Kentucky Distillers, then known as Old Stanley Distillery, opened in Stanley in 1962, in a $1 million facility with bottling, distribution, and warehousing operations. Ben and Thomas Medley, sixth generation Medley distillers were the principal owners.
The distillery was sold in 1971, but Medley remained as president. It was capable of producing 1 million cases of bourbon a year. But bourbon fell on hard times in the late 1970s and early 1980s and by 1980, Kentucky Distillers was no longer making bourbon. It was just bottling other spirits until it finally closed. Much of this facility is still standing, but is no longer used for distilling.
