Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
After conceiving Square One a decade ago, owner Steve Neukomm expanded beyond beer, offering the state’s first micro-distillery restaurant in 2008. J.J. Neukomm Missouri Malt Whiskey, an American single-malt produced with 25 percent cherrywood-smoked malted barley, took gold at the 2013 Beverage Tasting Institute. It became the second distillery in the U.S. to produce a tequila-style spirit, called Agave Blue, from blue agave nectar.
The first craft distillery in Missouri’s Montgomery County, Wood Hat boasts the only wood-fired still in the country. Founder Gary Hinegardner carves and wears actual wooden hats. For a small distillery, it has an extensive portfolio, producing two cordials and a variety of bourbons and corn whiskeys. All fermenting, distilling, and aging is done onsite, and the distillers use locally grown fruits and grains.
Crafted by StillJoy Spirits, the Movados line consists of range of artisanal spirits incorporating fresh ingredients. The vanguard spirit is made of apples, sugarcane, and steel-cut oats. There are also such variations as Cinnfull, Ginger, Vienna Roast, and Vanilla Sky, all of which took home medals in the Distilled Spirits Specialty category at the 2015 American Craft Spirits Association’s national competition.
A family affair, this liqueur company was started by husband-and-wife duo Billy Foster and Kathy Kuper, and it now includes their son Chris. Each batch of ginger used in the tasty libation is hand chopped, and the spirit itself is distilled at Crown Valley Winery in Ste. Genevieve. Big O recently put out a reserve edition that spent time in oak (used rye barrels from StilL 630).
Dave Weglarz founded StilL 630 on June 30, 2011. It opened two years later in a former Hardee’s in downtown St. Louis. This year, the American Craft Spirits Association awarded the Double Barrel RallyPoint with a gold medal and dubbed it Best in Class. The producer of a wide variety of whiskeys and rums, StilL 630 was recently ranked No. 3 in the USA Today Readers’ Choice 10 Best Craft Whiskey Distilleries.
Local attorney Daniel Fort and his father, Garth, started the company in 2011 and barreled their first spirit in February 2012. It hit retail shelves in September 2014. The whiskey, now 18 months old, is sourced from the MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Defiance uses 21 percent rye, 4 percent barley, and 75 percent corn mash bill; the result is bottled in Ste. Genevieve at 90 proof. The American Craft Distilling Institute named it Best in Category in 2015.
Three longtime friends launched their New Haven–based distillery in 2010. Using mostly Missouri grain, they produce a variety of award-wining spirits, including American Gin, Cask Finished Gin, American Corn Whiskey, Rested American Whiskey, and three-grain American Vodka. Pinckney Bend boasts a tasting room, a buy-your-own-barrel program, and a new 360-gallon pot still.
Dr. Bill Schroer and his neighbors Greg Deters and Steve Herberholt founded the distillery several years ago. Already it’s been named the best craft vodka distillery in the nation in the USA Today Readers’ Choice 10Best Craft Distilleries. Its Cardinal Sin Vodka and Cardinal Sin Starka are produced in a custom still from New Zealand with the use of toasted two-row malted barley. The Starka is the first American-produced vodka created in the Eastern European tradition of aging in medium-charred Missouri white oak barrels.
Six distills (including a pecan pie flavored whiskey) are produced on an eighth-generation farm in Columbia, Illinois, where nearly all the ingredients are grown or manufactured. Stumpy’s claims to be one of the few farm-based distilleries in the country.
