Lofted Spirits has redesigned the packaging for the Bardstown Bourbon Co brand following a distribution push in its domestic US market.
The new look, announced this week, has been designed to improve shelf visibility and product “clarity”, making each iteration in Bardstown’s portfolio easier to distinguish. Lofted Spirits said the brand was “well known within the whiskey industry [but] the packaging was recessive on the shelf and failed to provide clear differentiation between expressions”.
The revamp follows a distribution shake-up for the company, which this week signed an exclusive deal with Republic National Distributing Co in Kentucky for Bardstown and its sister brand, Green River Whiskey. Green River was previously looked after by Heidelberg Distributing in the state. Heidelberg remains both brands’ representative in Ohio.
Earlier this month, the company made a similar move to “realign” its route to market in Texas under the locally headquartered Spirits League – which also looks after Sazerac Co’s brands in the state.
Bardstown and Green River are available in 48 states and the distiller told Global Drinks Intel it had “scaled purposefully in recent years”. In 2022, Green River was available in four states, while Bardstown was in 20 markets.
The refreshed Bardstown design will begin rolling out in early spring on the brand’s core lines: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled-in-Bond, High Wheat Bourbon and Kentucky Straight Rye.
Later in the year, the new design will expand to the brand’s Single Barrel Program, Discovery Series and brand collaborations – such as its tie-up with Armagnac producer Château de Laubade.
Along with redesigned packaging, a new single-barrel Wheated Bourbon will be added to Bardstown’s by-the-barrel project, which already features a Kentucky straight bourbon and a rye whiskey.
Lofted Spirits was created last year by Pritzker Private Capital to house Bardstown Bourbon Co and Green River Distilling Co – both of which were acquired by the investment firm in 2022. As well as developing its in-house brands, the producer also contract distils – with around 80% of its capacity dedicated to contract work.
In March, Lofted Spirits secured US$50m in funding from beverage-focused private equity firm InvestBev. The cash injection will go towards Lofted Custom Spirits, the contract sales division that handles both Bardstown and Green River’s whiskies as part of Lofted Spirits.
