The founders of Augusta Distillery have big plans for their business – and an even bigger vision for Augusta itself.
That vision starts with Lance and Lalani Bates, who bought and renovated Augusta’s Beehive Tavern in 2017. But they didn’t intend to stop there: The Augusta residents thought their city would make a great location for a bourbon distillery.
“(We) are kentucky based and (we’re) on the Ohio River, which is the original bourbon trail,” said distillery co-founder Judd Weis. “Corn whisky was coming out of the hills of Maysville and getting on the Ohio River and heading west and then south way before bourbon was happening elsewhere.”
Not only did it feel natural to reconnect Augusta to that history, the location felt like a logical stop between two other distilleries – New Riff in Newport and Old Pogue in Maysville.
Lance Bates approached Weis, a former University of Cincinnati classmate who runs a consulting firm, to do industry analysis and market research. The Bates hit it off with Weis and his wife, and they launched the distillery with two other couples. It’s located in an early 1800s, 40,000-square-foot former manufacturing building five blocks from the Beehive.
Although it’s still undergoing renovations – Weis said the $23 million distillery will be completed in four phases over the next five years or so – Augusta Distillery has already released its inaugural bottling. Buckner’s, a 13-year, single-barrel bourbon, is named after Augusta’s founder, Philip Buckner. The bottles are sold out, but you can get a taste during the distillery’s “Pardon Our Dust” tours, which launched in June. During the tours, visitors also get a chance to see the designs and plans for the space.
Once completed, the distillery will feature a full-service bar, dubbed the Beehive Lounge (and sharing its namesake restaurant’s modern rustic aesthetic). It will also include an event space; a retail store; a “yard” with space for live music, food trucks and recreation activities; a rickhouse with room to store 5,000 barrels; and of course, the production area. Augusta Distillery’s still is currently under production at Vendome Copper & Brass Works in Louisville. The 32-foot, 14-inch column still, with the capacity to produce 6,000 barrels a year, should be completed by late summer 2023, Weis said. He and his co-founders hope to begin production during the fourth quarter of next year.
“Our No. 1 priority right now is getting the still up and running so that we’re producing high-quality whisky as soon as we can,” he said. “We’re going to be very much a craft distillery – small batch, ultra premium.”
But you won’t have to wait for the still to be operational to get your hands on some Augusta Distillery bourbon. Weis said the distillery is planning additional launches in the meantime; as with Buckner’s, they’ll source the bourbon from other distilleries. Although they’re still finalizing their product master plan, Weis said to expect another bourbon launch later this year, before the holidays, and at least two additional launches in 2023.
Once the production space is ready, they’ll shift focus to other aspects of the distillery, which Weis envisions as a community hangout.
“Sort of the physical manifestation of what bourbon is really about and what bourbon really facilitates, which is camaraderie, friendship, conversation,” Weis said.
But the distillery has a broader vision.
“Really at the core of our mission is to create economic opportunity for our neighbors in Augusta and Bracken County,” Weis said. “What we’re creating in Augusta is what we call a bourbon-centric ecosystem. Our inspiration is Napa.”
“The thing about Napa is you go for the wine; it’s wine centric, but it’s way more than that,” he added. “You go there for the food; you go there for the accommodations, you go there for the spa; you go there for the ecotourism.”
The Beehive Tavern gives a head start on the food, but Weis hopes to see more restaurants move to town. One of the other couples involved with the distillery renovated the Augusta Guesthouse, a 10-room inn near the Beehive. A tobacco farm, horse trails and the Ohio River itself offer additional draws that Weis hopes will encourage visitors to spend not just a day, but a weekend.
“We’re really hoping to have the distillery be a magnet, but not the only thing,” Weis said. “When we talk about a bourbon-centric ecosystem, that’s kind of what we’re talking about. It’s Napa done Kentucky bourbon style.”
If you go
Augusta Distillery is located at 207 Seminary Ave. in Augusta.
The distillery is open for tours on Saturdays from noon to 4 (tours end at 5 p.m.). The distillery urges anyone interested in a tour to book online.