Blue Run Spirits Distillery - Distillery Rendering, Georgetown, Kentucky

The recipe for making bourbon whiskey is pretty simple really – grains, yeast, water and a new charred oak barrel. There are a few other rules but these are the main ingredients. The water that makes it into bourbon comes from a latticework of rivers flowing above and below ground. The water in those rivers typically meanders for many miles before it makes it into your bottle of bourbon.

And now, that meandering river is being used as the inspiration for the new $51 million Blue Run Distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky. Blue Run Spirits announced its plans to build a new distillery in August of 2022. Now, we have some exciting renderings of what this one-of-a-kind distillery will look like.

And now, in the case of Blue Run Spirits, that meandering river is being used as the inspiration for their new $51 million Blue Run Distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky. Blue Run Spirits announced their plans to build a new distillery in August of 2022. Now, we have some exciting renderings of what this one-of-a-kind distillery will look like. Now, we have our first look at the renderings for this one-of-a-kind distillery that will surely be a ‘must-visit” stop when it one day joins the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Blue Run Spirits worked with international architect firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Some of BIGs projects of note include Google Headquarters, Lego Brand Museum, Audemars Piguet Museum and Hotel, the San Pellegrino Flagship Factory, and world-renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma.

The Blue Run Distillery will include a 35,000-square-foot distillery and a 20,000-square-foot rickhouse. Plans call for a groundbreaking in 2023 and a grand opening in 2025.

Introducing Blue Run’s ‘Meander’ Distillery Design

“We are thrilled to be able to reveal an early look of Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new Blue Run Spirits distillery in Georgetown, giving everyone a glimpse at where we are heading in developing a welcoming, unexpected and modern facility with a true focus on sustainability,” said Blue Run Spirits CEO and cofounder Mike Montgomery.

“This will be a game-changing addition to Blue Run’s long-range business plans, allowing us to meet forecasted and unforeseen demand, while also giving our Whiskey Director Shaylyn Gammon and Liquid Advisor Jim Rutledge a home base of operations.”

The design, called “Meander,” is meant to evoke the journey of the limestone-rich water of the Royal Spring in Georgetown as it winds its way through the distilling, aging and blending process to becoming fine Blue Run bourbons and rye whiskeys. The Royal Spring, dubbed the Blue Run by one of the founders, serves as the company’s namesake. 

Founded in 2005, Bjarke Ingels Group is based in Copenhagen and New York City and has offices in London, Barcelona and Shenzhen. BIG’s practice includes architecture, planning, landscape, urbanism, interior design, product design, research and development.

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Meander: me·an·der /mēˈandər/

  1. a winding path or course
  2. a turn or winding of a stream
Source: Merriam-Webster

The Distillery Will Literally ‘Meander’ for a Half-Mile

“For Blue Run, we have boiled the entire process of whiskey-making down to a single linear sequence – from distilling to maturing to bottling. The half-mile long process meanders through the gentle hillsides creating bends and banks, inlets, and outlooks. A single shingled roof of photovoltaic tiles twists and turns to maintain optimal orientation even as the activities underneath require grandeur or intimacy. In the same way the Royal Spring is shaped by how the water flows through it, Blue Run Distillery is shaped by the flow of the whiskey and the processes and people who make it,” said Founder & Creative Director, BIG, Bjarke Ingels.

“Design is at the center of everything we do at Blue Run – from our liquid to our bottle to our new distillery,” continued Montgomery. “The design BIG has developed is in dialogue with the landscape, the meandering path to making whiskey and a manifestation of the bold, distinct and inviting ethos that signifies Blue Run Spirits.”

Blue Run Spirits has introduced 13 bourbon and rye whiskey releases since the company launched in October 2020 guided by Blue Run Liquid Advisor and Bourbon Hall of Famer Jim Rutledge and Whiskey Director Shaylyn Gammon.

Blue Run Spirits can be purchased in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, FloridaGeorgiaIllinois, Indiana, Kansas, KentuckyLouisianaMaryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New JerseyNew York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Washington D.C., Wisconsin; internationally in Alberta and Ontario; plus online through Seelbach’s and on the Blue Run Spirits website.

Related Stories
Blue Run Spirits Announces Plans to Build $51 Million Distillery & Rickhouse in Georgetown, Kentucky 
– Blue Run Spirits Releases ‘Reflection I’ a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Distilled by Master Distiller Jim Rutledge
– What is the Napa-fication of Kentucky?

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