Holladay Distillery

Missouri's oldest distillery sits on a natural limestone spring in Weston that Lewis and Clark noted in 1804, and Holladay Distillery has been turning that water into whiskey, under one name or another, since 1856. The current Bottled in Bond bourbon program, built on the distillery's original 1856 mash bill, has picked up national award attention in just a few years back on the market, an unusually fast reputation climb for a spirit made the slow way: aged a minimum of six years in seven-story ironclad rickhouses on site.

History & Heritage

Brothers Ben Holladay and Major David Holladay founded the distillery in 1856, drawing on the same limestone spring water source the distillery still uses today. Ownership passed to Major David Holladay, and by 1894 the operation was known as Barton & Holladay, run by David Holladay Jr. and Thomas Gregory Barton. In 1900 the business was sold to George H. Shawhan and renamed Shawhan Distillery. It changed hands again in 1936, when Isadore Singer and his brother purchased it and renamed it Old Weston Distilling Co. The McCormick Distilling Co. name arrived in 1942, and it carried that identity through most of the twentieth century.

In 1993, Ed Pechar, Mike Griesser, and a small group of private investors acquired McCormick Distilling Company. Under this ownership, the operation invested in its production capacity, including a 2015 renovation that installed new column stills from Vendome Copper & Brass Works. In 2016, the distillery was rebranded as Holladay Distillery, a deliberate return to its founding name and its bourbon-making roots after decades during which the site's output leaned on other categories of spirits. McCormick Distilling Company continues to operate the site under the Holladay Distillery name; current leadership includes Ed Pechar, Mick Harris, and Noelle Hale.

The Whiskey

Holladay Distillery runs two core bourbon recipes. The rye-forward mash bill (73% corn, 15% rye, 12% malted barley) is the original 1856 formula and forms the backbone of the Ben Holladay 1856 Bottled in Bond Missouri Straight Bourbon 6 Year, aged six years and bottled at 100 proof, non-chill filtered. A wheated counterpart (73% corn, 15% soft red wheat, 12% malted barley) anchors the Holladay Soft Red Wheat Bourbon - Rickhouse Proof, bottled at barrel strength, typically in the 120 to 121.5 proof range, after a minimum of six years in barrel. Both recipes also appear in single-barrel and small-batch cuts, including the Holladay Soft Red Wheat One Barrel and the Holladay Straight Bourbon Rickhouse Small Batch, which vary in proof barrel to barrel.

Every barrel enters the rickhouse at 118 proof, ages in new, charred American oak (level 3 char) in federally bonded seven-story ironclad warehouses, and rests for at least four years to satisfy Bottled in Bond requirements before any of it reaches six-year expressions. The corn is Missouri-grown, and the distillery follows Missouri's 2019 "Real Missouri Bourbon" law, which requires mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging, and bottling to all happen in-state, using Missouri-manufactured barrels and Missouri corn. Distillation runs through column stills.

Why It Matters

Holladay's claim to being Missouri's oldest distillery is not a marketing flourish so much as an unbroken thread back to 1856, even through name changes that took the brand away from bourbon for decades. The 2016 return to the Holladay name and to bourbon-first production has been validated quickly: the Soft Red Wheat Bourbon won Best First Release honors in 2022, the distillery was named Best Up-and-Coming Brand by Whiskey Raiders in 2023, the Ben Holladay Missouri Straight Bottled in Bond took Bronze at the World Whiskies Awards in 2024, and the Ben Holladay 8-Year One Barrel Bourbon earned Double Platinum at the 2025 ASCOT Awards. For those who appreciate good whiskey and want a Bottled in Bond bourbon with a real regional identity, tied to state-mandated Missouri sourcing rather than a marketing label, Holladay is one of the clearer examples in the category.

Visiting the Distillery

Holladay Distillery offers guided tours of its historic buildings, active production areas, aging warehouses, and the limestone spring and cave that supply its water, running approximately 90 minutes and including a tasting. Reservations are strongly recommended. All ages may tour the grounds, but tastings are limited to guests 21 and older. Accessibility is limited due to the historic buildings and stairs on site. A gift shop is available. Standard tour and tasting pricing is $15 per person, with a premium option at $25.