Heaven’s Door Whiskey, co-founded by Bob Dylan, is moving its production from Tennessee and expanding capacity at a new distillery in Pleasureville, KY, the company announced today.
The brand backed by the legendary musician will partner with craft bourbon maker Six Mile Creek Distillery to expand capacity, while also building an immersive brand experience space in a former church in downtown Louisville.
The project has been in development since 2017 and will be located on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail drawing tourists to the site. The distillery is expected to open in September and will feature two separate stillhouses, tasting rooms and lounges in the visitor’s center as well as a restored eighteenth-century grist mill, cabins and a Moravian barn.
Heaven’s Door Spirits was co-founded in 2015 by Bob Dylan and former co-founder and CEO of Angel’s Envy Marc Bushala through Spirits Investment Partnership (SIP). SIP, a boutique spirits company led by Bushala, also oversees Angel’s Envy, Stolen rye whiskey and Rare Hare cognac brands. Heaven’s Door was previously headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee where it produced several lines of whiskey, bourbon, rye as well as some limited edition runs.
Production at the Six Mile Creek location will increase from 1,200 barrels per year to what will eventually be around 50,000 barrels, according to reporting by the Henry County Local. The distillery will be converting the current rickhouse to accommodate the increased production, expanding from 8,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. with the addition of a 36-inch column still.
The whiskey brand tapped master distiller Ken Pierce to run the new distillery in Kentucky. Pierce formerly was master distiller at Barton Brands Distillery helped develop the 1792 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and its limited release expressions.
Along with the new distillery, Heaven’s Door is converting the former Refuge of Kentucky Church in downtown Louisville into a brand experience called The Last Refuge. The new space on the Urban Bourbon Trail will house a small music venue, event space, restaurant and bar. Additionally, a 15,000 square-foot immersive art experience will be constructed adjacent to the church featuring Dylan’s paintings and metalworks as well as other artists’ exhibitions.
Heaven’s Door was initially working on a distillery and whiskey bar in a 160-year old church in Nashville that the company acquired in 2016. It was slated to open in 2020 but the pandemic put a halt on that plan and changed the trajectory of Heaven’s Door’s expansion strategy.
“With our distillery opening in Pleasureville, KY, having our brand experience in Louisville made more sense,” said Bushala in a press release. “We will use the Nashville property as the seat of The Heaven’s Door Foundation, the Company’s philanthropic arm which supports charities for the arts.”