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New Craft Distillery Opening in Downtown Paducah this Spring

Silent Brigade Distillers
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A new craft distillery is planning to open in downtown Paducah this spring.

Keith Bundy and John Brown plan to open Silent Brigade Distillery at 426 Broadway in April. Bundy and Brown are a welder and an engineer respectively.

“We started building copper stills and selling them. While we were in the process, we get a lot of questions, especially from the distillers, wanting to know what your still is capable of. And so we were experimenting with them and found out we’re actually pretty good at making whiskey as well,” Bundy said.

Bundy says the process of acquiring the necessary state and federal permits has taken longer than he and Brown anticipated. Bundy says it has been a two year process, but they should have all their permits to open in April if everything goes well. Bundy says they're trying to open in time for the American Quilter’s Society’s spring Quilt Week.

He says several aspects of downtown convinced them to locate their new distillery on Broadway, including the riverfront scenery, historic buildings, and the area’s economic activity.

“The breweries that have opened up are helping to bring foot traffic. There’s already another small distillery down on Jefferson Street as well. And the more the merrier,” Bundy said. Anything that brings that tourism downtown Paducah. And that’s what drove us, of course, we want that foot traffic.”

Downtown Development Specialist Melinda Winchester says 25 new businesses have located in Downtown and Lower Town since 2014, all of which are still open. She credits the growth with the city’s new programs to promote the area to businesses and historic tax credits for building projects, along with the further development of the Greenway Trail, plans for future riverfront development, and the groundbreaking of the long-awaited riverfront hotel.

Bundy says he hopes Silent Brigade will become one of the top craft distilleries in Kentucky. Bundy and Brown will produce unaged white whiskey, rum, and American malt whiskey starting out. They will also begin filling bourbon barrels to store at least two years before bottling. Bundy says their long-term goal is to make only bourbon.

“We want to be a leader here in western Kentucky. And we want to bring more distilleries here to western Kentucky. The more that’s here, the more popular, the more tourists you’ll bring. The Bourbon Trail and the craft distiller’s trail, they’re bringing in big business. And that’s what we want to be a part of,” Bundy said.

A proud native of Murray, Kentucky, Allison grew up roaming the forests of western Kentucky and visiting national parks across the country. She graduated in 2014 from Murray State University where she studied Environmental Sustainability, Television Production, and Spanish. She loves meeting new people, questioning everything, and dancing through the sun and the rain. She hopes to make a positive impact in this world several endeavors at a time.
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