McCormick Distilling Company

This distillery is located on a limestone spring that was utilized by Native peoples and also explorers Lewis and Clark during their 1804 expedition. Recognizing the potential of the limestone springs to provide unique flavor, this area has long served as a center of whiskey production starting with the Holladay Distillery. Today, public tours are available that include the historic stillhouse where Ben Holladay first used the limestone spring water to make bourbon, along with the aging barrels.

Ben Holladay, a Kentucky businessman, founded the original distillery here in 1856. Holladay's brother, Major David Holiday, later took over the business which was sold in 1894 to the Shawhan family and then sold again by the 1930s to the Singers brothers. The name of the distillery went from Holladay Distillery to Old Weston Distillery until 1942 when the Singer brothers bought the McCormick name. After 120 years of operation, the distillery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Over the past century-and-a-half, the distillery has operated with only a brief pause during the era of Prohibition. The company now produces a wide variety of whiskies and produces 30,000 cases daily thanks to a warehouse that can hold up to 22,000 barrels for aging whiskey.

The company offers tours that mix history with brand promotion and opportunities to taste their products for those who are of age. The tour begins with the history of the site, including a video in the distillery's "Ancient Cave" which was hand-dug in the mid-1800s. Visitors can also see fermenting tanks, a Kentucky-built copper still, and the barrel warehouses where a cut-used barrel is presented to demonstrate how evaporation happens before bottling.

NEW TOURS, BOURBON MARK 160TH ANNIVERSARY OF MCCORMICK DISTILLING COMPANY, Visit KC. Accessed September 10th, 2022. https://www.visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/entertainment/sponsored/160th-anniversary-mccormick-distilling.

Holladay Distillery Tours, Holladay Distillery - Real Missouri Bourbon. Accessed September 10th, 2022. https://holladaydistillery.com/tours/.