Weston’s McCormick Distilling expands with tours, new bourbon and Royal tie-ins

One hundred and sixty years ago, Ben Holladay founded a Weston distillery on the Missouri River Bluffs, on the site of a natural spring.

That was the start of McCormick Distilling Co.

After a 20 year hiatus, the company is now offering public tours of the distillery. It will have a soft launch during April while taking feedback from customers, then have the kickoff on May 1.

The privately owned McCormick is one of the oldest distilleries in the U.S. and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Founder Ben Holladay was an entrepreneur who also was known as the Stagecoach King for his line which ran from Weston to the West Coast.

He opened the distillery in 1856 and the company’s products are now available across the U.S. and in 66 countries, such items as Tequila Rose, Hook’s Spiced Run, Triple Crown Whiskey, and Platte Valley Moonshine.

In November, the company acquired Broker’s Gin Ltd., its first entry into the premium gin category. Broker’s is made in a 200-year-old gin distillery located in the heart of England, using a traditional copper pot still.

The new tour will take people through the 160 years of distilling history from McCormick’s beginning through to today’s large-scale distilling process and bottling line.

Tourists will see the original limestone, hand-dug well — 14-feet wide and 35-feet deep — filled with natural spring water, and the original, but now aged warehouses, along with the production process and they can stick a finger in some of the mash.

Tourists who are 21-years-old and older will get a free sample of all of McCormick’s products at the end of the tour. The cost will be $10 per person.

The tours will be offered every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday. McCormick’s will be looking for feedback before the official launch in May. April.

Weston’s McCormick also once again partnered with the Kansas City Royals on a limited edition 360 Vodka. In 2015 it celebrated the 2015 League Championship with a limited edition bottle. This year it celebrates the Royals as 2015 World Champions with another special edition, available exclusively in the Kansas City metro. They produced 10,000 cases, or about 90,000 bottles in three sizes.

Kauffman Stadium also will bring back two specialty drinks celebrating the local distillery — The Walk-Off (360 Huckleberry Vodka, lemonade and blue curaçao) and the 360 Pine Tar Peach (360 Georgia Peach and pink lemonade) — in 30 stadium locations.

In March, the company also started making bourbon under the Holladay name after a 30-year hiatus. It will be aged at least three years before it is sold to the public. However, an unaged raw distillate will be bottled and sold. The company is still deciding on a name.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Weston’s McCormick Distilling expands with tours, new bourbon and Royal tie-ins."