Grand opening for Minden Mill is Sept. 9

With their liquor licenses secured on Thursday, the new owners of the Minden Mill Distillery opened the doors for a preview to a select crowd.

The Douglas County Liquor Board unanimously approved licenses for intoxicating liquor producers and packaged liquor with entertainment.

About 60 people gathered for champagne and hors d'oeuvres, with some taking tours of the distillery on Thursday evening.

The distillery will reopen to the public on Sept. 9, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The distillery has been closed to the public since March 2022 in preparation for owner Christopher Bently to put it and thousands of acres across Douglas County up for sale.

The mill and associated properties were purchased by Las Vegas Golden Knights pro hockey team owner Bill Foley in May.

Foley Family Wines conducting business as High Sierra Distillery of Las Vegas purchased eight parcels, mostly around the main distillery in Minden and Orbit Way off Buckeye Road.

Also included in the transaction is the existing inventory of bourbon, single malt whiskey and rye. Those whiskeys are still being aged.

The purchase did not include the land where the grain for the distillery is grown.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the 12,369 acres including the property where the grains and botanicals are being grown has been discounted 10 percent to $90 million.

According to the web site for California Outdoor Properties Owner-Broker Tod Renfrew, the property includes senior water rights and reservoirs, with 6,046 irrigated acres, Mud Lake and East Valley Reservoir.

The property is growing wheat, rye, barley, hops and oats in addition to alfalfa.

Renfrew’s website indicates there are also 10 homes, 4 bunkhouses, 7 shops, 5 horse barns, 12 hay barns, 12 storage barns, a feedlot, and a compost facility.

Bently’s Wovoka estate at Lake Tahoe has been reduced in price by $20 million with a second home removed from the listing at Compass.com.

The site for sale consists of 2.73 acres with an 8,591-square-foot home overlooking the Lake.

Smaller parcels belonging to Bently continue to be sold, according to the Douglas County Recorder’s Office.

The Borda Land & Sheep Co. purchased 545 acres in the Pine Nuts above Fish Springs for $575,000, according to a June 26 filing.

By far the biggest single land sale was 3,335 acres to the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign in March.

Longtime supporters of the Fish Springs herd, the Bentlys donated seven parcels totaling 757.18 acres and donors purchased 14 additional parcels amounting to 2,538 acres.

The purchase makes the nonprofit one of the major grazing rights holders in Douglas County.