Pernod Ricard USA LLC, which produces leading brands such as Jefferson’s, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Absolut Vodka, Glenlivet and Chivas Brothers, announces it will establish a new distillery in Marion County, creating 55 full-time jobs with a $196 million investment. The project has the potential to grow to a $250 million investment across ten years.
Leaders at Pernod Ricard will construct a new 75,000-square-foot facility on a 265-acre site in Lebanon. The site will include a distillery, drying operation, three warehouses and a world-class visitor center. Work on the facility is expected to begin in January 2023 and be complete by July 2024. The Marion County facility will be fully carbon neutral and will have zero fossil fuel consumption to produce bourbon. Pernod Ricard is only the second distillery in Kentucky and North America to make this claim. Pernod Ricard will be a 7.5 million proof-gallon distillery, producing 115,000 barrels annually. The company’s purpose for the project is threefold: to build the most sustainable distillery in North America, which supports Pernod Ricard’s fundamental focus on sustainability, support their rapidly growing Jefferson’s brand, and support their existing American whiskey operations in West Virginia, Texas and Kentucky.
Ann Mukherjee, chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard North America, commented on the brand’s potential.
“American whiskey is booming, and Jefferson’s growth has been phenomenal,” said Mukherjee. “We’re very bullish on the brand’s potential, and we’re committed to making our new Jefferson’s facility one of the most exemplary and sustainable distilleries worldwide to achieve it.”
Pernod Ricard was founded in 1975 from the merger of two French anise-based spirits companies: Pernod, created in 1805, and Ricard, created in 1932. Pernod Ricard holds one of the most comprehensive portfolios within the industry, with 240 premium brands available in over 160 countries, including Jameson Irish Whiskey, Absolut Vodka, Glenlivet and Chivas Brothers. A global leader in wine and spirits, with 18,500 employees worldwide, Pernod Ricard will be building one of the largest LEED-certified distilleries globally and the first to locate in the commonwealth.
Pernod Ricard’s planned project builds on recent bourbon and spirits growth across Kentucky. Since the start of the Beshear administration, the commonwealth’s spirits industry has roughly 60 new-location or expansion projects totaling over $2.5 billion in planned investments and creating more than 1,300 announced full-time jobs.
