Lux Row Distillers

Lux Row Distillers sits on a 70-acre property at 1 Lux Row in Bardstown, opened spring 2018 by Luxco — the St. Louis spirits company that had built brands like Ezra Brooks, Rebel Yell, David Nicholson, and Daviess County for decades as a non-distiller producer before deciding to put up their own stills. Construction broke ground in May 2016 after the family announced the property purchase in April that year, and the name nods both to the founding Lux family and to the row of trees lining the entrance drive. The 18,000-square-foot production facility sits on the front of the lot; six rickhouses and a five-acre lake fill the back. The ownership story matters because it's why people get confused about whether Lux Row "really" makes its own bourbon. The short version: Luxco bottled sourced whiskey for the first several decades of each brand's existence. Lux Row started filling barrels in 2018. That means the Ezra Brooks or Rebel on shelves today is a moving blend — older sourced stock at the back end, Lux Row's own juice coming up from behind. Then in January 2021, MGP Ingredients announced a $475 million acquisition of Luxco, completed April 1, 2021. MGP then rebranded its longtime Lawrenceburg, Indiana operation as Ross & Squibb Distillery. In 2023, Luxco/MGP acquired Penelope Bourbon for an upfront $105 million plus earn-out. So today, Lux Row in Bardstown is one production node in a portfolio that includes Ross & Squibb in Indiana and the entire Penelope lineup. ## What peo…