Middle West Spirits Plans Big Expansion

Middle West Spirits, the Columbus, Ohio-based craft distiller known for its grain-to-glass approach and its focus on Ohio corn and wheat, has unveiled plans for a new distillery that it says will boost its capacity tenfold.

While Middle West’s current location in Columbus is near the Ohio State University campus just north of downtown, the new place will be about 10 miles away at the southern edge of the city, in a business district offering plenty of development space. The new, 14-acre Middle West campus will include a 75,000-square-foot distillery as well as a grain recycling center, a bottling facility, and office space. The distillery is slated to come on stream this summer, but Middle West will continue to operate its current distillery after that, along with its Bottle Shop and Service Bar restaurant at that location. There will be a hospitality space at the new facility, but that will be part of a longer-term plan.

Founded in 2008, Middle West began production in 2010. Co-founder and head distiller Ryan Lang comes from a family of farmer-distillers going back four generations, mainly in Pennsylvania. His vision with Middle West was to bring Ohio back to its pre-Prohibition status as a landmark for whiskey makers, primarily by focusing on the state’s own resources. The wheat and corn used to make Middle West whiskeys are locally sourced, primarily from Northeastern and Southern Ohio, and its barrels are made from oak trees grown in Jackson.

Middle West whiskeys, all branded under the Middle West name, include two sherry-cask finished bourbons, wheated bourbon, wheat whiskey, and several rye expressions, available in 43 states. While it also produces a vodka and a gin, the new distillery will be strictly whiskey-focused. “At [our current distillery], we’ve had different still sets, some continuous, some pot still, and some that were specifically meant for vodka or gin production,” says Lang “Those stills will stay there. The new facility is honing in on whiskey; bourbon, rye, wheat, and single malts. It’s primarily built for whiskey. There won’t be any vodka or gin operations there."

The distilling equipment at the new facility will be significantly larger than what's in place at the current site, and there will be more of it. Lang explains the scope of this upgrade, “We took the existing facility and looked at pushing forward from a whiskey standpoint. We pulled the technology over to this plant, and more of it.” The new campus will start with a 60-inch column still and doubler, 14 50,000-gallon fermenters, and four 12,500-gallon cookers.