FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 31, 2023) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted new growth in Kentucky’s signature bourbon and spirits sector as San Francisco-based Bespoken Spirits Inc. announced plans to relocate its headquarters and manufacturing operations to Greyline Station in Lexington. The $3.2 million relocation will create 16 new high-wage jobs paying an average hourly wage of $70.77 including benefits.
“The relocation of Bespoken Spirits’ headquarters and manufacturing operations to Kentucky adds momentum to the state’s always growing signature bourbon industry,” said Gov. Beshear. “Bespoken is a welcome addition to the Lexington community and will continue to solidify Kentucky as the world’s leading producer of bourbon. I want to thank company leaders for their vision to grow in Kentucky and look forward to seeing their success here in the commonwealth.”
The relocation of Bespoken Spirits’ headquarters and manufacturing operations will include building improvements, equipment, start-up costs and other related expenses. The move will also enable Bespoken to move up in the supply chain to include distillation, completing the characterization and recipe catalog from grain to glass.
“Rather than putting spirit into a barrel and waiting passively for nature take its course, we instill the barrel into the spirit, actively and precisely controlling the process to deliver premium quality tailored spirits full of nuance and flavor,” said Scott Savage, vice president of research, development and production at Bespoken Spirits. “As a born-and-raised Kentuckian and engineer, I am thrilled at the opportunity to bring this company to my home, enabling faster growth with significant cost advantages.”
Bespoken Spirits is a privately owned modern spirits start-up company, founded in 2019, that is blending technology and tradition to take craft spirits to new heights. The process unlocks billions of flavor combinations, while reducing the environmental impact of each sip. Bespoken has received well over 150 medals in spirits competitions. The company has built a rich library of spirit characterizations and recipes for spirit rectifying to produce a target spirit, thus the name Bespoken.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton is working to grow agtech in Lexington and said Bespoken is a good fit: “Bespoken is a good fit for Lexington. They’re moving their headquarters here to the part of bourbon country where agtech has also found a home.”
Commerce Lexington CEO Bob Quick commended the company on its sustainability efforts: “With whiskey production dating back to the earliest days of our community, Lexington offers a robust distilling network that provides strategic advantages in supply chain, workforce and partnerships. We applaud their commitment to sustainability and their innovative approach to aging whiskey. It is an honor to welcome Bespoken Spirits to Lexington, the heart of bourbon country.”
Bespoken Spirits’ investment and planned job creation furthers recent economic momentum in the commonwealth.
Earlier this month, Gov. Beshear reported that General Fund receipts for July 2023 totaled $1.1 billion, marking the 11th straight month with revenues over $1 billion. The Governor also recently announced that his administration secured the largest General Fund budget surplus and Rainy Day Fund, as well as the most jobs filled in state history.
The General Fund budget surplus at the end of fiscal year 2023 was more than $1.55 billion. Nearly all of the $1.55 billion surplus will go into the commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing the fund to a record balance of $3.7 billion – a 2,700% increase since Gov. Beshear took office in 2019.
Gov. Beshear also announced an increase of 6,400 jobs filled, bringing the commonwealth to 2,015,600 filled jobs in June. That is a record number of nearly 60,000 more jobs filled than before the pandemic.
This year, the Governor announced that Kentucky set the record for the longest period with the lowest unemployment rates in state history. On May 18, Gov. Beshear announced that Kentucky set a new historic low unemployment rate of 3.7%, which is the lowest rate ever recorded in the commonwealth.
Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has announced more than 880 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling approximately $27 billion in announced investments. This is the highest investment figure for any governor in state history.
The robust job creation has been accompanied by rising wages across the commonwealth. The average incentivized hourly wage in 2022 was $26.78 before benefits, the second-highest mark since 2010 and an 11.5% increase over the previous year.
The Governor also secured the best two-year period in state history for economic growth and announced the two largest economic development projects in state history. In September 2021, Gov. Beshear and leaders from Ford Motor Co. and SK On celebrated a transformative $5.8 billion investment that will create 5,000 jobs in Hardin County. In April 2022, the Governor was joined by leadership at AESC to announce a $2 billion investment that will create 2,000 jobs in Warren County. These announcements solidify Kentucky as the EV battery production capital of the United States.
That position was strengthened even further in May 2023, when the Governor and leaders at Toyota announced a $591 million investment across multiple projects as the company’s largest manufacturing operation in Georgetown introduces its first battery electric vehicle. Growth within the EV sector continued into June as Gov. Beshear joined INFAC North America to break ground on the company’s $53 million investment to support EV-related production in Campbellsville.
Over a two-month period this year, Kentucky secured two credit rating increases from major agencies. On May 12, Gov. Beshear announced that his administration obtained the first state-level credit rating upgrade in 13 years and the first-ever upgrade from Fitch Ratings. On June 29, Gov. Beshear announced the commonwealth received its first-ever rating increase from S&P Global Ratings.
Site Selection magazine recently placed Kentucky first in the South Central region and top-5 nationally in its 2023 Prosperity Cup ranking, which recognizes state-level economic development agencies for their success in landing capital investment projects. The publication also placed Kentucky second nationwide and first in the South Central region for its annual Governor’s Cup ranking for 2022, which recognizes state-level economic success based on capital investments.
Gov. Beshear recently announced a new “Supply Kentucky” initiative with the goal of boosting job growth, reducing costs and providing more security in the supply chains of our Kentucky companies.
To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) on Thursday preliminarily approved a 10-year incentive agreement with the company under the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based agreement can provide up to $500,000 in tax incentives based on the company’s investment of $3.2 million and annual targets of:
- Creation and maintenance of 16 Kentucky-resident, full-time jobs across 10 years; and
- Paying an average hourly wage of $70.77 including benefits across those jobs.
By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.
In addition, Bespoken Spirits can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers. Those include no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job-training incentives.
For more information on Bespoken Spirits, visit BespokenSpirits.com.
A detailed community profile for Fayette County can be viewed here.
More information on the Governor’s AgriTech Initiative is available at AgriTech.ky.gov.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at CED.ky.gov. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion at facebook.com/CEDkygov, on Twitter @CEDkygov, Instagram @CEDkygov and LinkedIn.
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