Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWest Fork Whiskey Co., an Indianapolis-based craft distillery, said it plans to expand distribution to states outside of Indiana by boosting production and storage capacity.
Blake Jones, who co-founded West Fork Whiskey in 2014, said Monday that the company had secured an undisclosed private investment that would let it increase production as much as 12-fold.
The expansion will include larger distilling equipment and a still-to-be-determined secondary location for a new rickhouse, where barrels of whiskey are stored and aged.
West Fork, 1660 Bellefontaine St., is currently producing about 3,600 cases of whiskey annually and expects to increase that number to about 18,000 after the expansion, with capacity to make as many as 43,000 cases each year. The company produces five brands of whiskey.
The company’s products are sold in 261 retail locations in Indiana, including many Kroger stores. The added production will help the distiller boost distribution throughout the Midwest.
Blake Jones, a former banker, and his brother Julian Jones, a former medical student, along with attorney David McIntyre, started West Fork in a warehouse at 86th and Zionsville Road before moving it late last year to renovated former grocery store at Bellefontaine St and East 16th streets in the Kennedy King neighborhood.
In addition to production facilities, the new location features a tasting room that sells bottles, flights and craft cocktails.
“Our goal has always been to make and share extraordinary craft whiskey, that uses only Indiana grains, with as many people as we can,” Blake Jones said in written remarks. “We saw an opportunity to establish a unique company in a growing, historic area, and this investment allows us the opportunity to showcase how great Indiana whiskey truly is while playing our part in the local community."
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.