By Chris Aldridge

Kentucky Ag News

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. –  The western Kentucky city of  Hopkinsville was named in 1804 to honor Samuel Hopkins, a Revolutionary War veteran and former state representative. It’s shortened nickname, "Hoptown," is said to have originated in the late 1800s when some passengers on the old Louisville & Nashville Railroad would “hop off and get a drink” when trains made a brief stop at the depot in downtown Hopkinsville.

Hopkinsville Brewing Company could have served those thirsty passengers had it existed more than six score and five years ago.

“We put the hops in Hoptown” is the slogan for the first craft brewery in Christian County, home to two well-known bourbon distilleries. The Kentucky Proud brewery also boasts another first: founder and co-owner Kate Russell, currently vice president of Kentucky Guild of Brewers, believes she is the only brewer in the state who is a female military veteran.

Sgt. Russell discovered Hopkinsville by chance when she was stationed at Fort Campbell in the early 2000s.

“The Army brought me here,” she said. “I was on lunch one day … and took a left outside Gate Four (onto U.S. Highway 41A) and just kept driving and found Hopkinsville.”

Russell decided to settle in the town of 30,000 and start a family.

“I could spend 20 minutes in traffic in Clarksville,” she said, referring to the city just south of Fort Campbell, “or I could spend 20 minutes driving through cornfields, and that sounded a lot better.”

The idea to start a unique small business followed.

“My then-husband was a home brewer, and it was a neat business idea,” Russell said. “There was nothing like it here.”

The couple purchased a building in 2015 at the corner of Main and Fifth Streets that was more than 100 years old. They began renovating the two-story structure, built in 1913, which had once housed a gas station and then a barber shop.

“There was a weird tube running through the ceiling,” Russell said. “I hooked a crowbar over it and pulled, and I don't know how many years’ worth of hair came out. That just really grossed me out.”

As the brewery prepared to open on Labor Day weekend 2016, Russell’s husband received orders to report for duty at Fort Rucker in Alabama.

“We could lock the doors and walk away from the project until he got back, or I could keep going with it,” she remembered. “We had poured our life savings into it. My parents had taken out a home equity loan and given it to us. This thing had to make money, or we had to sell it. We couldn't just let it sit. So, I told him, ‘You know, I could figure out how to make beer. How hard could it be?’”

Russell’s husband left the week after the stainless steel, five-barrel nano-brewery equipment was delivered. 

“That equipment costs more than my house!” she said. “I literally cried because it was so big, and I did not know what to do with it.”

A friend, Jon O'Rourke, came to the rescue, teaching her everything he knew about brewing.

“At first, the beer was not very good because I didn't even drink beer,” Russell said. “As it turned out, I loved making beer, I learned to love the taste of it, I really liked running a small business, and I wasn't bad at it.”

When her marriage ended in divorce, Russell asked her 9-year-old son whether they should keep their house or the brewery.

“He goes, ‘Well, Mom, you're going to need a job, so you should probably keep the brewery,’” she said. “So, the kids and I moved into my parents’ house.”

Dave and Maria Russell had moved to Hopkinsville to help care for their two grandchildren after Dave retired from his career as a defense contractor.

“This (brewery) would not be here if not for my parents,” Kate said. “They are the most supportive parents ever.”

The brewery’s success led to an expansion in 2020 into a renovated body shop that was attached to the rear of the building. Kate also brought a business partner, former homebrewer Joey Medeiros, on board. The former paratrooper instructor recorded 97 jumps before retiring after 26 years in the Army.

“His goal was to open a brewery in Clarksville,” Kate said. “After my divorce, I realized very quickly it is very hard to do this and raise two kids.

“I asked Joey, ‘You know, you could go to Clarksville, and you would be my competition, or are you interested in buying half a brewery because I don't want to do this by myself?’ I wanted to go to my son's baseball games.”

Kate said the Kentucky Proud program has encouraged her to look for locally grown fruits and vegetables to flavor some of its unique brews. One of her most successful collaborations is with a local farmer, who uses the brewery’s spent grains to feed his hogs in exchange for providing the brewery with fresh watermelons to make one of its most popular summer beers. Social media posts featuring “Mr. Butler,” who farms on land that his grandfather tilled as a slave, went viral.

“We try to look local,” Kate added, “or at least within the state as much as possible.”