Robyn Pizzo
A nearly 100-year-old school building in the former coal-mining community of Graham has been given new life as a bourbon distillery. Founders Thomas and Kim Bard purchased the campus in 2015. Located in Muhlenberg County, The Bard Distillery can be found just off the Western Kentucky Parkway, about an hour from both Owensboro and Bowling Green.
“We did it here because this is our home,” Thomas said. “When this school shut down, this town lost its identity. We’d love to bring some of that back and give this area something to be proud of again, so when people say, ‘Graham, Kentucky,’ people will say, ‘Oh, Bard Distillery is there.’ ”
Thomas’ fourth great-grandfather, William Bard, was the surveyor and co-founder of Bardstown and created the first-ever map of Louisville. William’s brother, David, was the other co-founder of Bardstown. David served in the United States House of Representatives in the Fourth and Fifth Congress in 1803 and 1805. William’s son, Isaac, settled on a farm in Muhlenberg County that now has been in the family for two centuries. Instead of bringing more bourbon to Bardstown, the Bards decided to purchase and renovate the school that four generations of Bards attended, including Thomas himself.
In the Beginning
Patience is a virtue in the bourbon industry, and reviving this historic site and transforming it into a craft distillery didn’t happen overnight. After years of cleaning and renovations, The Bard Distillery opened its doors for tastings and tours in December 2019. Although the COVID-19 pandemic threw off Thomas and Kim’s timeline, it gave them time to focus on renovations, distribution, building their brand, and diversifying their products.
From award-winning signature Cinder & Smoke bourbon to seasonal orange cream liqueur, all the family-owned distillery’s spirits are bottled and labeled by hand. Cinder & Smoke, the flagship bourbon, is named for its Level 4 barrel char and its smoky finish. Thomas explained that its name also refers to being “reduced to cinders” or brought back to basic elements.
Smoldering cocktails emerge from the cocktail smoking box at the The Bard Distillery’s tasting bar. There, patrons can sample the limited-edition small-batch Cinder & Smoke Founder’s Select, which is not only selected, but also blended, bottled, labeled and signed by the founders. There’s also a 17-year-old bourbon that was sourced and then aged in-house before it was released.
Eventually, all the spirits will be made onsite, but for now, the small-batch Muhlenberg bourbon—the base from which the flavored spirits are made—is all that the two 60-gallon pot stills on the gymnasium stage can handle. The Bards are preparing for a big ramp-up in production, with a new 14-inch Vendome-brand column still that could take production from three barrels a week to 20 barrels a day.
Robyn Pizzo
Before Bourbon
Thomas and Kim met when she was a race car driver in the NASCAR Busch series. As he was working his way up the racing ranks, Thomas became a mechanic and crew member on Kim’s race team. According to Thomas, Kim was the first female monster truck driver in Australia, where she still races.
“I love teaching people new things, and that’s how I got into NASCAR,” Kim said. The Jacksonville, Florida, native grew up drag racing and taught others how to drag race cars as an instructor. She also served as a school principal outside New Orleans for several years. “Teaching people comes naturally to me,” Kim said. “So when people come in for a tasting or a tour, I get to educate them on what we’re doing here.”
Coordinating a racing team prepared Kim for the teamwork that it takes to run a distillery and create a legacy brand. Dealing with the regulations that come with driving a team car helped her deal with the countless rules and regulations surrounding the production of spirits.
Thomas has a background as an engineer and in quality management, which has helped him manage a project of this scope. His process-oriented, order-of-operations approach has helped when it comes to everything from renovating the school buildings to building the brand.
Robyn Pizzo
Discovering a New Love
Thomas and Kim had been kicking around the idea of owning a distillery ever since their first visit to Maker’s Mark in 2006 while on a trip to see some cousins in Central Kentucky. Neither of them had ever been to a distillery, and they were fortunate to be given the tour by seventh-generation Kentucky whiskey producer and Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame legend Bill Samuels. After enjoying the tour and meeting the maker of Maker’s, the Bards fell in love with the history and the process of making bourbon.
“Then, as time went on, even though we stayed in racing and had other careers, we kept talking about it, learning more about the industry, meeting people in the industry, joining all the associations, hitting the Bourbon Trail, going on the tours, and we just kept falling in love with it more and more, learning more about it,” Thomas explained. “In about 2015, we were both in careers, both of us ready for a change, so we looked at each other and said, ‘Why don’t we finally do this? We talked about it long enough.’ ”
When it came time to pick a location, the Bards chose a spot just 5 miles from the family farm in Muhlenberg County in order to benefit the community. They knew the school buildings had good bones, and it turns out that the layout of the campus is just as suitable for bourbon as it was for kids. The words “Character Building” over the schoolhouse doorway once referred to young minds but now applies to building flavor profiles.
One of Thomas’ former schoolteachers even helped paint!
“We want people to be proud of the fact that this is here and also to identify with it,” Thomas said.
Looking Forward
The Bards plan to continue growing, ramping up production, expanding the brand globally, and becoming a bigger presence in the industry. They are active members of local nonprofits and intend to donate to community causes and hold fundraisers, using the distillery to drive change in the community and provide jobs.
Thomas and Kim plan to offer unique experiences at the distillery, including technical tours with more information about the production process, barrel classes and concerts. They also aim to add murals, a 7-acre lake and a restaurant to make The Bard Distillery, which is a part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, a true destination distillery.
“The Bard family has a history of striving to do the best they possibly can,” said Thomas, who comes from a long line of leaders. Another fifth great-uncle, Richard, was part of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and a voting member of the Constitutional Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Richard’s great-grandson, Thomas R. Bard, served as a U.S. senator from 1900 to 1905.
A Presbyterian minister, Isaac earned a reputation in the region as one of the best traveling orators, speaking at revivals from town to town. Issac’s father, William, was the surveyor and adventurer who founded Bardstown with his brother in the 1700s.
“When I think back on that, I think, OK, I come from a family of people who want to lead, who want to do things for the right reasons, do things for the long haul, and not stop until the job is done,” Thomas said. “So, with that mindset, that’s how I’ve been able—on my end, anyway—to put my blinders on and just truck through this process to get it going, knowing that we’re looking, not just to the next few years, but looking at the next 10-20 years—looking forward to what impact am I making.
“Despite COVID, despite all of the hurdles of trying to start this business, we’re excited because it looks like our timing is pretty good. We’re exhausted, but we’re excited. We’re proud to be part of this industry, especially in Kentucky. It’s just been a lot of fun.”
IF YOU GO:
The Bard Distillery
5080 Ky. 175 South, Graham
270.338.6543 | thebarddistillery.com
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m daily, except holidays, for tastings and tours