It was just the kind of weather you’d expect for a June morning if you found yourself, say, standing in the middle of an empty field in Bardstown with a couple dozen folks from the bourbon industry: warm but not sweltering, slightly humid, with a nice cooling breeze.

The occasion was to celebrate — and break ground on — a new $135 million distillery Heaven Hill plans to open in 2024, which is to be named Heaven Hill Springs Distillery to pay tribute to the company’s original distillery that burned down in 1996. The distillery will initially produce 150,000 barrels a year, but over time it can ramp up to more than 450,000 annually.

Heaven Hill also owns the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville — which it purchased in 1999 and is where all of its distillate is made now — and it will continue to produce bourbon and whiskey there as well. So technically, by 2026 let’s say, Heaven Hill could produce upwards of 900,000 barrels a year with both facilities. Now that’s some bourbon!

During the ground-breaking ceremony, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined Heaven Hill President Max Shapira and Master Distiller Conor O’Driscoll to toast the new distillery and 38 full-time jobs it will bring to the greater Bardstown community.

“We’re honored to celebrate this homecoming with a return to distilling in Bardstown to augment our overall bourbon-making capacity, as well as continue to make an impact in the Bardstown community,” said Shapira. “I’m proud to salute our history and the many Bardstown men and women who helped build our brands over the years by naming our new facility in honor of the original Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery that my father and uncles founded in this community nine decades ago.”

Gov. Beshear called renderings of the new facility “the Hogwarts of bourbon distilleries” and spoke not only of the booming bourbon industry in Kentucky but also of the many other industries that are bringing people to Kentucky daily — not only to visit but to live.

“This is a significant day for Heaven Hill and Kentucky,” Beshear said. “The return of distilling operations to Nelson County is a return to the company’s roots, and the investment highlights the continued growth of bourbon and spirits in the commonwealth.”

After a toast with the crowd of bourbon industry folks, local and regional politicians, media and many Heaven Hill employees both past and present, Beshear, Shapira and O’Driscoll planted their silver shovels into the ground and tossed up the dirt for all to see and celebrate.

And speaking of dirt and earth and breaking ground, the new distillery will be built to create a more environmentally conscious distilled spirits industry. According to a news release, it will be engineered to minimize water use and reuse water streams, native plants and natural systems to manage stormwater runoff. It’ll also include a wastewater pre-treatment system to ensure discharged water exceeds environmental standards and reduces the load on the city’s treatment plant.

Heaven Hill Springs Distillery will sit right off KY 245, on Bloomfield Pike, not too far from Lux Row and Bardstown Bourbon Co. It’s also less than 3 miles from the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, which just debuted an expansion and renovation exactly a year ago.