How Michter's Fort Nelson helped start Louisville's distillery boom

It was midsummer 2011 when state and local leaders joined an out-of-town whiskey maker for a major announcement: A visitor-friendly bourbon distillery would finally be opening in downtown Louisville.

Across the state, brands like Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace had already established visitor experiences that welcomed the public into the depths of their distilleries, taking thousands of guests annually on tours of their copper stills, giant fermenters and barrel-filled warehouses.

But in Kentucky's largest city, distillers had not yet capitalized on the world's renewed interest in bourbon, in seeing the process from grain to bottle and learning the history of the century-old industry.

Louisville leaders knew it could be done, that one day, the city on the banks of the Ohio River could become a bourbon tourism player on the level of Bardstown to the south.

They just needed someone to get the barrel rolling.

Conversations began taking place behind closed doors. Bourbon brands both new and old wanted to make their presence known in a downtown on the rise. But none were ready to take on the multi-million dollar investments. Until in that summer of 2011, one did.

Michter's, a Pennsylvania-based bourbon brand, had dreams of becoming a Kentucky pioneer.

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Originally founded in 1753, the whiskey company went bankrupt in 1989 before finding revival under business partners Joseph Magliocco and Richard "Dick" Newman.

The partners knew that to become a successful bourbon brand, they needed to move their operations to Kentucky. And in July 2011, alongside then-Gov. Steve Beshear and Mayor Greg Fischer, they announced plans to open a distillery at 801 W. Main St., in a historic building located along Louisville's Museum Row.

"I'd be surprised if this was the last one," Fischer said at the time. "There's just so much interest around bourbon now."

Magliocco laid out his goals: Michter's would spend about $7.8 million renovating the Fort Nelson building, which had been vacant for decades. Restoration work would begin around March 2012, and the distillery would begin giving tours in 2013.

"We're trying to move this project along as quickly as we can," Magliocco said in 2011.

Within a month, Magliocco's plans crumbled.

On July 22, 14 days after the Michter's press conference, the company received a letter from its structural engineer.

A wall on the building's east side was leaning 23 inches out of place and the entire structure had become unstable.

"A sudden catastrophic collapse is possible," the letter said.

It was terrifying news to hear, Magliocco said recently. But while Michter's had a way out of the purchase, the president didn't want to take it.

"We still wanted to save the building," Magliocco said. "It would have been cheaper to keep the facade and rip the rest down. But it seemed like it would really be a shame. It's such a beautiful building."

Michter's continued its plans to renovate the Fort Nelson building — and gave up its dreams of becoming the first downtown distillery.

On Saturday, Michter's Fort Nelson will finally open to the public in a downtown that now has eight distilleries within a 2-mile stretch.

There's the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience at 528 W. Main St., which became the first operating distillery in downtown Louisville since before Prohibition.

There's Angel's Envy at 500 E. Main St., the vision of a late Brown-Forman master distiller and his son. And there's Rabbit Hole, 711 E. Jefferson St., the modern send-up to an industry steeped in history.

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Magliocco doesn't see them as competition. In fact, he's good friends with Angel's Envy founder Wes Henderson. Instead, he sees the distilleries as a collective that have brought life to a once dying downtown.

"I've been coming to Louisville on a regular basis since the 1990s," Magliocco said. "The city was always a great city. But I just think it's remarkable what downtown is today.

"I do think what Mayor Fischer would call 'bourbonism' has been really a large contributor to the growth that we've seen downtown. ... I think if we can achieve a critical mass, it just helps everybody."

Stacey Yates, vice president of marketing communications for Louisville Tourism, said bourbon has been a game changer for tourism and economic development.

She thanks Magliocco and his team for helping make that happen with their original announcement in 2011.

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"I think this seminal moment of their faith in Louisville as an emerging destination led to inspiring much of the subsequent investment to come," Yates said.

Louisville receives 16.4 million visitors annually, with at least 20 percent of visitors stating they chose the city for its bourbon and culinary scene, Yates said, quoting a study that her agency conducted in 2015.

Yates expects both numbers to be higher when Louisville Tourism releases an updated study this year.

"(Bourbon) has given the city a great, authentic theme and a brand pillar in which to differentiate us against the competition," Yates said.

"I hope people are not getting bourbon fatigue, because I think we're still in the early stages of developing this as a commonwealth."

Henderson, the founder of Angel's Envy, said he thinks there is still room in Louisville, even, for more distilleries — as long as they keep up the quality that has already been established.

"I think the group that we have here is a really good cross-section of the industry," he said. "There are beautiful brands and good people who do business the right way, and that's what you want to see.

"It's not just a matter of how many, it's the quality of the brands, the quality of the experience, the quality of the people behind them."

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Quality is a word Magliocco used to describe the bourbon the Fort Nelson distillery will produce. The facility will be capable of making thousands of cases of whiskey each year, Magliocco said. But the company's main distillery in Shively, west of downtown, will carry much of the production burden.

Instead, the Fort Nelson distillery will be focused on providing guests with an encompassing experience, complete with tours, tastings and a sensory area.

Visitors will be able to see a historic distilling system at work, saved from the original Michter's company. And they'll be able to take educational cocktail classes at the Fort Nelson bar.

(They'll be safe, of course, in the once-perilous building, which has been reinforced by 400,000 pounds of steel.)

Magliocco said the opening has been a long time coming. But he wouldn't have changed any decisions he made.

"The Michter's brand has a long legacy," he said. "We're trying to make really great whiskey, and we think the brand fits the building.

"It was a once abandoned brand, and it found a home in a once abandoned, great American building."

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Bailey Loosemore: 502-582-4646; bloosemore@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @bloosemore. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: http://www.courier-journal.com/baileyl.

VISIT MICHTER'S

The distillery, owned by Chatham Imports of New York, will open to the public Saturday.

Where: 801 W. Main St.

When: Varying hours between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily

Cost: $20 per adult; free for active military members; discounts for children 11-20, seniors and veterans.

More info: Reservations are recommended. Make one at michters.com/tours.

LOUISVILLE DISTILLERIES

Since 2012, more than a dozen visitor-friendly distilleries have opened in Louisville and its neighboring counties. Nine of the distilleries are located in or near downtown Louisville, including the Michter's Fort Nelson distillery, which opens to the public Saturday.