beverages founded 1935 1935 founder a. lambert willett and sons esp . a. l. thompson willett headquarters bardstown kentucky key people even g. kulsveen martha h. kulsveen n e willett e. a. drew kuslveen janelle kulsveen hunter chavanne k. m. b. britt chavanne n e kulsveen products spirits website www.kentuckybourbonwhiskey.com willett distillery 1 2 also known as kentucky bourbon distillers kbd ltd. is a private family owned and operated company that produces various brands of bourbon and rye whiskey . 3 4 5 6 most brands produced by the company are in the premium category and range from 6 to 17 years of aging maturity with some of its bottlings being aged as long as 25 years . the company is located on the outskirts of bardstown kentucky on a site that began as a farm owned by the family . primarily operating as a relatively large independent bottling company kbd has been called the big daddy of bourbon and rye bottling . 4 the company has remained under family ownership and operation at the same location since it was created in 1935 as the willett distilling company . the company started doing business as kbd in the mid 1980s but continued to also use the willett distillery name . in 2012 it began promoting the willett name again as its primary business name . 1 as of october 2011 the company employs about 14 people four family members and 8 12 line workers . 6 in addition to marketing a number of its own brands kbd also operates as a contract bottler for various brands that are owned and marketed by others . most perhaps all of the brands that are owned by kbd do not actually identify kbd 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 . kbd did not operate as a distillery during the period between the early 1980s and january 2012 7 8 although the company had the word distillers in its name and similarly used distilling company and distillery in the various company names that it printed on labels . however kbd has been refurbishing and enhancing its prior distillery plant and began limited test distilling on january 21 2012 . 7 9 10 11 12 13 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 kbd . 8 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 . 14 the company has eight warehouses on site each of which holds 5000 6000 barrels of whiskey for aging . 14 master distiller drew kulsveen said that the warehouses are about a quarter of the size of those found at other distilleries . 14 contents 1 company history 2 products 3 awards 4 see also 5 references 6 external links company history edit the company was founded as the willett distilling company in 1935 . john 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 . 15 16 the resulting company became the mattingly moore distillery . john david willett would however live on for another 38 years after this transaction . he died in 1914 . the mattingly moore distillery would itself go forward to become an important part in the history of other significant bourbon brands such as the tom moore bourbon brand and other brands of the barton brands distillery sometimes known as the tom moore distillery . starting at the age of 15 with a five year stint at the mattingly moore distillery his son a. lambert willett born in 1883 picked up his father s profession . 15 lambert willett then worked for the max selliger & co. distillery for twenty years eventually becoming one third owner and superintendent of the plant . 15 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 whiskey that they would distill there and brand as old bardstown . the construction of the willett distilling company began in the spring of 1935 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 . 17 five years after founding the willett distilling company lambert willett left max selliger & co. to pursue the family business full time . 18 lambert willett and at least four of his sons held substantial positions of responsibility at the company . lambert willett died in 1970 . a. l. thompson willett the son of lambert willett was the president of the company until 1984 . at one time he was also the president of the kentucky distillers association and he also held a number of other positions of prominence in the community . he was a member of the nelson county historical society where his interests included the early history of whiskey making in kentucky . 19 thompson willett s legal name was actually the same as his fathers but he became known as thompson using the maiden surname of his mother n e mary catherine thompson to distinguish him from his father . 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 of hamar norway who would later purchase the company . during the 1970s energy crisis the company switched from producing whiskey to producing ethanol for gasohol fuel . 18 this strategy soon failed when fuel prices returned to lower levels and the distilling facilities were completely shut down in the early 1980s . 18 kulsveen 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 . 16 for some time kbd continued to produce bourbon from the aging barrels that the willett distillery had produced before they had stopped distilling . as time moved on kbd increasingly began to purchase its bourbon from other distilleries and operate as an independent bottling company and to restock its barrel aging facilities with purchased barrels . kulsveen and his wife continue to operate the facility to this day and the next generation of the family including their son e. a. drew kuslveen and his wife janelle 1 their daughter k. m. b. britt chavanne and her husband hunter chavanne are also now involved in the company . 7 13 20 drew kulsveen is the current master distiller and manages production 14 janelle kulsveen runs the gift shop and tasting room britt chavanne runs day to day operations and hunter chavanne covers sales and marketing . 1 12 after having dropped out of the kentucky distillers association kda for decades the company rejoined in october 2012 . 1 21 also in october 2012 the kda announced that it would expand its kentucky bourbon trail program to include a new craft tour of seven artisan distilleries including the willett distillery . 22 23 in december 2015 it was announced that the willett distillery was promoted to a higher class of membership in the distillers association becoming its first member in a new class of membership called the proof level . 2 products edit the brands owned and marketed by kbd include the following general market brands johnny drum 20 bourbon green label 40 43 % abv private stock label 50.5 % abv various ages including 4 8 12 and 15 years old bardstown bourbon black label 43 % abv 6 year aging ; gold label 40 % abv 6 year aging ; estate bottled label 50.5 % abv approximately 10 year aging the original willett distillery brand first batch distilled 1936 vintage bourbon and rye 47 % abv various ages including 17 21 and 23 years single barrel brands willett family estate 20 24 bourbon and rye 25 barrel proof varying abv and aging limited distribution willett pot still reserve 24 bourbon 47 % abv 6 7 year 6 aging introduced 2008 ; bottled in a decorative decanter that received a double gold award for packaging design at the 2008 san francisco world spirits competition . 26 although the product has the term pot still in its name it has been reported that part of the distillation process for the product was performed using the more common column still distillation method with a pot still used only for the doubler stage . small batch at most 12 barrels 6 per batch collection 8 kentucky vintage bourbon 45 % abv 17 year aging noah s mill bourbon 57.15 % abv 15 year aging pure kentucky xo bourbon 53.5 % abv 12 year aging rowan s creek bourbon 50.05 % abv 12 year aging 27 this is kbd s best selling brand available in 27 states as of october 2011 . 6 limited availability brands corner creek bourbon 4 7 28 29 44.3 % abv 8 year aging kentucky pride bourbon 4 7 28 45 % abv 10 year aging contract brands kbd also bottles and ages a number of brands under contract including the bottling for such brands as black maple hill small batch bourbon and rye 46.6 % abv 14 year aging for cvi brands 4 28 30 31 32 classic cask small batch bourbon and rye 17 21 year aging for spirit imports 4 8 conecuh ridge small batch whiskey distilled from bourbon mash 33 45 % abv approximately 4 year aging for spirits acquisition corp. note that under u.s. regulations a whiskey distilled from bourbon mash is similar to a bourbon but is aged in used oak barrels rather than in new ones . michter s small batch and single barrel bourbon rye and bourbon like unblended american whiskey various abv and ages for chatham imports 4 28 30 34 old pogue small batch bourbon 45.5 % abv 9 year aging for the pogue family 35 36 the company also occasionally releases various limited edition special bottlings often bottled under variations of the willett brand name for individual distributors . 24 37 38 in 2014 it released the first of a planned series of exploratory cask finish xcf special releases an american rye finished in cura ao casks from france 51.7 % abv 7 year aging . 39 awards edit many of the company s brands have received awards at the annual san francisco world spirits competition . 40 these include willett pot still reserve gold medal and double gold medal for packaging 2009 old bardstown gold black and estate bottled labels each receiving a silver medal in 2012 johnny drum private stock double gold medal 2010 johnny drum green and black labels each receiving a silver medal in 2012 kentucky vintage double gold medal 2005 silver medal 2012 noah s mill gold medal 2005 ; double gold medal 2011 pure kentucky xo double gold medal