KC knows its liquor and our history proves it
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Inside Tom's Town distillery. Photo: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios
Kansas City's liquor history shows up in what you're drinking, from revived pre-Prohibition whiskey styles to spirits shaped by bootlegging. Here are a few distilleries to visit.
🥃 Restless Spirits
Restless Spirits opened in 2016 in North KC, built around the Shannon family's Irish heritage, which traces back to ancestors who settled in the city in the late 1800s.
- Founder Mike Shannon and head distiller Benay Shannon shaped the distillery around that background, blending local production with Irish-style techniques.
What to try: Stone Breaker Whiskey, a blend of imported Irish whiskey and locally distilled spirit, offers a smoother, lighter profile.
🍸 Lifted Spirits
Lifted Spirits opened in 2016 in the Crossroads after starting as a small-batch operation, and it quickly set itself apart by focusing on gin in a whiskey-heavy market.
- The distillery builds its lineup around botanical-driven spirits, with production taking place in a converted stable.
What to try: Start with a cocktail with their bold gin, or go for the Absinthe Verte, a 136-proof spirit made with wormwood, fennel and other herbs.
🥃 J. Rieger & Co.
Jacob Rieger founded his distillery in 1887 in the West Bottoms, where Kansas' early liquor ban pushed customers across the state line. His business later grew into one of the country's largest mail-order whiskey operations.
- The operation shut down during Prohibition in 1919, but returned in 2014 under Andy Rieger and Ryan Maybee.
What to try: Try their KC Whiskey, finished with oloroso sherry for a smoother, slightly sweeter profile; Monogram Solera Reserve and Straight Rye offer more depth.
🌵 Mean Mule Distilling Co.
Mean Mule's name comes from a Prohibition-era family story about secretly making and moving moonshine on a Missouri farm.
- Founded in 2016, the distillery produces agave-based spirits in KC using agave sourced from Mexico.
What to try: Silver Mean Mule American Agave Spirit or Heritage, a barrel-aged agave spirit that drinks closer to whiskey.
🍸 Tom's Town Distilling Co.
Tom's Town takes its name from Tom Pendergast, the political boss whose influence helped KC continue its liquor trade during Prohibition.
- The distillery was founded in 2015 by families with connections to both Pendergast's operation and those who opposed it.
What to try: Gin, vodka and bourbon, plus the Pendergast Machine series and a white port bourbon aged in wine barrels.
The bottom line: KC's distilleries reflect different chapters of the same history, and what you order tells you where you are in it.