LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There are a few things that Kentucky is known for and in the last number of decades, bourbon has been chief among them. The industry has boomed from something exclusively Kentucky, generating global appeal, and having a massive economic impact on the Commonwealth.
However, bourbon is not the only drink that is looking to boom in Kentucky. The craft beer industry has been growing and quickly for the last decade; prompting the question: Can Kentucky have two alcohol success stories?
“I mean it’s a brother sister industry really,” Jack Mazurak, director of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs for the Kentucky Distiller’s Association, said. "So, let’s dive in and start with the bourbon industry.
Bourbon
The facts and figures that describe bourbon really do speak for themselves. It’s a $9 billion industry that does $500 million in exports, generates $358 million in state and local tax revenue, and hosted more than 2.5 million visitor experiences in 2023 alone.
Mazurak says that the industry has a certain air about it; coming from its roots as a manufacturing industry and highlighting a certain level of “authenticity” that the spirit provides.
“When you think about Kentucky, we’re a huge manufacturing state; whether it’s automotive or steel or aluminum, any number of products. But bourbon was fundamentally manufacturing,” Mazurak said.
“You can come visit Kentucky. You can come visit a distillery that’s been here for 100 plus years that is hallowed ground, really. And people understand and when you become a bourbon enthusiast you just want to come and visit,” he continued.
Another thing that Bourbon has done exceedingly well is marketing the “bourbon experience” at its distilleries. 2024 marks 25 years of the ever-expanding Kentucky Bourbon Trail which allows visitors to the state to visit distilleries and see the process that goes into making the bourbon that they’re drinking.
“Consumers began to think about it in terms of tourism and in terms of ‘I want to go see this process, and I want to get up close and I want to smell the cooking mash and I want to see the bubbling fermentation and I want to potentially taste it right off the still,’” Mazurak said. “You can get up close and personal with that manufacturing process. So right now, there is no other manufacturing industry in Kentucky that also has a year-round tourism component.”
“We’re seeing distilleries pop up in Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, some are a decade old at this point. And not only is that a point of local pride, but it brings tourism to cities and communities that may have never had it before,” he continued.
That hits at something Mazurk says is unique about Kentucky Bourbon, it’s local; local enough that you can taste the region of the state you’re in when you take a sip.
That may sound like a metaphor, but it’s true. Dr. Pat Heist co-owns Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Ky. He also is a part owner of Ferm Solutions, which supplies distilleries and breweries with much needed ingredients and equipment. Dr. Heist says that the area you’re in does play a big role in the alcohol you make.
“What was the barometric pressure where you produced that product? It’s going to be different than if we made it three states away. Even if we used the same exact ingredients, we’re in a different geographic location,” Heist said. “That -you know maybe there are contaminating organisms that make it into the process. You know, why are Belgian beers world famous? Because they have organisms blowing around in the air that contribute to very flavorful beers.”
Heist works intimately with the bourbon industry and the craft beer industry. He says that from a manufacturing process, the two are very similar, intertwined in fact.
“In Bourbon production we are mashing in all of our corn, our wheat or rye, and then our malted barley, but we leave all of those grains in there and it’s fermented with all the grains left in there, then it’s distilled. And in the case of whiskey, we’re actually – we’re starting with a beer but then we’re concentrating the alcohol out of it by using heat to remove the alcohol and that’s a process called distillation. And that’s how we go from a beer to a distillate like whiskey,” Heist said.
With both industries so intimately intertwined from a production standpoint, what’s to stop Kentucky craft beer from rising to the heights of its ‘spirit-ual’ counterpart?
Beer
I posed these types of questions to Katie Molk from the Kentucky Guild of Brewers. Sitting at a table inside Awry Brewing on a blustery November day, she said that the craft beer boom is a real thing, and Louisville’s craft brewing scene is in a way emblematic.
“There’s a number that a lot of people will point to and that’s in 2011, around that time, there were four breweries total in the Commonwealth. And fast forward to 2023, we have over 60 breweries,” she said.
According to updated data from the guild, Kentucky now has 88 breweries, 36 of which reside in Jefferson County. The industry employs more than 4,500 Kentuckians and contributes $707, 620,000 in economic impact for the Commonwealth.
While the impact is significantly lower than that of bourbon, the level of growth and popularity is something that officials with the guild highlight.
“Laws have changed in Frankfort that make it more appealing to open a brewery, and then also knowledge, right. More people know about beer than ever before and access to equipment and ingredients is easier than it was before. It’s a lot easier to get into the industry,” Molk said.
Molk says one more thing to remember about beer’s place in Kentucky is that craft brewing is not new. She says that there is history, and, in fact, Kentucky can boast one of the few indigenous beer styles in America, the Kentucky Common.
“Bourbon has a stronghold on Kentucky as far as history and its place in Kentucky. It’s the native spirit of Kentucky, but craft beer is just the same. It’s been around pre-prohibition. We talked about Kentucky Common being the indigenous style to Kentucky. All of the same things that they have. Right? Just two different cultures,” Molk said.
Two different cultures, but plenty of similarities. Molk says one of the biggest strengths that craft beer has is its connection to the community. That’s something, she says, that cannot be understated.
“People want something local. That’s just it. Craft beer is inherently local. It’s in your neighborhood, they’re small business owners, their owner operated more often than not. People want that. People want to know where their beer is coming from, who’s making it, and they want to feel a part of the process too. They want to go to their local tap room and feel a part of that community,” Molk said.
By bringing that draw to the community, the local community benefits. Mazurak says that whether you’re drinking bourbon or beer, the competition that might exist on a very surface level is just not there.
“There’s an overall net positive effect on the economy and all the constituents in it whether it’s a distillery, a brewery, or even a local restaurant, or a convenience store where enthusiasts are stopping to gas up,” Mazurak said.
“We see it as a rising tide. There’s interest across the spectrum and I think it’s not mutually exclusive. There are enthusiasts in the beer industry who appreciate fine whiskey and there are enthusiasts in the bourbon industry who will definitely have a beer, especially if they’re mowing the lawn or – there’s a right time, you know,” he continued.
No matter what time of day, of month, or year, enjoying a bourbon or enjoying a craft beer is a good thing for Kentucky.
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