MGP Ingredients’ 174-year-old Lawrenceburg, Ind., distillery is being renamed the Ross & Squibb Distillery, a move paying tribute to Indiana’s distilling history and the pioneers who transformed Lawrenceburg, Ind., into “Whiskey City USA” and helped make Indiana the rye capital of the world.
The Lawrenceburg distillery will be one of five managed by Luxco, which MGP acquired in ebruary. St. Louis-based Luxco is now MGP’s Brands Division and manages all MGP/Luxco brands. This extensive and award-winning spirits portfolio includes well-known brands from five distilleries.
The Ross & Squibb name is a celebration of two such stories.
“Ross” is inspired by the legacy of George Ross, who in 1847 founded the Rossville Distillery, located on what is now the Ross & Squibb Distillery campus. Considered one of Lawrenceburg’s original distilleries and one of America’s last Prohibition-era distilleries, Rossville Distillery produced some of the finest rye whiskeys in the world and was the inspiration for the Rossville Union Straight Rye Whiskey brand.
“Squibb” calls back to the historic Squibb Distillery, founded in 1869 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and later purchased in 1921 by George Remus, King of the Bootleggers, and inspiration for the George Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey brand.
“In rebranding our Lawrenceburg distillery, we sought to celebrate Indiana’s rich and important distilling history, particularly as it involves the inspiration behind our branded spirits,” said David Bratcher, COO and president of branded spirits for MGP. “All Ross & Squibb brands find their inspiration in Indiana distilling history, so it is fitting the distillery itself now does as well.”
MGP will continue to produce bourbon, rye, whiskey, gin and grain-neutral spirits from this facility under its current name: MGPI of Indiana, LLC, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, for its customers.