by J.W. “Wally” Dant is a man of many talents. He’s the president/distiller at Log Still Distillery in Gethsemane, Kentucky. The distillery’s website says, “We call him founder, foreman, and fearless leader.”
But I’m going to call him an entrepreneurial Renaissance Man. In addition to starting up a new craft distillery, he’s a hotelier, restaurateur, concert impresario, and venue promoter. All on a 350-acre campus called Dant Crossing about 13 miles south of Bardstown, where his family ties go back more than two centuries.
The former healthcare executive from Nashville is spending tens of millions of dollars of his own money to create his own version of Wally World. It’s unlike anything else in Kentucky Bourbon Country. Dant Crossing is currently home to a distillery and tasting room, one rick house (with room for three more), a 2,000-seat outdoor concert venue, a special events venue for weddings and corporate events, five different bed and breakfast buildings, and a 12-acre fishing lake.
Oh, and a water tower that stands right in the middle of everything. The 1930’s era tower has been restored, provides potable water to the campus, and serves as its symbolic heart.
Still to come: a Visitor Center and Restaurant complex, a new train depot, and hiking trails are already under construction.
What’s in a Name?
If the name sounds familiar, you’ve seen it on the lower shelves in the liquor store on bottles of J.W. Dant Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon. The brand name is now owned and distilled by Heaven Hill Distillers.
Shakespeare famously asked “What’s in a name?” So did the lawyers for Heaven Hill when they cried trademark infringement against Wally Dant. One byproduct of their discussions: you’ll see the phrase “Log Still Distillery neither owns nor has any affiliation with “J.W. Dant” distilled spirits” in several spots on both Dant Crossing and Log Still Distillery websites.
Two Hundred Years of Family History
I recently had a chance to tour the Dant Crossing campus with Wally. (The website says, “You can call him Wally,” so I will.) Wearing shorts and a t-shirt, he was both unassuming and proud as he pointed out the features of the property as it looked in 1958 in a floor-to-ceiling graphic in his office. The bustling facility included a bottling house made of Quonset huts.
I asked what it meant to be both on this property and in the heart of bourbon country?
“Our family has been here for well over 200 years, the Dant family has. As well as my Mom’s side. So, it’s pretty important to us to be back here.”
The original distillery on this site dates from 1860 (hence the enviably low KY-DSP 47 number Wally was able to reclaim). It went through several owners and refurbishments before the Dants came on the scene.
Before Prohibition, Wally said there were 11 distilleries in a six-mile radius of where we were standing, with three of them right here in Gethsemane.
Only two reopened after Prohibition: The Dant and Head Distillery (operated by Wally’s Great Grandfather) and the J.W. Dant Distillery, five miles away in Dant, Kentucky. No surprise, it was also run by another Dant family member. The various Dant family members sold their interests in their distilleries in the 1940s.
As if on cue for our discussion of the Dant family lineage, Vice President of Operations Charles Dant walked through the area. Wally introduced me to his cousin, who grew up in what is now called The Mansion. Charles also made security rounds of the distillery with his grandfather, who was a guard, before it was abandoned in the 1970s.
How does it feel to work in the old homeplace? “We’re excited about what we’re doing here,” Charles said. “It’s been very rewarding.”
I said I wondered on my drive out through the countryside if they would have trouble finding employees.
“It’s pretty cool seeing the local pride, Charles said. “The community has come out in droves looking for employment. They’re proud of what we’re doing. And we’ve had so many comments on our hospitality and the way our staff treats people.”
While we didn’t run into her, Wally’s cousin Lynne Dant is the Chief Operating Officer and Distiller and supervised the building of the distillery and now its daily operations.
Before we climbed into Wally’s pickup truck to tour the campus, we passed a garden that supplies food for the restaurant and bed-and-breakfast buildings.
“We have a lot of folks here who love to can (fruits and vegetables), including me,” Wally said. “It’s just a great way of getting your minds off things.”
Log Still Distillery
The Log Still Distillery’s primary products get their name from Monks Road, which you turn off just before arriving at Dant Crossing. The Abbey of Gethsemani, a monastery for Trappist Monks, is less than a mile and a half away.
We know that names are important in these parts, but where did Log Still come from? Wally explained that it pays tribute to Joseph W. Dant (the first of several J.W.’s) in 1836. J.W. didn’t have a copper still, so he made his whiskey using a poplar log.
Today’s Log Still Distillery got its start with a 50-gallon pot still, while the new distillery was under construction.
As we walked into the distillery, one of several workers in Log Still Distillery shirts greeted Wally with, “What’s up, boss?” After saying hello, Wally took a deep breath and said, “There’s nothing like that smell.”
