LEXINGTON, Ky. — UK Athletics and Heaven Hill Brands announced Thursday a multiyear partnership that will bring two of Kentucky’s most recognizable bourbon brands into University of Kentucky athletic venues and introduce limited-edition, co-branded bottles for Wildcat fans.
Under the agreement, Elijah Craig becomes the Official Small Batch Bourbon Partner of the Kentucky Wildcats, while Evan Williams becomes the Official Bourbon Partner of the Kentucky Wildcats. The partnership includes naming rights for premium hospitality areas at Kroger Field and Rupp Arena, branded experiences at UK athletic facilities and special bourbon releases tied to the Wildcats.
The Mezzanine Club at Kroger Field will become the Elijah Craig Club, while the Bourbon Club at Rupp Arena will be renamed the Elijah Craig Speakeasy. Both spaces will be redesigned as immersive Elijah Craig destinations with design elements inspired by Kentucky bourbon and the brand’s heritage.
“When you think of Kentucky, one of the first things you think about is the Wildcats. Another is bourbon,” said J Batt, UK athletics director and CEO of Champions Blue LLC. “Bourbon is foundational to the uniqueness of Kentucky’s culture and economy, and we are proud to welcome Elijah Craig and Evan Williams into the Kentucky Athletics family.”
Batt, hired in June as the new leader of UK Athletics, came to Lexington from Michigan State University after building a reputation as a record-breaker in fundraising. Evan Williams also will have significant presence through its Bourbon Nation program, with plans to participate in tailgates, fan zones and other game-day activities extending the partnership beyond premium hospitality areas.
The partnership also will move from UK’s athletic facilities to bourbon shelves. Heaven Hill and UK Athletics plan to introduce a series of limited-edition, co-branded Elijah Craig and Evan Williams bottles celebrating the relationship. The first release will be an Elijah Craig barrel personally selected by Batt, who traveled to Bardstown ahead of his first football season as athletics director.
Heaven Hill, headquartered in Bardstown, was founded in 1935 and remains the largest family-owned and operated distillery in America. The company’s portfolio includes several major American whiskey brands.
Financial terms of the multiyear agreement were not disclosed. The partnership was developed by JMI Sports, UK Athletics’ multimedia rights partner, which operated locally as UK Sports and Campus Marketing.
Sources
- Lane Report (KY Business)
- UK Athletics official biography of J Batt
- Heaven Hill Distillery official website
- Wikipedia article on Heaven Hill
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Lane Report (KY Business), enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lanereport.com/189267/2026/09/uk-athletics-heaven-hill-bourbon-partnership/.
