Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), Ltd., also known as the Willett Distilling Company, is a private family-owned and -operated company that markets bourbon and rye whiskey.[1][2][3][4] The company is located on the outskirts of Bardstown, Kentucky on a site that began as a farm owned by the family. As a relatively large independent bottling company, KBD has been called "the big daddy of Bourbon and Rye Bottling".[2] Most brands bottled by KBD 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 23 years. The company has remained under family ownership and operation at the same location since it was created in 1935 as the Willett Distilling Company, and the company often still uses that name. As of October 2011, the company employs about 14 people – four family members and 8–12 line workers.[4]
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).
Although the company has the word distillers in its name (and similarly uses "distilling company" and "distillery" in the various company names that it prints on labels), KBD has not actually been operating as a distillery in recent history (at least in the period between the early 1980s and May 2009).[5][6] However, there are reports that KBD has been refurbishing and enhancing its prior distillery plant, and may soon resume distillery operations — supporting both column still and pot still distillation processes.[5][7] The company does not identify where in Kentucky its products are actually distilled, although it has been suggested that some of their products have been distilled by the Heaven Hill Distillery, which has its company headquarters located close to KBD.[6] The two companies are located about a half mile from each other along the same road in Bardstown, Kentucky.
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KBD began as the Willett Distilling Company. 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.[8][9] 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.
Starting at the age of 15 with a five-year stint at at the Mattingly Moore Distillery, his son A. Lambert Willett (born in 1883) picked up his father's profession.[8] Lambert Willett then worked for the Max Selliger & Co. Distillery for twenty years – eventually becoming one-third owner and superintendent of the plant.[8] 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, 1936. Five years after founding the Willett Distilling Company, Lambert Willett left Max Selliger & Co. to pursue the family business full time.[10] 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 Willett Distilling Company. 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. Thompson Willett's daughter Martha Harriet Willett and 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.[10] This strategy soon failed when fuel prices returned to lower levels, and the distilling facilities were completely shut down in the early 1980s.[10]
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.[9] 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, their daughter K. M.-B. "Britt" Chavanne and her husband Hunter Chavanne, are also now involved in the company.[5][11] Drew Kulsveen manages production, and Britt and Hunter Chavanne cover sales and marketing.[7]
The brands owned and marketed by KBD include the following:
KBD also bottles and ages a number of brands under contract, including the bottling for such brands as:
The company also occasionally releases various limited-edition special bottlings (often bottled under variations of the Willett brand name) for individual distributors.[12][23]
Many of the company's brands have received awards at the annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition.[24] These include Johnny Drum Private Stock (double gold medal, 2010), Willett Pot Still Reserve (gold medal and double gold medal for packaging, 2009), Kentucky Vintage (double gold medal, 2005), Noah's Mill (gold medal, 2005; double gold medal, 2011), Pure Kentucky XO (double gold medal, 2005), and Rowan's Creek (gold medal, 2005; gold medal, 2011).
The Beverage Testing Institute rated Corner Creek bourbon at 92 in a 2010 tasting and Black Maple Hill rye at 95 in a 2008 tasting.[25] Both of these ratings are in the range of 90-95, which the Institute refers to as "exceptional".
Malt Advocate Magazine rated Willett Family Reserve 22 year old rye at 96 "a classic" (Vol. 18, #1), Willett Family Reserve 25 year old bourbon at 95 "a classic" (Vol. 18, #1), Willett Family Reserve 23 year old rye at 94 "outstanding" (Vol. 17, #2), Vintage 17 year old bourbon at 92 "outstanding" (Vol. 15, #2), Rowan's Creek 12 year old bourbon at 92 "outstanding" (Vol. 14, #2), Vintage 21 year old rye at 91 "outstanding" (Vol. 15, #4), and Willett Pot Still Reserve at 90 "outstanding" (Vol. 17, #2).[26]
In the 2011 edition of the Whisky Bible by Jim Murray, a Willett Aged 17 Years Barrel Proof was named a "World Whisky of the Year" (10-17 Years Single Barrel).[27]