DSP-KY-31...no more...(except on paper?)

[dougdog]

The old Heaven Hill distillery is being torn down.

Demo crews are working to remove most everything except for the old boiler room that contains asbestos. That building will be sealed off.

The silos are still useable and there is a maintenance shop that will remain.

I'll post more pictures as the demo proceeds...sorry not to have the "before" shot, but only one small building was gone by the time I got my first pic.

BTW, there are two new rick houses being built up the hill from the demolition, photo #2 shows the one most recently completed, crews are working on the interior now and soon, it will be put into use...if you look to the left of the new building, you will see the next one coming out of the ground. These have slightly larger barrel capacity but are one floor shorter. These are also on or very near the exact spot where the fire destroyed two of four rick houses in 1996.

dp

[BourbonJoe]

Thanks for the info. Doug. One eyesore goes by the wayside.
Joe :usflag:

[cowdery]

One person's eyesore is another's romantic ruin.

The interesting question is, why now?

[Gillman]

Might they be considering building another distillery?

Gary

[cowdery]

That's the obvious implication, though it apparently is not the case. I just got this official response to my "why now?" question.

Safety and aesthetic reasons, nothing more. Several of the buildings were an eyesore and potentially hazardous should anyone trespass in them. They were previously gone through by a specialized firm and all hazardous materials removed/mitigated. We are saving some of the key identifying masonry from the outside of the distillery building (HH crest logo, etc) for future use. We are removing the old distillery building/head house and the dry house.

By the way, Doug, DSP-31 doesn't still exist just on paper. The DSP permit is for production of distilled spirits products, not just distilling. They need it for the warehouses and the bottling that is done there in Bardstown.

You know, just like that other non-distillery up on the hill.

[Gillman]

Interesting. Makes sense.

Gary

[pepcycle]

I agree with the official statement since this was one of my favorite eyesores to wander about. There was no security nor gate, so it was easy to get access and meander among the ruins. In a semi-adult fantasy, I imagined the burning whiskey running through the site, causing steel beams to bend from the inferno. I never got the feeling that this was a place you were supposed to be walking through without supervision. I guess that was part of the attraction. I'll miss it. I get a Very Very Old feeling when I'm there.

[camduncan]

Thanks to Dane taking me for a ride around Bardstown in his Mustang, I was able to take a couple of snaps of the old Heaven Hill distillery during the 2008 Sampler. Doug, I'm not sure if these show enough detail to qualify as "before" shots?

[cowdery]

Where the official explanation is lacking is in explaining why it was done in 2010 and not 1997. Are they that far behind on their to-do list?