Employees of the Bently Heritage Estate Distillery were told it was closing and going on the market on Tuesday. The distillery opened three years ago to fanfare.
Employees of the Bently Heritage Distillery and Bently Ranch were notified Tuesday that both properties were going on the market.
While the distillery will continue to manufacture spirits through the end of the year, the tasting room closed, according to a source within the company.
Employees were notified of Christopher Bently’s intention to sell his assets in Carson Valley on Tuesday morning.
“The distillery will keep operating through the end of the year,” the source said. “We’ve had some nibbles from larger alcohol companies.”
It’s Bently’s intention to find a buyer for the distillery by the fourth quarter who will hopefully keep the team, as well.
About 20 employees in the tasting room and marketing department will be let go with severance, according to the source.
“Financially it was a loss leader,” the source said. “Chris is hoping he can find another alcohol company with a bigger reach, who can make it work.”
The remaining ranch property in the Valley likely won’t sell until next year.
The Bently Family Partnership put 903-acre LongField south of Muller Lane up for sale last year. The West Fork of the Carson River passes across the site which is being advertised as including the oldest water rights in Carson Valley.
In July 2020, Christopher and Camille Bently purchased the Kildrummy Estate in Scotland for around $14.63 million. According to The Scotsman news site, the 5,600-acre property includes an Edwardian mansion, several farms and The Kildrummy Inn.
The distillery is inside the former Minden Flour Mill, which was completely renovated, including hollowing out and connecting the mill’s distinctive silos.
Opened Feb. 9, 2019, the distillery cost more than $100 million to convert.
The ranch includes 2,500 acres of land under cultivation specifically in support of the distillery.
Rumors that Christopher Bently would put the property on the market have been going around over the past two years.
He also purchased a $9.5 million Lake Tahoe estate in December 2021.
Plans for the Bently Heritage site were first unveiled in 2013 by Bently, but the work converting the old mill and the Minden creamery building wouldn’t start until closer to 2015.
Both the facade and the Minden mill were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The mill was one of the first industrial structures in Minden, built in 1906, and was purchased by Minden industrialist Don Bently in 1969.
Christopher Bently also renovated the Minden Farmers Bank Building, which reopened in 2015, and serves as the company headquarters.