The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour has lost one of its attractions with the closure of a Bowling Green distillery.
Corsair Distillery closed its doors on Friday, laying off six employees. Founded in Bowling Green in 2008, the small-batch distilling company became a stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour and exposed the city to visitors from around the world.
Vicki Fitch heads the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. She says the local economy will take a hit from Corsair’s departure.
"We will have fewer visitors here because of that," Fitch told WKU Public Radio. "We would like to have another distillery to come to Bowling Green and be on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail or the craft tour and still have a presence in that way."
According to a statement from Corsair's Chief Operating Officer, Tyler Crowell, the company is expanding its presence in Tennessee.
"Over the past few years we've opened our second Nashville location in the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood as well as expanded our Marathon Village distillery," said Crowell. "Due to these changes and a large production facility planned for 2019 we have decided to close our Bowling Green location and consolidate all of our production to Nashville."
After opening in Bowling Green ten years ago, Corsair expanded operations to Nashville, becoming the first craft distillery in Music City since Prohibition.
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