West Bottoms Whiskey Co

In a 1893 train tunnel beneath Kansas City's West Bottoms district, West Bottoms Whiskey Co. distills, ages, and blends whiskey in a space built for streetcars, not spirits. The distillery operates as both producer and blender: it distills and ages its own American Single Malt Whiskey on a 211-gallon copper alembic pot still, while also crafting blended expressions from bourbon, rye, and malt whiskeys sourced from outside producers. That dual identity, equal parts distiller and blender, shapes everything the company makes and pours.

History & Heritage

West Bottoms Whiskey Co. was founded in 2016 by Alex Lindsey and Cassandra Benavidez, who later married and continued the business together as Alex and Cassandra Lindsey. The company's own telling of its story centers on 2021, when Lindsey launched the flagship Kansas City Whiskey, a custom blend that established the brand's public identity, inside the train tunnel that still houses the distillery today. That tunnel was built in 1893 as part of the West Bottoms district's historic streetcar tunnel system, giving the operation a physical setting that predates Prohibition by decades. Following the Kansas City Whiskey launch, Alex and Cassandra Lindsey expanded the portfolio to three distinct premium blended whiskeys, then continued adding expressions that combine house-distilled single malt with sourced components. The company operates under the legal name West Bottoms Whiskeys LLC, doing business as West Bottoms Whiskey Co., and has no reported acquisitions, sales, or ownership changes since founding.

The Whiskey

West Bottoms Whiskey Co.'s portfolio splits between house-distilled and blended expressions. Kansas City Whiskey, the flagship, is a pre-Prohibition-style blend of bourbon and rye whiskeys finished with Oloroso sherry from Spain, bottled at 47% ABV (94 proof). Convergence Whiskey blends rye and malt whiskeys directly into wine casks for finishing, at 47.5% ABV (95 proof). On the distilling side, West Bottoms' American Single Malt Whiskey is distilled and aged entirely in-house on a 211-gallon copper alembic pot still, using a mash of 50% malted barley and 50% peated malt, aged one year in small 5-gallon barrels and bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof). That house-distilled peated single malt, under the name Distiller's Cut, also becomes the backbone of American Blended Malt Whiskey, combined with a selected 4-year-old single malt at 45% ABV (90 proof). Limited releases include a Maple Cask Finished Rye Whiskey, a rye whiskey with a claimed 95% rye grain bill finished in freshly dumped Runamok maple syrup barrels and limited to 1,200 bottles, and James Gang Rye Whiskey, a collaboration with the James Family Farm bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof), with a portion of proceeds directed to historical preservation tied to the farm. For its blended expressions, West Bottoms sources bourbon, rye, and additional single malt components from outside producers whose identities are not publicly disclosed, a common and disclosed practice among craft blenders building a house style around finishing and marrying rather than ground-up distillation alone.

Why It Matters

West Bottoms Whiskey Co. represents a distinctly Kansas City approach to modern American whiskey: a working distillery that does not pretend every drop originated in its own stills, but is transparent that its identity rests on blending skill as much as production. The setting reinforces the story. A 19th-century transit tunnel repurposed as a whiskey house connects the West Bottoms district's industrial past to its current run as one of Kansas City's more distinctive craft beverage neighborhoods. The company has also built collaborative ties locally, including a project with Vine Street Brewing Co. in which a Vine Street beer was distilled and aged into whiskey by West Bottoms, extending its blending and finishing expertise into cross-category work with another Kansas City producer. West Bottoms has entered its Kansas City Whiskey, Convergence Whiskey, and American Blended Malt Whiskey into national spirits competitions, claiming results including a Double Gold at the Denver International Spirits Competition and a 99-point Platinum rating from the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards, though these results are recorded on the company's own site rather than independently verified competition pages.

Visiting the Distillery

West Bottoms Whiskey Co. offers a one-hour Distillery Tour & Tasting Experience for $20 per person, bookable through Tock for parties of 1 to 16. The company's own site lists standing tour times as Thursday and Friday at 5pm and Saturday at 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm, walking guests through the tunnel, the production equipment, and multiple whiskey samples. Tock also describes the location as a cocktail parlor open to the public beyond scheduled tours, with reserved seating and bottling crew experiences available.