Ex- master distiller of Four Roses plans new whiskey distillery

A new distillery will be built near Louisville, Kentucky, if Jim Rutledge’s plans will come true. Just eight months after his retirement from Four Roses he revealed details about his ideas for his new phase of life and they revolve around – whiskey!

Twenty years at Four Roses

Jim Rutledge is well-known in the whiskey scene. For 49 years he had been working in the bourbon industry and during the last 20 years he was master distiller at Four Roses Distillery. Now he wants his dream of an own whiskey distillery come true, right in the heart of the bourbon country. Here he not only wants to dedicate on bourbon production by using four different mash bills but also produce rye whiskey. At Four Roses he had tried in vain to encourage the management to produce straight rye whiskey production he said in an interview with the Imbebe Magazine. Now he wants to realize a rye whiskey release himself.

A modern and sustainable working whiskey distillery to be planned

The J.W. Rutledge Distillery will be midsized, filling 30.000 to 40.000 casks annually. Production, maturation, bottling, shop and place for special events shall all be situated on one common premise that is estimated to stretch over 100-150 acres, according to Jim Rutledge. Great attention is paid on sustainable power supply: Rutledge wants to use geothermal energy as well as solar energy and for utilize distillery residues a biomass plant is planned.

Crowdfunding as financing concept

But for a start it is necessary to look for supply and financial resources so that visions and ideas can be followed by concrete plans, for example the purchase of land. To realize the project Jim Rutledge will work with private investors and additionally startet a crowdfunding campaign at indiegogo with the target to collect two million Dollars for his distillery. For a donation for example a commemorative coin, a t-shirt or an invitation to the distillery opening event will be granted in return for helping the distillery project start. 

Update 07.05.2016: The crowdfunding campaign has been stopped after only beeing online for a few days. According to Jim Rutledge the indiegogo performance created a missleading message. It never was the aim of the crowdfunding campaign to finance the distillery. This shall be done by private investors. The crowdfunding was thought to be a chance for all who couldn't affort big investments to be part of the distillery project and give him a symbolic support.

Credits picture: Jim Rutlege / www.jwrutledgedistilleryllc.com