Two 3,000-gallon cookers will be installed in the next few months along with 18 fermenters. The goal is to be distilling in the building by January 2024.
Every corner of the building has pieces of Augusta's history, something the owners are keeping in mind as much as possible considering, Weis said, "Augusta, the community, is the inspiration for our brand." In fact, he said they called it the Augusta Distillery as an honor to the city. The award-winning bourbon is named for Philip Buckner who founded the city.
Down the street at the Beehive Tavern, Bates said it was important to give back to the community.
"(It's) given us so much," she said. "It's just special here."
Around the corner is the Augusta Guest House. Locally owned and operated by another of the distillery's founders, its glamorous, comfortable interiors and homemade cookies welcome guests. The founders say with the Guest House up and running, Augusta now has places to visit, eat and stay, creating an ecosystem for success.
When asked if bourbon can really make Augusta a destination, COO Ryan Edwards offers, "Why can't it? It's in Kentucky — 95% of the world's bourbon is made here. We've got the world's best bourbon here in town. (It's) 45 minutes from Cincinnati. Why can't it?"
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