Mill Street Distillery (moon)shines

According to Hernando Posada—one of four co-owners of Mill Street Distillery in Utica, Ohio—there were 311 active stills before prohibition… in Licking County alone.

Well, now there’s one, and it’s pretty new, having just received all necessary permits to start distilling late last year.

Mill Street Distillery’s signature spirit is Mill Street Moonshine, a whiskey utilizing corn grown around the corner. Posada said it took the team about four years to perfect their mash bill.

“If you’ve studied one type of corn, you’ve studied one type of corn,” he said, explaining the many subtle differences created by different varieties of corn.

Mill Street will soon add an Ohio-grapes Grappa to their liquor line-up: it is currently pending label approval. They also hope to release a peach and apple brandy in the fall, and will eventually launch a bourbon; right now they’re bottling about half of their distillate as corn whiskey moonshine, and barreling the other half to become bourbon.

Mill Street plans to someday launch a restaurant in a mill located on the property, hoping to capitalize on traffic to neighboring Velvet Ice Cream, which brings over 150,000 people to the area every year. In the meantime, you can visit the distillery and its small giftshop (“Moonshine is not a crime!”) and purchase a sample on-site or bottle to take home.

With the rich distilling history of the area, Posada says local residents are constantly stopping in to share stories about their grandfathers stills or illegal bootlegging operations.

“There’s a lot of good stories to tell,” said Posada. “We have a history. Kentucky shouldn’t have anything on [Ohio] – we’ve been making whiskey in this state longer than anyone in Kentucky, and we should tell our story.”

Mill Street Moonshine is available in Columbus at The Hills Market, Huffman’s Market, Weiland’s Market and most area Giant Eagle stores – 35 state liquor stores total, with plans to be in 50 by the end of June. Mill Street will be hosting a tasting at Weiland’s on May 23.