7 Distilleries You Should Know in Indiana
Indiana corn fields and silos
More famous for corn and the Indy 500, the Hoosier State may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of spirits. In fact, it wasn’t until 2013 that Indiana-based distillers were able to sell directly to consumers. This shift led to a boom in new craft distilleries across the state, offering tastings, tours, and cocktails. And the state’s position in the world of spirits keeps evolving.
While some distilleries are making vodka, gin, and rum, MGP Ingredients, located in Lawrenceburg, is a major supplier of bourbon and rye whiskey to many well-known brands and perhaps as a result, the focus in the state is whiskey. The Indiana Distillery Trail currently has 47 distilleries. We've narrowed that list down for you.
Ross and Squibb/MGP
This historic premise of the Rossville Distillery in Lawrenceburg dates to 1847. The facility is located on the banks of the Ohio River, with access to limestone-filtered water from an aquifer that is ideal for making rye whiskey. The distillery was purchased by Seagrams in 1933. The present-day owners, MGP, renamed the distillery Ross and Squibb in 2022, honoring two whiskey legends from Lawrenceburg’s past. Today, the distillery produces the juice for their own brands, and as a contract distiller.
Starlight Distillery whiskeys
Back in 1843, when Simon Huber left his homeland in Germany for a new start in the small rural community of Starlight, Indiana, the area was a wine and brandy hotspot. With the largest fruit farm in Indiana, the Huber family helped to shape legislation that allowed them and others in the state to make brandies and ports. Years later, expansion and a new stillhouse allowed the team to also begin producing bourbon. Today, the brand also makes rye, vodka, gin, and a blackberry whiskey.
Journeyman Three Oaks distillery
With facilities in Three Oaks in Michigan, and Valparaiso in Indiana, Journeyman Distillery is a certified organic distillery offering contract distilling. Their organic spirits are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, artificial pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormones, or genetically modified organisms. Tours of the production floor are available, and among Journeyman’s releases are a double oaked rye whiskey, and a cherry-flavored whiskey, made using Michigan Montmorency cherries that are added to cask-strength whiskey and soaked for 14 days.
Hard Truth rye
Set on a wooded 325-acre property in Nashville, Indiana, Hard Truth offers tours and tastings to visitors in a beautiful setting. In 2018, the brand made to move to a sweet mash distillery. While the process for making sour mash bourbon involves adding some liquid from the previous batch known as ‘backset’—a popular choice due to its safety benefits in preventing harmful bacterial growth—sweet mashing foregoes this step. Some distillers choosing the sweet mash process say that it offers them a greater degree of control.
Backroads Distilling range
Within the grounds of Country Heritage Winery & Vineyard, this distillery uses ingredients harvested from the family farm. And each week, the distillery provides around 8,000 pounds of spent grain to nearby farms as a supplement for cattle feed. While aging rum and whiskey, the distillery offers run, gin, and a range of vodkas including a gluten-free vodka made from estate-grown grapes, and a wheat vodka distilled from 100% Lutter Farm wheat.
Bear Wallow Distillery
Indiana is among the national heavyweights of corn production, and at Bear Wallow in Nashville, the team is making moonshine from the state’s top crop. The Hoosier Hooch is made with 100% corn, bottled at 100 proof, and is served in Bloody Marys at this female-owned distillery, while the Hidden Hollier is an 85% corn and 15% malted barley moonshine, recommended as a vodka substitute.
8th Day Distillery cocktails
Located in Indianapolis’s Factory Arts District, 8th Day has a bottle shop and cocktail bar. The distillery team hosts popups in partnership with other local businesses and displays art from new artists. The cocktail menu offers a range of seasonal creations alongside timeless classics. In addition to bourbon and rye, 8th Day also makes a gin with a botanical blend featuring ginger and grapefruit, and a rum produced using molasses and sugar cane from a 7th generation family plantation in Louisiana.