I had the privilege to go to J. Rieger & Co. Distillery in Kansas City this week for a work function. Not only is this company filled with some unique history, but the distillery itself is a fantastic space for dining, drinking and events. It is another example of how the distillery business has made a leap other businesses have not made by making their facilities more of a destination than just a spot to get a drink. They have a unique niche in the restaurant/bar industry in that they can pitch their booze as top shelf products for the astute and upscale, yet you don't have to be astute or upscale as all are welcome. In many cases, their distilled spirits are actually top shelf and made with the finest of ingredients. A lot of time goes into the crafting process and when you consider the aging required to get the most out of a whiskey or rum, for example, you can see why they cater to a more upscale customer. Profitability takes times in this business.
Jacob Rieger emigrated from Austria/Hungary to America in 1877. He ran a grocery for a while, but got into the booze business in 1887 when he opened his distillery in Kansas City. Originally located in the center of town, near the Livestock Exchange Building in the West Bottoms area, he was able to take advantage of the location as it was basically on the Kansas/Missouri stateline. Kansas had a statewide prohibition on alcohol since 1881, far before it was enacted as the 18th Amendment in 1919. Patrons from Kansas and all around made the trek and the whole area enjoyed a lively business. Rieger's son, Alexander, took over around 1900 and took the business into a whole new phase. Rieger had the distinction of being the country's largest whiskey mail-order business. Having a knack for smart marketing, he sent out thousands of mailings with his products and pricing. After filling out the mailing with your order and payment and sending it back to Rieger, he'd mail your order. He had over 250,000 customers nationwide from this idea. The whole story is on their website, but once Prohibition came along, Alexander was forced to sell and eventually the distillery was razed. Reiger turned to banking as his source of income and the family did this for many years. The idea of reviving the J. Rieger & Co Distillery was the idea of Ryan Maybee, a local bartender who opened a bar in the Rieger Hotel and was fascinated by the history of the building and the old distillery. He later opened a restaurant, aptly named the Rieger, he met the great, great, great grandson of Jacob Reiger, Andy, and the idea of reopening the distillery was hatched.
The current distillery is in a new location in the East Bottoms neighborhood, but what they've done with the building is impressive. It appears to be a warehouse sized building that gave them lots of room to work with. The distillery is visible right when you walk in with a merchandise store and a large metal slide visible to the left. There is an area dedicated to the history of the Reiger name with lots of artifacts dating back to the time of the original distillery to the right. Upstairs is a huge restaurant area with a large bar overlooking the distillery below with posh seating and even bar games available. You can hop on the slide to get back down the main level if you want. I was told it was mandatory, so I obliged. We had our event outside in a covered area, but there was also a large courtyard with plenty of seating and would be perfect on a summer's night or for lunch on the weekend. The first time I walked through, I completely missed the stairway going down. The next time, I followed another group down only to discover a speakeasy called The Hey Hey Club. It was super cool down there, with very dark lighting, lots of over-sized posh seating and a great bar. This wasn't part of our event, so I was a bit of a usurper as I checked it out, but my first thought was, next time in KC, I'm coming back here for sure. It's named after a famous and historical night club in Kansas City that no longer exists, but was home to some of the best jazz the city had seen. Live music is played here on Thursdays. The sheer amount of space they have is great and they do a pretty good job of utilizing it. Everything is done in high-end materials and it was clean and inviting.
One thing I can and probably will be made fun of is, I've never been much of a hard alcohol drinker. It usually amounted to once someone in my group got drunk enough to think doing shots was a good idea, we'd all reluctantly slog down whatever the poison of choice was. Besides that, the occasional rum and Coke or something simple, but mostly beer. I've had friends who have gotten me to try some whiskies they were trying and I was able to distinguish between a Canadian and Irish and a rye and a bourbon, but it just isn't my jam. So, when I tell you I had never even had an Old Fashioned before, you can laugh, but it just wasn't on my radar. After looking over the choices we had, and reading the ingredients, I went with the Old Fashioned. Damn, it was good. I was impressed, but also concerned because I was not overwhelmed by the alcohol like I have been before and that meant that I could drink several of these, which I did, and probably get myself in trouble. We arrived in a bus and I didn't have to drive, so the doors were wide open. I did some reading on their website about their whiskey and I think it's damn cool that they went back and researched the methods of distilling whiskey in the 1880's and found that putting Sherry in the whiskey as a blending agent was common. Not being an aficionado of whiskey, my opinion is that this Sherry made the whiskey I had rather distinct and is why it made an outstanding Old Fashioned. Their Kansas City Whiskey is a blend of rye, bourbon and corn whiskey with the 15 year sherry and I have to say, I like this the best of all the others I've tried. However, like I said, I don't really have a palate for it and you shouldn't take anything I say about it as I know what I'm talking about. I've met wine snobs before and I know there are whiskey snobs out there, so I'll avoid any arguments on the topic of whiskies. I did get a free bottle of it as a parting gift from our event, so I can experiment further.
So, in summary, cool-ass facility, great whiskey, a history worthy of reigniting the brand over and somewhere I would go again without being asked twice. J. Rieger & Co. Distillery should be on your agenda the next time you head to Kansas City.
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