Log Still has been contract distilling, or sourcing, its bourbon elsewhere while the operation was coming up to full steam. The distillate made onsite will be ready in four years.
“Based on everything we know, we can replicate what the old distillery did in terms of bourbon production,” Wally said. “We’ve got the lake water; we know the yeast and the mash bills that were used. We think that if you took out an old bottle, and then compared it to ours, that they should taste remarkably similar.”
One wall of the distillery is floor-to-ceiling glass with a spectacular view of the lake, with a new walking trail, benches and light posts encircling it.
Next door is the water treatment facility that brings water from the lake. Wally said they don’t put their distillate water through a reverse osmosis process. “We want that minerality, so we use that for our distillate water,” he said. “We use that Cold Spring (water) for cutting our barrels to proof and also use it for bottling. It’s another way to tie the history that was here on the land into our new distillery.”
The architecture in both the distillery and The Tasting Room calls back to the arched ceilings of the original Quonset huts from years ago.
Come for a concert, stay for the night
As we drove around the property, Wally pointed out Heritage House, one of five bed and breakfast buildings that have been expanded and modernized at the Crossing. This is the house Wally’s father grew up in.
I asked Wally if he considered living in the old homeplace, but he said he needed a bit more privacy, noting the attention that whiskey distillers get in Kentucky. “When somebody asked me to sign their bottle for the first time, I was like, what?”
We stopped at The Amp and we walked onto the stage, looking up the hill at the seats and open grass where 2,000 concertgoers sit for a variety of country and rock concerts. The Tasting Room and Distillery sit atop the peak of the hill, towered over by the iconic water tower.
When we came back into the office building after the tour, a handful of people on their lunch breaks were cutting up five-gallon buckets of tomatoes from the gardens. Wally said they’ll be canning everything from salsa to tomato sauce to ketchup. When I asked about the ketchup, Wally said, “Let me show you.”
We went along a hall, behind a hidden bookcase that would make any Prohibition-era speakeasy proud, and down some steps to the basement (or cellar, as they say in the country).
From among shelves of all types of fruits and vegetables that had been “put up,” Wally handed me a small Mason jar of his homemade ketchup.
I should have known that someone with this kind of heritage making bourbon, would have tasting notes on his ketchup. “You’ll taste, not the traditional ketchup taste,” Wally said. “More of a trace of cinnamon, with a little sweetness on it.”
And like all good enthusiasts, I’m waiting for a special occasion to open my jar of craft-made ketchup. I realized later I should have asked Wally to autograph it for me.
Log Still Distillery Products
Monk’s Road Bourbon and Gins
Cold Spring Distillery Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
A six-year-old single-barrel bourbon honors the name of the long-gone Cold Spring Distillery on the property. Water from the original Cold Spring is used to proof the barrels and in the bottling process.
Monk’s Road Dry Gin
Made here onsite in Nelson County. Described as complementary botanicals. “We’ve married watermelon rind with zests of orange and lemon for a bright and fresh flavor.”
Monk’s Road Barrel Finished Gin
Gin finished in Log Still bourbon barrels. “Fresh botanicals coriander, cranberry, juniper, and nutmeg to develop and mature into the perfect flavor profile.”
Rattle and Snap Tennessee Straight Whiskey
Named for an old Southern game of chance, this whiskey is sourced from a distillery in Tennessee. (“Not George Dickel,” Wally said.”)
What will you find at Dant Crossing?
The Legacy
A new venue, built to resemble a whiskey rick house, for weddings, receptions, and corporate events. The Chapel seats 350 and The Banquet Hall holds up to 700. Includes separate dressing rooms for brides and grooms. Also features an on-site full-service kitchen.
Bed and Breakfasts
There are five different historic buildings where you can stay year-round, ranging from Heritage House to The Lodge to The Mansion, which is adjacent to The Legacy venue. All have been expanded, modernized, and represent a premium lodging experience. Prices range from $149 to $1000 per night.
The Amphitheater (or Amp)
A 2,000-seat outdoor amphitheater featuring nationally known music acts from May to October.
The Tasting Room
The bar area is where you’ll come for private tastings. It can accommodate up to 65 people for private events.
Gethsemane Station
This train depot is now under construction. Beginning next year, you’ll be able to arrive or depart Dant Crossing by train to nearby New Haven and the Kentucky Railway Museum.
47 & Poplar
The visitor’s center building is under construction right next to the Log Still Distillery and will feature a farm-to-table restaurant.
Concerts this month at The Amp
Diamond Rio Friday, Sept 2
Collective Soul and Switchfoot Monday, Sept 5
Ashley McBryde Thursday, Sept 8
Clay Walker Friday, Sept. 16
Billy Ray Cyrus Friday, Sept. 23
Jake Owen Friday, Sept 30
