Page 9 - Graypvine October 2020

First African American-owned

distillery in the Bluegrass has

team member connection

9

Gray Construction team member Demetrius distillery in early 2021. Throughout the project, they
Edwards has been using his professional skills as an have leaned on their son’s creativity to conceptualize
Architectural Technician to support his parents in a the building and some of the features they
groundbreaking new project in Lexington. wanted inside.
In 2017, Demetrius created the first rendering “I can always bounce a question off of [Demetrius],
for Fresh Bourbon Distilling Company’s future and the future building process,” said Sean. “His
building, the distillery his parents, Sean and Tia work with Gray has really given him good insight on
Edwards, have been working to bring to life for larger construction projects and his advice has been
the past three years. Kentucky natives and African really important to us.”
American entrepreneurs, Demetrius’s parents first For the time being, Fresh Bourbon is offering pre-
began crafting unique Bourbons, whiskeys and orders for their limited first release, which is slated
other spirits, and then set their sights on bringing to ship in late 2020 or early 2021. To find more
the first black-owned distillery to Kentucky. Their information, visit freshbourbon.com.
new beverage alcohol spirits line will be called Fresh
Spirits, and other spirits lines will follow. Top, left: Sean Edwards, Tia Edwards, and Gray team member Demetrius Edwards;
Fresh Bourbon’s products are mashed, fermented, top, right: a rendering of the distillery project; bottom: Fresh Spirits Bourbon bottles.
Photo credit: Sir. Femi Oyeniran
distilled, matured and will ultimately be bottled
entirely in Kentucky. The 34,000 s.f. distillery will
be located near downtown Lexington’s popular
Distillery District.
“For nearly three years, we have been diligently
developing an authentic and unique Bourbon and
spirits line. We chose not to buy Bourbon from
someone else and just place our name on a bottle.
We have been very intentional and deliberate in
crafting our spirits -- from the mash bills up,” said
Sean Edwards.
Currently, the project is in its fundraising stage,
but Sean and Tia expect to break ground on the