Family ties and a long history influenced a new generation of distiller in Ohio. Writer Betsa Marsh takes us on a visit to Middle West Spirits to see what’s new…from old. 

Save this article about Middle West Spirits to Pinterest to keep it handy. Photos by Rachel Joy Barehl. Graphic by Real Food Traveler.

Hungry for more? Make this stop while in Ohio.

Ryan Lang is a fourth-generation distiller and proud of it.

Do the math and somebody in that family line must have run into the long governmental arm of Prohibition.

“My grandmother Nellie was a rum runner and went to jail for a while,” Lang said of his family in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. “They made everything—apple jack, white lightning. I learned a little bit [about distilling] from my grandfather, and where he hid all the stuff.”

Middle West Spirits owner and CEO Ryan Lang. Photo by Rachel Joy Barehl.

Lang and I were chatting over his first batch of OYO Vodka back in 2010, just after he opened Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio’s Short North arts district. The company centered around one new German pot-and-column distiller glittering in the middle of a converted transmission repair shop.

Middle West Spirits’ distillery in Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Rachel Joy Barehl.

Jump to today, when Middle West is one of the fastest-growing distilleries in the country, earning the U.S. Distillery of the Year award at the Berlin International Spirits Competition in 2016. That old repair shop has sprouted a five-story addition, including the Service Bar that pairs intriguing dishes with its own signature cocktails.

Middle West Spirits Michelone Reserve Old Fashioned. Photo by Rachel Joy Barehl.

Hungry for more? Meet another Ohio distillery with a personalized experience.

After more than a decade of innovation and growth, Middle West stands with seven of its peers on the 2023-2024 Columbus Distillery Trail.

But for Lang, co-founder and lead distiller, the most important full-circle affirmation may be one particular brand, Middle West Michelone Reserve Wheated Bourbon. It’s named for Lang’s bootlegging grandfather.

Michelone Reserve is built upon Ohio yellow sweet corn and soft red winter wheat from Bucyrus. The distillers add dark pumpernickel rye, two-row barley, and at least five years in oak barrels.

Then, the spirit tumbles into French tawny port casks for 18 to 24 months more, according to General Manager Joshua Daily. Such patience yields aromas from bananas and toffee nuts to coconut cream pie in the Michelone.

In May, the Michelone label won two of Middle West Spirits’ six prizes in the 2022 Ascot Awards, an international spirits competition created by spirits personality and veteran tasting judge Fred Minnick. Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey (Michelone Reserve Cask Strength) took Double Platinum, and Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey (Michelone Reserve), Platinum.

“We’re re-investing in ourselves over and over, working with different expressions and different ages,” said Joshua Daily. “The secondary aging takes a great spirit and elevates it.”

For more information, visit Middle West Spirits www.middlewestspirits.com

-Story by Betsa Marsh