Before Bardstown Bourbon Company, before the contract distilling boom reshaped Kentucky's whiskey landscape, there was a converted ice cream warehouse in Crestwood. Kentucky Artisan Distillery opened in 2012 as the first distillery in Kentucky built specifically for contract production. It became the home of Jefferson's Bourbon, the proving ground for Jim Rutledge's post-Four Roses brand, and a working example of what artisan-scale contract distilling looks like when the grain is grown a mile down the road and every bottle is hand-touched on the line.
Kentucky Artisan Distillery sits at 6230 Old LaGrange Road in Crestwood, Kentucky, about 25 miles northeast of Louisville in Oldham County. The facility occupies a converted Ice Cream Distributors, Inc. building, an unglamorous origin story that reflects the distillery’s practical, production-first philosophy.
KAD was founded in 2012 by Steve Thompson, Chris Miller, and Mike Loring with a straightforward premise: create a place where bourbon brands could come to “bottle their dreams.” It was the first distillery in Kentucky built specifically to focus on contract distilling, a concept that Bardstown Bourbon Company would later scale to industrial proportions. At the time, KAD was the only production-sized farm-to-bottle distillery in the state capable of distilling as little as ten barrels for a special occasion or as many as 2,000+ barrels a year for retail partners.
Production began in 2014, and the distillery quickly established itself as a reliable contract partner for brands that needed Kentucky-distilled bourbon without the capital investment of building their own facility. The relationship that defined KAD’s trajectory was Jefferson’s Bourbon, which adopted KAD as its official production home. Today, a large share of KAD’s output goes to distilling, blending, aging, and bottling for the Jefferson’s brand.
Master Distiller Jade Peterson, who started on the bottling line in January 2015, now leads the operation. In January 2025, KAD opened a Clubhouse Barrel Tasting Experience, the first time the distillery welcomed public visitors to taste whiskeys straight from the barrel.
KAD’s contract distilling program is the core of its business, not a sideline. The distillery currently produces over 135 barrels per week of Kentucky spirits from grains grown on the neighboring 700-acre Waldeck Farm.
Jefferson’s Bourbon is the anchor client. KAD handles distilling, blending, aging, bottling, and experimental product development for the brand. Jefferson’s Ocean (aged at sea), Jefferson’s Reserve, Jefferson’s Tropics, and the various limited releases all flow through the KAD facility. The relationship is so close that KAD’s website calls itself “the official home of Jefferson’s Bourbon.”
However, Jefferson’s is building its own distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky, with a projected opening that has been discussed since 2025. When that facility comes online under Pernod Ricard’s ownership, the Jefferson’s production will eventually migrate. This transition represents both a challenge and an opportunity for KAD: losing its largest client while freeing capacity for new partnerships.
Cream of Kentucky, the brand created by Jim Rutledge (former Master Distiller at Four Roses for over 20 years), also produces at KAD. Rutledge brings decades of production expertise to a contract relationship with a distillery small enough to accommodate his specific recipe requirements.
Whiskey Row Bourbon is another confirmed KAD client, produced alongside the distillery’s own in-house brand development.
KAD occupies a specific niche in the contract landscape: artisan-scale, hands-on production with genuine farm-to-bottle provenance. The distillery contract-grows its grain on the adjacent Waldeck Farm, processes everything on site with a small team of distillers who run the operation by hand, and offers a level of personal involvement that mega-facilities cannot replicate. For brands like Jefferson’s that value experimental flexibility (aging bourbon on ships, finishing in exotic casks), KAD’s nimble operation can accommodate unconventional projects that would not make economic sense at a larger facility.
The bottling and co-packing operation adds practical value, capable of processing up to 1,000 cases per day. A brand can distill, age, blend, bottle, and ship from a single location.
KAD is a true grain-to-glass operation. The distillery mashes roughly 270 bushels of grain per day, sourced from the 700 acres of Waldeck Farm just down the road. This local grain sourcing is not marketing decoration; it is the actual supply chain. On warm days during growing season, you can see trailers hauling corn and rye from the fields to the distillery.
