Tom’s Town Distilling Co.
Kansas City, MO · John & Shauna were there
Where we are.
Both of us are on the 4:30 tour at Tom’s Town. KC’s craft distillery doing it right — bourbon up front, the Pendergast-era branding earning every bit of the room. Tom’s Town is the Kansas City craft distillery that takes both its history and its bourbon seriously.
The detail.
What is Tom’s Town Distilling Co.?
Tom’s Town Distilling Co. at 1701 Main Street is downtown Kansas City’s first legal distillery since Prohibition. Founded in 2015 by childhood friends Steve Revare and David Epstein, the brand is steeped in Boss Tom Pendergast’s 1920s-30s political machine — Revare’s great-uncle Maurice Milligan was the federal attorney who prosecuted Pendergast, and Epstein’s grandfather Herman Epstein was a rival ‘rabbit’-faction bootlegger. The founders’ family lineages frame the brand.
The tasting room is decorated as an Art Deco lounge to evoke Kansas City’s ‘Paris of the Plains’ era. The lineup includes McElroy’s Corruption Gin, Pendergast Royal Gold Reserve Bourbon, Eli’s Straight Bourbon, Botanical Gin, and vodka.