The company is located on the outskirts of Bardstown, Kentucky on a site that began as a farm owned by the family. Primarily operating as a relatively large independent bottling company, KBD has been called "the big daddy of bourbon and rye bottling". The company has remained under family ownership and operation at the same location since it was created in 1935 as the Willett Distilling Company. The company started doing business as KBD in the mid-1980s, but continued to also use the Willett Distillery name. In 2012, it began promoting the Willett name again as its primary business name.