Willett Distillery

The Willett distillery is internationally recognized, together with Michter's, as one of the best whiskey producers in the United States.

Its history began in 1936 thanks to Thompson Willett, who started work three years after the end of Prohibition, on the land of the family farm, on the outskirts of Bardstown in Kentucky. Construction was finished a year later, and the first batch of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey was produced on March 17, 1937, not coincidentally on St. Patrick's Day.

The distillery warehouses, with a capacity of 4000/5000 barrels, were built on the highest terrain in the county, in order to attract the breeze that would favor the maturation of the bourbon.

Old Bardstown Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, launched in the 1940s, was awarded in 1964, the same year the US Congress named Bourbon America's Native Spirit. Thompson Willett's legacy passes to his daughter Martha Harriet Willett, who in 1972 married Even G. Kulsveen, who then took over the company in 1984, managing it together with his wife and son Drew - who is also Master Distiller. The distillery was completely renovated in 2012.