Blue Run Spirits recently revealed the first look at its planned whiskey distillery and headquarters in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Designed by international architect firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the 35,000-square-foot distillery and a 20,000-square-foot rickhouse will break ground this year at the Lanes Run Business Park. Projected to open in 2025, distillery operations are anticipated to bring at least 45 full-time jobs to the local economy, which was heralded in a statement by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshears last fall.
“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 Co-Founder 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. Notable projects include Google Headquarters, Lego Brand Museum, Audemars Piguet Museum and Hotel, the San Pellegrino Flagship Factory, and world-renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma.
“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 Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director of Bjarke Ingels Group.
“Design is at the center of everything we do at Blue Run – from our liquid to our bottle to our new distillery,” added 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, selling 21,000 9-liter cases in 2022 – a 300% year-over-year increase. The company recently announced expanded distribution in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota and Ontario.