The production is deliberately artisanal. Master Distiller Jade Peterson and the distilling team rely on their senses to determine when each batch is finished, rather than running purely by automated controls. The distillery uses traditional column still distillation and every bottle that goes down the bottling line is hand-touched at multiple points in the process.
Current weekly output exceeds 135 barrels of Kentucky spirits. While that is modest compared to the mega-distilleries (Barton 1792 fills thousands per week, Bardstown Bourbon Company can roll out 289,000 barrels annually), it represents meaningful production for a craft-scale contract operation.
KAD ages its whiskey in new charred American white oak barrels on the Crestwood campus. The Oldham County location sits in the same climate zone as the Louisville-area distilleries, with the dramatic Kentucky seasonal swings that drive barrel maturation.
For Jefferson’s specifically, the aging program extends well beyond traditional rickhouse storage. The Jefferson’s Ocean program ages bourbon aboard ships that cross the equator, subjecting barrels to constant motion, salt air, and temperature extremes that produce a unique flavor profile. KAD’s role in these experimental programs involves both the initial distillation and the pre-voyage barrel management.
KAD has an important claim in bourbon history: it was the first distillery in Kentucky built specifically for contract distilling. Before KAD opened in 2012, the Kentucky contract landscape was limited to buying surplus barrels from established producers. KAD pioneered the model of a Kentucky-based facility designed from the ground up to help other brands create custom whiskey.
Bardstown Bourbon Company scaled that model to a much larger size starting in 2016, and MGP in Indiana had been doing contract distilling for years. But KAD was the Kentucky pioneer, and the brands that chose it early, particularly Jefferson’s, got access to Kentucky-distilled, farm-to-bottle bourbon with a level of production involvement that was not available elsewhere at the time.
The pending Jefferson’s departure to its own Lebanon facility will reshape KAD’s future. The distillery has already begun launching its own in-house brand through the Clubhouse program, and the freed capacity could attract new contract clients who value artisan-scale, farm-sourced production. Master Distiller Jade Peterson told the Oldham Era that creating their own series “felt natural after becoming so invested in the production of other brands.”
The distillery’s OAKR footprint is concentrated in its primary contract relationships:
Jefferson’s Reserve is the flagship expression, a small batch blend of very old barrels that showcases the quality of aged KAD-distilled bourbon.
Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea is the experimental icon, bourbon aged aboard ships crossing the equator for a sea-influenced flavor profile unlike anything produced by traditional rickhouse aging.
Jefferson’s Blend of Straight Bourbon and Jefferson’s Tropics round out the Jefferson’s lineup on OAKR, each representing a different expression of KAD’s versatility as a production partner.
Cream of Kentucky Small Batch and Cream of Kentucky Cask Strength carry the imprimatur of Jim Rutledge, one of the most respected distillers in bourbon history.
Kentucky Artisan Distillery will never compete with MGP on volume or Bardstown Bourbon Company on production flexibility. That is not the point. KAD exists for brands that want genuine artisan production, locally sourced grain, and a distillery partner small enough that the master distiller knows your name and your recipe.
Jefferson’s success, from a small NDP to a Pernod Ricard-owned global brand, was built on KAD’s production. Jim Rutledge chose KAD for Cream of Kentucky after a 20+ year career at one of the most prestigious distilleries in America. Those partnerships say something about the quality of the operation that volume numbers alone cannot capture.
OAKR’s blind tasting panel evaluates every spirit on flavor alone. Whether you are comparing Jefferson’s Ocean against traditionally aged bourbon, or tasting Cream of Kentucky against the Four Roses expressions Rutledge used to make, OAKR’s spirits data gives you the objective flavor map to judge each bottle on its own terms.
Bourbon enthusiast, spirits industry analyst, and the voice behind OAKR's distillery guides, brand reviews, and bourbon education content. Visiting distilleries, dissecting mashbills, and translating the craft into data since 2024.
Kentucky Artisan Distillery grows its own grain and distills for brands like Jefferson’s and Cream of Kentucky. OAKR scores every spirit on 100+ flavor notes, no label bias, just what’s in the glass.
