In a $17.5 million project, Solid Light Inc. will create an expanded Heaven Hill Distillery Visitors Center with an immersive, state-of-the-art experience telling the stories of the Heaven Hill company, the founding Shapira family, and the Elijah Craig and Larceny brands of Bourbon.
Heaven Hill Brands President and CEO Max Shapira, Kentucky Tourism Commissioner Kristen R. Branscum, and Solid Light President and Owner Cynthia Torp made the announcement Friday, Nov. 16, at the Bourbon Heritage Center, Heaven Hill’s current visitors center. Solid Light designed the BHC, one of the first distillery visitor experiences in Kentucky, which opened in 2004.
The expansion will double the size of the Visitors Center. In addition to the new tour experience, which will include guided and unguided options, the expansion includes new and enhanced tasting rooms and retail space, a new rooftop bar with scenic views of the Heaven Hill campus, and event space.
“We are drawing inspiration for this new experience from the rich history and legacy of Heaven Hill,” said Solid Light’s Torp. “Visitors will enjoy a wonderful American success story, with the Shapira Family coming from humble roots to found Heaven Hill Distillery and build it into the largest family owned and operated spirits company in the country.
“The new experience will also explore the history of Bourbon itself through two of Heaven Hill’s most popular brands—the discovery of the charring process in the Elijah Craig Experience and the Golden Age of Whiskey and the Bottled-in-Bond Act in the Larceny Experience,” Torp said.
The Visitors Center expansion marks the third major project that Heaven Hill and Solid Light have partnered on since 2004. In addition to the BHC, Solid Light created the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, a multi-million-dollar artisanal distillery and immersive tourism experience that opened in downtown Louisville in 2014.
Solid Light is partnering with Abel Construction in the building of the expanded Heaven Hill Distillery Visitors Center.
Read the article in Business First.
