Wednesday, September 06, 2000
Louisville still heart of the booze business
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — Thirty years ago, a river of alcohol flowed through this city, carted from local makers like Old Fitzgerald, Schenley and Yellowstone through truck terminals and on to the country.
The city is no longer the distilling center it was, but it remains a shipping hub for spirits and wine.
Louisville's Brown-Forman Corp., which makes Canadian Mist whiskey, has expanded its portfolio of international brands and added new products to build a complex distribution center in Louisville.
The company's transportation crews handle 125 million bottles of spirits and wine annually, or about 40 percent of the company's worldwide volume. It's valued at $430 million.
“We go to a lot of places we didn't used to when I came here 31 years ago,” said John C. Brooks, manager of transportation and logistics for Brown-Forman. “I don't know of any other company that does it quite this way.”
More than half the volume leaving Brown-Forman's facilities — Early Times whiskey, Old Forester bourbon and Southern Comfort cordial — are distilled and bottled in Louisville. Jack Daniel's is shipped up from Tennessee, mixed into the company's popular Country Cocktails and bottled.
Brown-Forman's Canadian Mist, Pepe Lopez tequila and Usher Scotch brands are shipped to Louisville in bulk to be bottled. They're shipped in higher proof for economy, then diluted.
Canadian Mist rolls into town in railroad tank cars holding 20,000 gallons each. A large, stainless-steel straw sucks the whiskey up through a hose and into the plant, which turns out 27 million bottles of the blend a year. The system can handle three cars at once, though that's never been necessary.
“We have 10 (rail) cars, and we just try to keep them rolling constantly,” Mr. Brooks said.
Pepe Lopez travels up from Mexico through Laredo, Texas, in 6,000-gallon tank trucks, a process made easier since deregulation of the trucking industry.
“We used to transfer those loads at the border, and that was a nightmare,” Mr. Brooks said. “One time a guy spilled half a load.”
Norfolk, Va., is the usual port of entry for the premium Finlandia and Glenmorangie brands and for Bolla and Michelle Picard wines. They are shipped by truck or rail to Louisville.
Charleston, S.C., is the cold-weather alternative to Norfolk, and special trucks keep the wine from freezing on the way from the coast.
Occasionally, the company will move product directly to duty-free facilities at the Riverport for re-export to the North American Free Trade Agreement countries.
Otherwise, the imports are kept in 40,000 square feet of leased space.
Product stays in the warehouses up to two months — a long time in these days of just-in-time inventory but common in the liquor industry, with its three-tiered system of manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
“It's coming down a day or two a year,” said Timothy J. Condon, vice president and director of supply-chain management.
Deregulation of the trucking industry has reduced shipping costs and eliminated the need to truck product from terminal to terminal, Mr. Brooks said.
“Probably our cost for a truckload shipment today is the same as 30 years ago,” Mr. Brooks said.
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