McCormick Distilling

Northwest of Kansas City, in the bluff town of Weston, Missouri, whiskey has been made on the same patch of ground since before the Civil War. McCormick Distilling Company is the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi River still operating at its original location, and since 2015 it has once again been distilling bourbon on that site under the resurrected Holladay Distillery name.

History & Heritage

Ben Holladay, the stagecoach and freight magnate, founded the operation in 1856, drawn to the site by a limestone spring that still feeds production today. The first bourbon was distilled that year under the Blue Springs Distillery name, and shortly after the first release the business passed to his brother, Major David Holladay. In 1900 the distillery was sold to George Shawhan and traded under the Shawhan Distillery name. Prohibition ended distilling entirely: the Weston plant closed in 1919 and remained inoperative until 1933, with previously distilled stock bottled and sold for medicinal purposes rather than any continued production. Isadore Singer bought the property in 1936 and renamed it the Old Weston Distillery, then acquired the McCormick brand name in 1942 and rechristened the company McCormick Distilling Company. Cloud Cray of Midwest Grain Products purchased it in 1950. In 1993 a group of private investors led by Edward Pechar and Michael Griesser acquired the company. As of July 2026 McCormick Distilling remains privately held, though present beneficial ownership has not been publicly confirmed: Pechar served as chairman until his death in December 2025, and no reliable public source discloses the resulting ownership structure.

The Whiskey

A 10 million dollar renovation in 2015 brought distilling back to Weston after a 30-year hiatus, using the original mash bill, a column still with a doubler, and the same limestone spring water. The bourbon matures in fire-charred 55-gallon barrels held in seven-story rickhouses on the property, and a new Rickhouse D was completed in 2026 as barrel capacity expanded ahead of the distillery's 170th-anniversary year. Ben Holladay Missouri Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the flagship of that restart, was released in 2022 and is offered in bottled-in-bond form. Secondary reporting credits the 2024 competition season with a Double Gold for Ben Holladay One Barrel Bourbon at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, a Gold for Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof at the International Spirits Challenge, and a Gold for the Soft Red Winter Wheat expression.

The wider portfolio is deliberately mixed. Platte Valley Corn Whiskey is a 100 percent straight corn whiskey, traditionally sold as a three-year expression in its ceramic jug and described by McCormick as selected and bottled by the company, with product records pointing to maturation in used bourbon barrels. McCormick Vodka and 360 Vodka are made from American grain, and Tequila Rose, the tequila-based strawberry cream liqueur, is bottled in Weston. Other names in the house are produced abroad and imported: Broker's Gin is distilled in England, Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur in Ireland, and Hussong's Tequila in Mexico. Broker's Gin took a Gold Medal at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards.

Why It Matters

Most American distilleries claiming deep history are trading on a name that moved, closed, or changed hands away from its original ground. Weston is the rare case where the address never changed. That continuity, paired with a genuine return to on-site distilling rather than sourced liquid wearing a heritage label, makes the Holladay bourbons one of the more honest expressions of Missouri whiskey now available. For those who appreciate good whiskey in and around Kansas City, it is also the closest thing the region has to a living record of pre-Civil War distilling.

Visiting the Distillery

Guided public tours of the Holladay Distillery currently run Friday through Sunday and last roughly 90 minutes, taking in the historic buildings, active production spaces, and grounds, and closing with a tasting of the bourbon portfolio. Visit KC lists the tour at 25 dollars. A welcome center and gift shop are on site, and the live booking calendar at holladaydistillery.com carries current departure times and availability.