Bourbon Barrel Foods to Host Grand Opening Friday, May 30

Bourbon Barrel Foods is hosting a grand opening of its new retail presence and manufacturing facility in the Historic Butchertown Market from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 30. The open-to-the-public event will include tastings of products, giveaways, tours of the facility and live music by Kentucky Fried Pickin’ bluegrass band.

Butchertown Market, which is located at 1201 Story Ave., will also serve as a stop on the Frankfort Avenue Friday Trolley Hop taking place that evening.

“Our products are available in a number of stores, but we wanted to create a special place for people to shop that celebrates Kentucky’s bourbon heritage,” said Matt Jamie, president of Bourbon Barrel Foods. “We have a beautiful shop with many nods to the bourbon industry with aged bourbon barrels and items salvaged from shuttered distilleries.”

According to Jamie, Butchertown Market was the perfect fit for Bourbon Barrel Foods because it allows the company to share a retail presence with other local businesses and artists for a unique and charming shopping experience.

Products by Bourbon Barrel Foods include Bourbon Barrel Aged Worcestershire Sauce; Bourbon Barrel Aged Soy Sauce; Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt, Peppercorns and Paprika; Kentuckyaki; and a line of Sorghums including Sweet Sorghum, Blueberry and Bourbon Vanilla flavors.

Bourbon Barrel Foods mixes and ages many of its products on-premise at the facility, including the Worcestershire and Soy sauces. In addition, products aged in bourbon barrels are stored on-site.

”We also wanted to create an opportunity for people to see our products being made,” said Jamie. “So we located our plant in the same building as our retail space and built a special window into our incubation room. Bourbon lovers will appreciate this opportunity to see how we use the spent barrels and how we microbrew our sauces.”

In fact, Jamie is preserving a special part of bourbon history in the plant. “We recently acquired a historic rick system from the Old Crow Distillery in Woodford County,” he said. “Ricks are a special bourbon shelving system, and we were thrilled to reclaim some from the shuttered distillery. The ricks are 150 years old and made from heartwood pine. We’ll be able to store up to 42 barrels on them.”

Butchertown Market is located in an historic building that previously served as a warehouse. The brick building is more than 100 years old, and has been a tannery, a paint factory and a soap factory. More than 30 artists and retailers currently have retail, office and manufacturing space in the building.

Bourbon Barrel Foods products are also available at retailers, such as Whole Foods, Paul’s Fruit Market, Liquor Barn, Doll’s Market, and Taste of Kentucky, to name a few, or online at www.bourbonbarrelfoods.com

Tours of the Bourbon Barrel Foods plant can be scheduled by appointment only by emailing info@bourbonbarrelfoods.com.

Bourbon Barrel Foods retail space is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

For more information on the Frankfort Avenue Friday Trolley Hop, visit www.fatfridayhop.org/schedule.html. Participants can park at one of the free and public parking areas, board the Frankfort Avenue Trolley at any designated stop between 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and visit a variety of participating retailers and restaurants.