COVINGTON, Ky. – The City of Covington is proud to recognize Wenzel Whiskey and Milburn Group for the Wenzel Distillery project at 412 Madison Avenue as the recipient of the 2026 Adaptive Re-Use Award in the Mixed-Use/Commercial category.
The Preservation Excellence Awards honor individuals and organizations whose preservation projects thoughtfully protect, restore, and adapt Covington’s historic buildings. The awards are presented each year during National Preservation Month in May and recognize projects completed between January and December 2025.
Wenzel Whiskey Distillery is an adaptive reuse project that returned a long-vacant historic building in Covington's urban core to active civic and economic life, establishing the city's first fully functioning bourbon distillery since Prohibition. The project preserves and reactivates a layered historic structure composed of two eras of construction: the original north portion dates to the 1870s, while the south portion was constructed in 1916 as a Packard automobile dealership and garage. Over time, the property served multiple commercial purposes, including automotive sales and later office use as Bilz Insurance, before falling vacant and deteriorating.
When acquired in 2022, the approximately 10,000-square-foot building showed clear signs of deferred maintenance and accumulated alteration. Interior finishes concealed much of the original architecture, historic volume had been fragmented by later modifications, and the building's physical condition obscured its underlying strength. Rather than replace or overcorrect, the project focused on revealing what remained essential.
A defining intervention involved removing four separate ceiling layers, exposing a dramatic timber truss system that had been concealed for decades. These trusses now reestablish the full scale of the historic interior and serve as the primary architectural feature of the space. At the gable end, a new storefront opening was carefully inserted to frame the restored timber structure from the street, creating a visible relationship between the building's historic fabric and public life outside.
The building now accommodates distillation operations, a blending hall, retail space, bar, and event venue, all integrated within the historic shell with minimal visual competition against the original structure. Interior material selections were intentionally restrained and rooted in craft: bourbon barrel staves, wood, tile, metal, and warm decorative lighting create depth without theatricality. A 500-gallon copper still manufactured by Vendome Copper & Brass Works anchors the production floor as both functioning equipment and sculptural focal point.
The project's preservation value lies not only in what was restored, but in what was reactivated. A building that had become visually dormant now contributes daily life, foot traffic, employment, and destination energy to Covington's downtown. Historic masonry, original structural systems, and long-obscured spatial qualities were preserved and made legible again through contemporary use rather than static memorialization.
In a city shaped by layered industrial history, Wenzel Whiskey succeeds because it does not imitate heritage; it puts an authentic historic building back to work.
Project Contributors:
- Owner/Development Team: Wenzel Whiskey Ownership Group
- Architect/Interior Design: Emboss Design, PSC
- General Contractor: Mark Spalding Construction
- Structural Engineer: Advantage Engineers
- Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer: KLH Engineers