A manufacturer of bourbon barrels will invest $16.85 million to build a new stave mill in Pittsylvania County. The Speyside Bourbon Cooperage facility will be the fourth facility for the company in Virginia.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved a $250,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Pittsylvania County will match with local funds.
The new stave mill is expected to create 40 news jobs. The mill will source 40 percent of its timber needed from landowners in Virginia.
“Forestry is Virginia’s third-largest industry, and Speyside Bourbon Cooperage will continue to get world-class timber for its premium white oak barrels by investing in Virginia-grown forestry products,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr. “We’re very pleased to aid Speyside Cooperage in building a new Virginia location with a Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development grant, as this project provides additional markets for forestry landowners and loggers.”
Speyside Bourbon Cooperage creates bourbon barrels with American White Oak wood. The operation will supply the company’s bourbon barrel cooperage in Smyth County.
Virginia locations include stave mills in Bath and Washington counties and a bourbon barrel cooperage in Smyth County.
In addition to Virginia, the company operates stave mills and bourbon cooperages in four other states including Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
“Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, Inc. is very excited to once again announce that we are building yet another site in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia has been home to three of our sites for multiple years now and beyond that, an excellent partner for us and our business,” said Darren Whitmer, Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, Inc. president and general manager.
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Crystal Graham
