Get to know Tom’s Foolery Distillery, a husband-and-wife-run business staying loyal to traditional methods, even when it means going the extra mile. Here, writer Betsa Marsh introduces Real Food Traveler readers to the Ohio distillery’s unique way of doing things. 

Save this article about Tom’s Foolery Distillery to Pinterest. Photos courtesy Tom and Lianne Herbruck. Graphic by Real Food Traveler.

Can old really be new again? That’s certainly the ethos gurgling into every bottle of Tom Foolery’s bourbon, one of the preeminent Ohio distilleries.

Co-owners Lianne and Tom Herbruck created the distillery in 2008, and from the beginning “we assumed we would make everything from scratch,” Tom said. “We would be growing the grain, fermenting, stilling and bottling so that consumers know they’re getting an authentic craft bourbon.”

Tom and Lianne Herbruck, owners of Tom’s Foolery.

That commitment started with buying a 115-acre farm in Burton, near Cleveland, installing an antique copper pot still, and inviting industry veterans to teach them what’s what in bourbon making.

The Herbrucks wanted to plan not just the distilling process and flavor profiles, but also their crops of yellow corn and rye. Rye is typically a Canadian grain, and Tom’s Foolery is lucky to get one usable crop out of every three years. But it’s enough to keep the mash going.

After at least six years in the all-weather rackhouse, Tom Foolery’s bourbon tastes decidedly different from a Kentucky pour.

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During Cleveland’s brutal winters, the bourbon doesn’t extract as much tannin from its oak barrels, so the final product is less oaky than Southern bourbons. The Herbrucks also skip filters, which can remove aromatics.

“We’re pioneering by letting natural flavors come through, which is a real rarity in the world,” Tom said. “We use traditional techniques and a French pot still from the late 1800s that was used to distill cognac. This is the way all bourbon was made before 1850 in America. By law, single-malt whiskey continues to be made in a pot still in Scotland today.

Lianne and Tom Herbruck in front of two of their stills.

“The more people look under the hood, the more they like us—they just wish there was more.”

Tom’s Foolery releases about 10,000 bottles a year across Ohio. The Herbrucks also sell private barrel selections by individuals in nine other states.

However they buy the bourbon, no one forgets the name. “I wanted to call it Ohio Distilling Co.,” Tom said, to his wife’s verdict of “that’s terribly boring.”  It’s really Tom’s Foolery, Lianne quipped. And so it is with every drop that flows from barrel to bottle to tumbler.

For more information visit the Tom’s Foolery Distillery website, here.

Tom’s Foolery rye and bourbon.

-Story by Betsa Marsh. Photos courtesy Tom and Lianne Herbruck, Tom’s Foolery. 

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