Want to make $70 an hour, including benefits? New Lexington distillery will have jobs

A new spirits company with some heavy-hitting investors is coming to north side Lexington and plans to add a distillery.

Bespoken Spirits is moving from San Francisco to the Greyline Station, a $3.2 million investment that will create 16 new jobs.

Investors include Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and former Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.. Rodgers, who is also owner and chief winemaking officer for Clos de la Tech.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority on Thursday gave preliminary approval for up to $500,000 in tax incentives, provided the company creates the full-time jobs over the next 10 years and pays an average hourly wage of $70.77 including benefits.

Bespoken Spirits is a privately owned start-up distillery, founded in 2019, that has focused on blending. According to a news release, Bespoken has received more than 150 medals in spirits competitions through spirit rectifying.

Gov. Andy Beshear said in announcing the move that when Bespoken comes to Kentucky they plan to add distillation.

“The relocation of Bespoken Spirits’ headquarters and manufacturing operations to Kentucky adds momentum to the state’s always growing signature bourbon industry,” Beshear said in a statement. “Bespoken is a welcome addition to the Lexington community and will continue to solidify Kentucky as the world’s leading producer of bourbon. I want to thank company leaders for their vision to grow in Kentucky and look forward to seeing their success here in the commonwealth.”

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton also hailed the announcement. “Bespoken is a good fit for Lexington. They’re moving their headquarters here to the part of bourbon country where agtech has also found a home,” Gorton said in a statement.

What makes Bespoken bourbon different?

The Bespoken process also includes finishing spirits in the barrel using oak staves to create custom flavors. According to its website, Bespoken has released bourbon, rye and American whiskey finished with oak staves in a proprietary system “that uses less wood, energy and water.”

Bespoken also says that its system loses less alcohol to evaporation.

“Rather than putting spirit into a barrel and waiting passively for nature take its course, we instill the barrel into the spirit, actively and precisely controlling the process to deliver premium quality tailored spirits full of nuance and flavor,” said Scott Savage, vice president of research, development and production at Bespoken Spirits, in the release. “As a born-and-raised Kentuckian and engineer, I am thrilled at the opportunity to bring this company to my home, enabling faster growth with significant cost advantages.”

Savage, a Lexington native with an electrical engineering degree from University of Kentucky and Georgia Tech, said that Bespoken is moving its offices to Lexington now and is building its wood laboratory at Greyline’s main building.

“On the distillery side, across the parking lot, I’m hoping to be operational by the end of the year,” he said.

Savage said they plan to put in a micro or craft distillery that will use a 100- 150-gallon hybrid pot and column still that can produce about 80,000 gallons a year.

All of the distillation and aging will be done on site, he said. Bespoken uses tiny staves, toasted and charred in industrial ovens, about half the size of a pencil to increase the surface area that the distillate is exposed to, rapidly aging the whiskey. Currently, Bespoken has been using distillate from MGP and other partners.

“It’s all completely natural,” Savage said. “We take something that’s already good and make it better.”

Bespoken bourbon, rye, whiskey products

Savage said their existing products on the market now include a bourbon, a rye and an American whiskey. They also have two whiskeys created with artist partners. Hell House Whiskey was created with the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and named for the cabin where they rehearsed. Uncle Chicken’s is a bourbon created with the band Whiskey Myers, which played Railbird. All five are available at Old North Bar in Greyline Station.

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