Inside the Next Big Kentucky Bourbon Distillery, Founded By a Pair of Maker’s Mark Alumni

A rendering of Potter Jane Distilling Company. (Photo: Potter Jane Distilling Company)

A growing trend in the bourbon industry over the past couple of years has been employees from major distilleries quitting their jobs to pursue founding brands of their own.

The biggest example of this is Jackie Zykan, the former master distiller at Old Forester, who stepped down and shortly after opened Hidden Barn. Other examples include former Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Jeff Arnett beginning Company Distilling and Dixon Dedman, who co-founded Kentucky Owl and then departed his own company after selling it to Stoli, founding 2XO Whiskey.

And then there were Denny Potter and Jane Bowie, a pair of Maker’s Mark employees (Potter the master distiller and Bowie the head of blending and innovation), who in August 2022 departed Maker’s together. On their way out, their former employer wished them well and informed the world that the duo “have aspirations to make their own whiskey.”

Those aspirations took a step toward fulfillment on Sept. 13, when ground broke on the Potter Jane Distillery in Springfield, Kentucky.

The brand said in a news release that “they plan to be operational by January of 2025 (if they don’t kill each other first),” according to Robb Report.

Potter Jane Distilling Co. hosted an event to mark the groundbreaking, serving beer from Bardstown brewery Scout & Scholar, per The Bourbon Life:

The new distillery will span 153 acres and 36,000 square feet and will produce whiskey for itself as well as contract-distill for other brands, according to Robb Report. The distillery will employ about 40 people and will have two warehouses each capable of storing 24,000 casks, per Robb Report, which also reported that  Potter Jane will make bourbons featuring both wheated and high-rye mashbills, as well as a small amount of rye whiskey.

Additionally, the distillery plans to build a smaller, “experimental” warehouse that will test the effects of varying “micro-climates” on whiskeys, per Robb Report.

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