Bear Wallow Distillery located at 4484 Old State Road 46 opened in 2014 as the first craft distillery in Indiana.
Photos courtesy of WTIU
On Sept. 5 Indiana University’s WTIU aired a documentary highlighting Indiana’s past and present influence on the success of the distilling business. Both Kentucky and Tennessee are known for their assortment of whisky distilleries, but around 200 years ago, Indiana was also known as a premier distilling state, according to the documentary, Hoosier Spirits: Distilling in Indiana.
It touches on the impactful prohibition in 1850 that hurt the hoosier distilling industry before the national prohibition began in the 1920s.
Because of the current craft distilling trend, Indiana has found itself climbing the ranks again in the whisky distilling industry.
Brown County’s Bear Wallow Distillery (4484 Old State Road 46) opened their doors in August 2014 as the first craft distillery in Indiana.
Spagnuolo and her husband enjoyed visiting wineries and breweries in Brown County as tourists before opening their business. The lightbulb turned on about starting their own when they toured a craft distillery in Asheville, N.C. and saw how craft distilleries could be operated on a small-scale.
They thought Brown County would be the perfect location for their business and immediately began researching what their next steps would be.
“The first wall we hit was when we found out it wasn’t legal to operate craft distilleries here in Indiana at the time,” said Spagnuolo. “So it took us about two-and-a-half years to help get the law changed. We didn’t do it by ourselves but we got involved with a group (of business owners). There were other people who were thinking the same way I was, we just had to work with the Indiana Legislature to allow them to do that here in Indiana. We were actually the first ones to open Aug. 1, 2014 was our first day of business. This year will be 10 years that we have been open.”
Craft distilleries differ from other distilleries because they are able to sell bottles of their products at the same location they are made. Customers are also able to see where the whisky and moonshine are distilled as they buy a bottle.
“We actually helped get the law changed to allow craft distilleries in Indiana,” said Spagnuolo. “And we have un-aged Whiskeys, Bourbon and Rye, and we have flavored Hoosier Hooch Moonshine so we kind of run the whole gamut of whiskey. Whatever type of whiskey you like we’ve got something that will fit the bill. Then we make cocktails, seasonal cocktails with all of our whiskys so people will come in and have a tasting flight, on Saturdays we do tours and then they can purchase. Brown County is a great place to own a business because of the support it had from the beginning. From day one, there was lots of support.””
Bear Wallow Distillery and Owner Susan Spagnuolo were highlighted in the documentary for their large selection of whisky and moonshines. Spagnuolo’s Hoosier Hooch was also showcased because of its use at the Indiana State Fair to make the distillery’s signature spiked lemon shakeup.
The documentary Hoosier Spirits: Distilling in Indiana can be found online at indianapublicmedia.org/hoosierspirits.
