New distillery in Galion breaks open first bottles of vodka, moonshine

GALION - Moonshine and vodka were flowing Saturday at the grand opening of one of the region's few distilleries.

The Iron Vault Distillery opened its doors Saturday, with about 50 people cramming inside to taste its spirits and take a tour of the distillery.

"I hope that this will make (Galion) a whistle-stop for people," Bryden Kinniard, a local blacksmith who made coat racks and a candelabra for the distillery, said at Saturday's opening.

Kinniard said he has been seeing more local businesses popping up in town and it's good for the local economy.

"Galion is really trying to make small businesses the heart of the town," he said. "Big box stores are nice, convenient, but they can hurt our (small businesses), like our hardware store."

The distillery, 134 Harding Way West, is not a bar or a restaurant, and instead offers tours and tastings. Patrons are able to sample the liquor and buy bottles to take home. Also for sale are T-shirts, shot glasses and flasks with the Iron Vault Distillery name and logo.

For now, the distillery only offers vodka and moonshine, but the owners have already started making gin and a lemon zest vodka. They plan to offer bourbon, rum and specialty malt whiskeys in the future. 

The distillery's Saturday opening drew people from as far away as Delaware and Mansfield.

For Krista and Matthew Bell, it was their first time in Galion, but likely not their last.

"I'm really looking forward to making this my new liquor store," Krista Bell said.

The Delaware couple enjoy taking day trips across the state and look for unique restaurants and bars to visit, she said.

"We've gone as far as Steubenville. It's fun to discover Ohio," Matthew Bell said. "Now in a lot of your small towns like Galion and Delaware, your mom-and-pop shops are coming back. That is the heart of America, and it's nice to see that coming back."

None of the distillery's three owners had any prior experience in distilling liquor, but they had been mulling over the idea of peddling spirits for a while.

"John and I had always kicked around having a corner bar when we retired," said Sam Thacker, who owns the distillery along with husband and wife John and Lori Bassett.

But with bars, Thacker said, there is always the worry that people will drive home drunk and have a wreck.

"People can come here, they can have one-quarter-ounce tastings, and they're not leaving intoxicated," he said.

Iron Vault Distillery's liquor also is available at local bars, including Eighteen-O-Three Taproom and Ralphie's Sports Eatery in Galion.

The distillery tries to use as much local product as possible, Lori Bassett has said. The company uses local grains and will use local produce in the future if it produces flavored spirits. They also give any grain byproducts they produce to a local farm to reduce waste.

The distillery is open only on the weekends, as all three owners have other jobs. But if the business does well enough, Lori Bassett has said, they could leave their other jobs to focus full-time on the distillery.

Thacker said he hopes the Galion distillery will be a stop for liquor lovers as they make the rounds of Ohio distilleries.

"They may go to Watershed (Distillery) in Columbus, and Middle West (Spirits) in Columbus, then they might come up to Galion, then they might go up to the lake, to the ones up there," he said. "You want to cooperate to bring business to Ohio and beyond that, we want to bring business to Galion."

John Bassett said the next closest distillery is 60 miles away, and there are only 1,000 distilleries in the U.S.

The distillery is open on Fridays from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m., or by appointment.

Emily Mills contributed reporting to this story.

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