FORT SMITH — Fourteen people will be out of work as the bottling of Wild Turkey bourbon moves from a Fort Smith plant to a facility in Kentucky.
Officials at Fort Smith's Pernod Ricard USA plant said that operations will be shifted to Lawrenceburg, Ky., effective March 29. Pernod Ricard sold the Wild Turkey brand to Gruppo Campari in 2009 but continued to bottle the bourbon.
Campari announced plans in 2012 to build its own bottling plant in Kentucky that would take over the Wild Turkey bottling.
The Southwest Times Record reported the Pernod Ricard plant still employs more than 200 workers after the job reductions. The plant's managing director says no further reductions are planned at the Fort Smith facility, which produces Pernod Ricard's Seagram's Gin, Kahlua and Hiram Walker Liqueurs.