Middle West Spirits Expansion: Becoming One of the Largest Distilleries in the U.S.

Middle West Spirits is a Columbus Ohio craft distillery that follows a grain to glass approach in order to create the best quality spirit possible. Founded in 2008, and beginning commercial production in 2010, Middle West Spirits is embarking on a major expansion that will make it one of the top 10 grain to glass distilleries in the United States, and the largest distillery in Ohio.

The Courtland Avenue Distillery

The distillery, located on Courtland Ave. in Columbus, includes a bottle shop, and the Service Bar, serving cocktails and food with both indoor and outdoor seating.

Tours are available, with the option to purchase a tasting flight. The distillery tour lasts about 60 minutes. They also offer an event space for private meetings, and you can book a private tour for your group as well.

Alum Creek Expansion

This is the second major expansion for Middle West Spirits after a 2016 expansion to accommodate a new 55’ tall distillation tower. Once that expansion was completed they had run out of room at their current Courtland Avenue facility so began looking for a suitable property for further expansion.

In 2020 they acquired land on Alum Creek Drive, just 6 miles from the Courtland facility, and began plans to expand production.

Hard Work and Dedication Pays Off

Considering that they only started operations in 2010, it's impressive that Middle West Spirits is undertaking a second major expansion in 13 years. That's a testament to their hard work and dedication to their grain to glass approach to producing quality spirits, and it shows the strong demand for high quality spirits in the market right now.

“We are excited about the Alum Creek development and the future of our company. The expansion of our operations allows us to hit capacities, aging goals and the volumes needed to continue to develop our brands and partnership programs,” said Ryan Lang, founder and chief executive officer for Middle West Spirits. “Our team has worked tirelessly over the last 15 years to bring us to this point, and we are excited to start the next chapter of Middle West.”

Multi-million dollar investments of this kind bring many benefits to the community, not just the jobs at the new distillery location, but the spin-off jobs needed to support the expanded operation, as well as benefits to the local geographical area around the distillery that would typically see some growth with this type of investment.

“Middle West is making an immense impact on the local community by creating jobs and revitalizing a key property on the east side of Columbus that hopefully brings further investment to that corridor,” said Andrew J. Ginther, mayor of Columbus.

The new facility will include a state-of-the-art 75,000-square-foot distillery, a grain recycling center, packaging and bottling facility and more. In addition to new office space there is room for the addition of new hospitality space at some point in the future.

Considering how I love touring distilleries, I'm looking forward to visiting Middle West Spirits the next time I'm in Columbus.

About Middle West Spirits

Currently, Middle West produces a variety of spirits including gin, vodka, bourbon cream, and a variety of whiskeys including rye, wheat whiskey, sherry bourbon, pumpernickel rye whiskey, and more.

In addition to their own products, Middle West also partners with dozens of companies to produce spirits for their portfolios. Some of these companies include Hotel Tango, Horse Soldier and Old Line Spirits.

Production at the original facility will continue with tours and tastings available, and the Service Bar will remain open after the expansion is complete.