Like a tall whiskey highball, Middle West Spirits’ new distillery hovers over its surroundings outside Bexley.
The 75,000-square-foot operation, with its glass-encased tower, can’t be missed by travelers on Interstate 70 or Alum Creek Drive.
For both the company and the Ohio liquor industry, the $38-million distillery represents a huge step up from the kiddie bar. Middle West calls the facility the largest independent distillery in the country and one of the 10 largest distilleries overall in North America.
“We’re growing fast as a company, and as an industry,” said Josh Daily, general manager of Middle West and one of three original employees of the 16-year-old company, which now employs more than 100.
Middle West’s new distillery, which started production in September, is the most dramatic illustration of the liquor industry’s growth in central Ohio and throughout the state.
Ohio has 82 craft distilleries — more than in the bourbon home of Kentucky — according to The American Craft Spirits Association. The Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Liquor Control puts the number of distillers slightly lower, at 69. But either way, the number is up significantly from 2018, when 59 distilleries operated in Ohio, or in 2016, when there were 39, according to the Crafts Spirit Association.