Tanner, David, and Corey sit down with Scott from the Foundry Distilling Company in West Des Moines Iowa to talk about their history. Stemming from family ties to Templeton Rye to making your farm its own barrel of whiskey. The team also rolls in conversation about the canceled farm shows, how you cook your sweet corn, ethanol production and more!
111 South 11th Street
West Des Moines, IA 50265
Des Moines' Distillery — Located in Valley Junction near the Hall
distillery@foundrydistillingcompany.com
FOUNDRY DISTILLING COMPANY WAS BUILT AROUND FOUR PILLARS:
HISTORY, COMMUNITY, INNOVATION AND QUALITY.
HISTORY
Foundry Distilling Company was started by Scott Bush. Scott began working on Templeton Rye whiskey in his apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2002, while a student at the Sloan School of Business at MIT. Scott’s great grandfather, Frank Schroeder, was born in Templeton and was an "entrepreneur during Prohibition" who made Templeton Rye at the family farm outside of Arcadia and later Odebolt, Iowa. Scott knew of his family’s involvement in the rye trade and wanted to build a business, so he founded Templeton Rye and built it into one of the most successful brands in the new craft spirits industry. Scott sold controlling interest in Templeton Rye in 2016 and started working on Foundry Distilling Company. He chose to focus on producing and distilling authentic, high-quality spirits right here in Iowa with local input, involvement and control.
Foundry Distilling is part of an exciting project at The Foundry building, which was constructed in 1899 and was known as the Rock Island Railroad car barn because it was originally built to repair rails cars. Other tenants at The Foundry include The Hall, a European-style beer hall, and The Kitchen, a nonprofit commissary that will provide kitchen space for food truck owners.
COMMUNITY
We are located is the Valley Junction area of West Des Moines, which was founded in 1846 by a man named James Jordan whose home became a stop on the "Underground Railroad." Above ground, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad had a significant presence here as well. Today, the Valley Junction community is a thriving group of artisan shops, restaurants and galleries located along historic 5th Street in West Des Moines. We feature many events throughout the year and a popular Thursday evening farmer's market in the Summer.
INNOVATION
We designed Foundry Distilling Company with the flexibility to create virtually any spirit, in large or small amounts. We have our core Foundry Collection, our Heritage Collection and many other unique specialty products. We also offer spirit enthusiasts the unique opportunity to produce completely customizable private barrels of whiskey. Finally, we are collaborating with many distillers and brewers around the state and country to produce unique collaborative offerings. If you have an idea or are interested in collaborating with us, please email distillery@foundrydistillingcompany.com.
QUALITY
The Foundry Distilling team has been active in the spirits industry since the early days of the craft spirits movement. We have talked, worked, consulted, advised, brainstormed and/or collaborated with hundreds of people and have tried to listen and learn from these experiences. We feel that our team, equipment, processes, partners and consultants are some of the very best in the industry and that our products reflect that experience and collaboration.
We also understand the importance of transparency with spirits production. We strive to be an industry leader in this important area, including videos showing details of production for all of our products.