Kentucky Bourbon Distillers

Origins and background (1841–1935)

The company was founded as the Willett Distilling Company in 1936. The company has remained under family ownership and operation at the same location since it was createdJohn David Willett (born in 1841) had been the master distiller for the Moore, Willett & Frenke Distillery, which he had formed with his brother-in-law Thomas S. Moore of Bardstown, and a Mr. Frenke of Louisville. In 1876, Willett fell ill and sold his interest in the company (he would recover and live another 38 years, passing in 1914).

John's son A. Lambert Willett picked up his father's profession in 1898, at the age of 15, with a five-year stint at the Mattingly Moore Distillery. Lambert Willett then worked for the Max Selliger & Co. Distillery for twenty years – eventually becoming one-third owner and superintendent of the plant.

A. L. "Thompson" Willett, Lambert's son (born in 1909), also joined him at the plant as assistant superintendent. Lambert Willett later purchased a farm and, together with his sons and especially led by Thompson Willett, founded the Willett Distilling Company on the site. Thompson and Lambert Willett used John David Willett's bourbon recipes as the basis of the Old Bardstown whiskey brand.

Founding and early operations (1936–1940s)

The construction of the Willett Distilling Company began in the spring of 1936 (soon after the 1933 repeal of alcohol prohibition in the United States), and the company produced its first batch of 300 bushels (about 30 barrels) on March 17, 1937. Lambert Willett and at least four of his sons held substantial positions of responsibility at the company.

Post war growth and leadership (1950s–1970s)

Lambert Willett died in 1970. A. L. "Thompson" Willett was the president of the company until 1984. At one time, he was also the president of the Kentucky Distillers' Association and a member of the Nelson County Historical Society, where his interests included the early history of whiskey-making in Kentucky. Thompson Willett's legal name was actually the same as his father's, but he became known as "Thompson," using the maiden surname of his mother (née Mary Catherine Thompson) to distinguish himself.

Thompson Willett's daughter Martha Harriet Willett and some other members of her generation of the family worked for the company as well, and in 1972 she married Even (pronounced Evan) G. Kulsveen, formerly of Hamar, Norway, who had emigrated to the United States at the age of 14 and had been a merchant marine, chef, and glass decanter craftsman.

During the 1970s energy crisis, the company switched from producing whiskey to producing ethanol for gasohol fuel. This strategy soon failed when fuel prices returned to lower levels, and the distilling facilities were completely shut down in the early 1980s.

Acquisition and KBD era (1980s–2011)

Kulsveen and his wife purchased the company and the property on July 1, 1984, and renamed the company to Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), Ltd., registered distillery number DSP-KY-78. For some time, KBD continued to produce bourbon from the aging barrels that the Willett distillery had produced before they had stopped distilling. KBD then increasingly began to purchase its bourbon from other distilleries and operate as an independent bottling company, and restocked its barrel aging facilities with purchased barrels. The next generation of the family, particularly their son E. A. "Drew" Kulsveen and his wife Janelle, their daughter Kristin Martha-Britt "Britt" Kulsveen and her husband Hunter Chavanne, have since taken over the primary roles at the company. Drew Kulsveen is the current Master Distiller and manages production, Janelle Kulsveen runs the gift shop and tasting room, and Britt Kulsveen runs day-to-day operations.). KBD started refurbishing and enhancing its prior distillery plant, and began limited test distilling on January 21, 2012.

Production

In addition to its own brands, Willett Distillery also operates as a contract bottler for various brands owned and marketed by others.

Many of the brands that are owned by Willett Distillery do not actually identify Willett Distillery as the producing company on their labels. Instead, the company does business under various fictitious company names. These other business names often correspond to the bottling brand names such as the Old Bardstown Distilling Company for the Old Bardstown bourbon brand and the Noah's Mill Distilling Company for the Noah's Mill bourbon brand.

The company does not identify specifically where in Kentucky its products are distilled, although it has been suggested that most of their products have been distilled by the Heaven Hill Distillery, which has its company headquarters located close to Willett Distillery. The two companies are located about a half mile from each other along the same road in Bardstown, Kentucky.

For its new distilling operation, the company has three operating stills – a column still, a "doubler", and a pot still. The company has eight warehouses on site – each of which holds 5,000–6,000 barrels of whiskey for aging.