The hard stuff keeps flowing, in spite of potential hard times ahead.

We chat about the latest with the Kentucky Bourbon industry on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

LBF Bourbon Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt is on the show to give us the latest on Chicken Cock Whiskey (yes, they realize they have a funny name.) The bourbon brand built a tasting room in Bardstown a year ago and is now planning to open another location in NuLu. Schmidt got the scoop on the new development from a company executive after it came to light in a legal ad.

“We found a great space and a great part of town that is vibrant and growing,” Tyler Rothenberg, vice president of marketing for Grain & Barrel Spirits, CCW’s parent company, told us recently.

Our next live podcast is July 28: Join us as we take look at Louisville's most important development projects. Registration here.

Schmidt also got a look at Heaven Hill Brands new corporate office in the ShelbyHurst development in Louisville in the last few weeks. During a visit he had a chance to speak with the family behind Heaven Hill about what the new space means for them.

We also chat about the recent sale of Dueling Barrels Distillery out of Pikeville, Kentucky. And we discuss Whiskey House — a massive new contract distilling venture that's based in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Late in the show we talk about the demolition of the Executive Strike & Spare at the Kentucky Expo Center. And we give you a few recommendations on where to bowl in Louisville.

Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.

Our next live podcast is July 28: Join us as we take look at Louisville's most important development projects. Registration here.

Affordable housing is an issue affecting many communities in the country, including Louisville. We get into some of the factors behind it on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

Elizabeth Strojan, executive director of the Louisville Metro Housing Authority, joins the program to give us her insights on the issue. You might not realize how many people in Jefferson County are impacted by the Authority's work — which is something Strojan admits surprised her too. It directly serves 30,000 people in the county.

Strojan and LBF Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy go over a number of topics on the show, including reactions to the recent Big Beautiful Bill — passed by Congress and signed by President Trump — as well as affordable housing needs.

They also talk about the reaction that new affordable housing proposals often garner — specifically when it comes to density.

"It's really the same everywhere," Strojan said. She recalled that even while working in New York City in affordable housing finance, neighbors opposed dense housing developments.

"We're talking about a densly built city where people are scared of density," she said. "I think it's unfortunately a part of human nature to fear change and fear the unknown. The best way to get people supporting affordable housing is to build the affordable housing. Because they see the sky doesn't fall."

Strojan also talked about what's next for the Dosker Manor public housing complex.

She said it's unfortunate that it has to be demolished but, after a physical needs assessment, there didn't look to be a way to save it. Right now, the authority is in the process of relocating residents (about 200 remain). The three highrises and the former First Link grocery story will be demolished and several hundred units will be rebuilt (which won't be as dense as before.)

"Overall we want obviously to increase the supply affordable housing. But that level of very high needs population in one city block was not sustainable for an organization like ours," she said.

You can hear the full interview on the show. Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We take a trip to the Hoosier State on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

Our discussion revolves around some of the economic goings on in Clark and Floyd counties. LBF recently took a deep dive into trends in the area for a section we called Southern Indiana spotlight.

To start, we chat about new home development, which has taken off despite higher interest rates affecting housing affordability

New single-family home inventory grew by 8.8% between April 2024 and April 2025 in Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties, Glenn Hockersmith, a Realtor and broker with Schuler Bauer Real Estate, told LBF in a recent report. Despite the increased supply in the area, the average number of days on the market for these homes plummeted 12.9% during the same period.

River Ridge Commerce Center, a 6,000-acre commercial and industrial park in Jeffersonville that produced an estimated $3.04 billion in economic output in 2024, has a lot to do with that growth. But we also discuss how the various school systems in the region play a role.

On the show, we also talk a restaurant boom in New Albany, including something new heading into the former Toast on Market space.

We chat about the backstory on Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden, which recently hit the market. We discuss a new recreational trail in Borden, Indiana, which is supposed to eventually connect to Mitchell, Indiana (and even up to Indianapolis at some point.) And we go over the plans for Origin Park, which we recently toured.

Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.