By Richard Thomas
(Credit: Joana Thomas)
Yesterday news broke that Casey Jones Distillery of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, located in the lesser-known western part of the state, was sold to B3 Beverage. The owners confirmed the sale at Monday’s meeting of the Pennyrile Area Development District.
Casey Jones Distillery was founded in 2014 when AJ Jones acquired his grandfather Casey Jones’ wagonbed style still from their Land Between the Lakes property, an artifact of the Golden Pond area moonshiners that operated in the area before the Tennessee Valley Authority erected dams on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and flooded it (the “lakes”).
Casey Jones began operations as a legal moonshine distillery, but later moved into bourbon. The sale comes only three years after Casey Jones embarked on a $2 million expansion program, which included the construction of a 3,000 barrel capacity rickhouse.
B3 Beverage has been best known as a holding company for craft brewers, having acquired half a dozen thus far. Casey Jones represents their first acquisition of a distillery.
