“We want to get them from a Miller Lite to a bourbon.”
It was the quote of the morning from Richard Dickman, owner Smoke Justis.
The NKY Chamber of Commerce’s March Eggs ‘N Issues focused on the growth of the bourbon industry within Northern Kentucky. Kentucky is known for horses, great music and bourbon.
In fact, 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky.
The meeting was hosted by Chamber President Brent Cooper. The featured speakers were Julie Kirkpatrick, president & CEO of meetNKY, Adam Johnson, director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and Richard Dickman, owner of Dickman’s Kentucky Sports Cafe & Smoke Justis.
In 2016, a small group of local leaders came together to build a brand in Northern Kentucky. Their goal was to put more Kentucky in Northern Kentucky.
The group began to consider all the key bourbon-themed assets the state had to offer, such as the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, craft tour distilleries, bourbon bars, and restaurants. Those assets led to the creation of the B-Line. The B-Line is a bourbon experience that consists of 19 bourbon bars, restaurants and distilleries in the Northern Kentucky River Region.
“I’m very passionate about the B-Line. It’s grown. It’s doing really, really well. It’s about a sense of place in the Cincinnati region,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s what we’re known for. It’s what we’ve known. We can join in with the rest of the state of Kentucky. That was really our goal. It was about building a bourbon place here.”
The bourbon industry has tremendously impacted the economy of Kentucky. According to kentuckybourbon.com, Kentucky bourbon is approximately a $9 billion industry that’s generated 22,500 jobs with an annual payroll of $1.23 billion. The tax impact on the state is approximately $286 million. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail had 1.5 million visits in 2021.
“This is the busiest we’ve seen our member distilleries since I’ve been here 10 years. Demand is high,” Johnson said. “I think that’s why you’re seeing people wanting to do more tours of places like bars, hotels and restaurants. Bourbon may be the backbone of your trip, but people like to explore those other things. Having something like the B-Line has enhanced the experience for our visitors.”
Dickman said he greatly values being on the B-Line. He considers his establishment, Smoke Justis, to be a welcome center of Kentucky. Once travelers cross the Roebling Bridge into Northern Kentucky, Smoke Justis is one of the first establishments there to greet them. Dickman knows the importance of being an emblematic ambassador of bourbon.
“Being on the B-Line is Julie setting a high bar for us. We like to have a high bar to reach so we can be one of the best,” Dickman said. “Over the next couple of years, I think folks are going to see a much stronger B-Line because we are going to make sure we’re passing the next guest off to another person on the B-Line. We are trying to get them to understand that Northern Kentucky represents the state and all of it’s bourbon.”
B-Line started in January of 2018. In the beginning, the B-Line had three craft distilleries and a handful of bars and restaurants. Today it has grown to 19 establishments and will soon open applications for this year’s class of potential inductees. For a bar to qualify, they must offer at least 100 varieties of whiskey. For restaurants, they must offer at least 50 varieties of whiskey. According to Kirkpatrick, the best year the B-Line had was 2021.
This year is an important expansion year for the B-Line. Bourbon tourism demand is returning due to the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, there remains caution due to current geopolitical instability.
“We are going to recover. I was in the industry after 9/11. I was in the industry after the financial meltdown in 2008,” Kirkpatrick said. “Our industry recovered because people yearned to move and have experiences. Travel is in our soul. Experience is in our soul.”
Johnson expects the bourbon industry to continue growing. He cites the removal of tariffs as a positive for the international export of Kentucky bourbon. According to Johnson, approximately 50 to 60 percent of small distilleries bottle sales come from their gift shops. Promoting tourism is a key contributor for enhancing industry growth.
From a tourism standpoint, small businesses such as Smoke Justis must focus on embracing the community. Dickman told an impactful story of a young couple staying in Cincinnati and crossed the Roebling. Even though they weren’t bourbon drinkers, they wanted to try something that was “Kentucky” and found their way to Smoke Justis. To Dickmann, that’s what it’s all about.
“I always love it when I hear tourists come from the other side of the river and say it’s much more inviting over here,” Dickman said. “For years, we’ve been that misfit child up here in Northern Kentucky. We’ve really pushed and worked hard to become a big business and industry area for Kentucky.”
From a bourbon perspective, Northern Kentucky has done an exceptional job of building infrastructure to accommodate bourbon tourism. Bourbon plays a key role in Northern Kentucky’s hospitality industry. Northern Kentucky is one of the fastest growing talent areas in the state of Kentucky. While the state lost 40,000 jobs in 2021, Northern Kentucky added jobs. Even with positive job growth, the area’s hospitality industry is struggling to find workers.
“There are a lot of owners, operators and general managers, not just owning the business, but running the business,” Kirkpatrick said. “I think there’s some legislation that will provide some help to the bar and restaurant industry which is lowering the serving age of alcohol to 18. That’ll be huge for the industry to be able to staff up.”
Johnson concedes there are still some legislative hurdles hindering industry growth. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail advocates for Direct-to-Consumer laws, or DTC. This legislation would allow distilleries to ship spirits out of state. It’s possible to ship beer and wine out of state, but not spirits.
