PHOTO: The TR team at the distillery groundbreaking. Trust us, it looks a lot different today!

Hello friends,

Many of you have been inquiring about distillery tours. We are pleased to announce that our distillery expansion is almost complete, and we’re inviting all of you to attend our open house on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 in Templeton, Iowa.

In case you didn’t know, we’ve been hard at work expanding our existing facility from 1,500 to over 11,000 square feet. This expansion will help us keep up with production of The Good Stuff and will hopefully become a tourist destination. We’ll also be unveiling a new barrel warehouse, bottling line, grand tasting room and a gift shop.

On June 7th you’ll be able to tour the new expansion and (of course) sample The Good Stuff. You will also have the opportunity to buy an empty Templeton Rye barrel for your home, office or garden.

The open house will run from 1:00 - 5:00 pm, but the fun won’t stop there. The town of Templeton is hosting The Nadas in an outdoor concert adjacent to the distillery grounds. The concert will start at 7:00 pm and tickets will be available at IowaTix.com. Come hear The Nadas perform Templeton Rye along with all their other great songs.

Hope to see you there,

Michael Killmer
Brand Manager at Templeton Rye

Be careful where you dig — there just might an old barrel of The Good Stuff buried below. Andrew Knuth of Cumberland, Iowa, submitted this story:

I live on a farm outside of Cumberland in Cass County. The farm has been in my family since 1887. Growing up, I spent many summers there running around, playing with the livestock and dogs, and most importantly, fishing the ponds and streams around the farm. Of course, the bait of choice were big, fat, juicy nightcrawlers. In my quest for the best area for digging, I put holes in the ground almost everywhere I thought I could find worms.

My grandfather, who was born on the farm in 1900, cautioned me that if I encountered anything solid (wood, metal, or stone) I was to let him know as soon as possible. This intrigued me and I redoubled my efforts to find worms to fish with and look for anything unusual. To my disappointment, I never found anything like my grandfather described.

As I grew older, my grandfather passed away, and my mother was one of the only people I knew to tell me the family stories. One day in conversation before she passed on, I asked her what my grandfather could have been looking for. She got a gleam in her eye and told me that (legend had it) there was a barrel of whiskey buried someplace on the farm, and if ever found, would surely be the best whiskey ever! She did not know who buried it, but I suspect it was my great grandfather, as my grandfather was working out east during the Prohibition era.

As I look back, I remember that my grandfather often spoke of rye whiskey in glowing terms. I think that the lost barrel must have been The Good Stuff. I still live on the farm today and every time I dig a hole for a fence post I am mindful of my grandfather’s words. I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to want to go fishing and dig for worms.

Sincerely,
Andrew Knuth

Got a TR story of your own to share? Please leave a comment below, or click here to tell us all about it.

We’ve added some new items to the Templeton Rye online store: Washed twill visors (just in time for golf season) available in red and white, and a distinctive Templeton Rye, Made in Iowa District Threads ringer tee. As an added bonus, if you buy three items, shipping is free.

Visit our store and dress the part.

Since launching this blog, the Templeton Rye stories have been coming to us fast and furious. We love to hear about how folks first discovered TR, and how it has played a part in their family’s history. Keep ‘em coming!

We were touched by the following story that Dave Morse sent us. He also felt inspired enough to write and record a song called “Ain’t No Time To Drink The Cheap Stuff,” which we’ve posted below for our readers to listen to.

From Dave Morse:

I discovered the wonder of Templeton Rye in February of 2007. I am an Iowa Army National Guard Warrant Officer and was tasked with the sad honor to be the Casualty Assistance Officer for the family of young Travis Vaughn. Vaughn, who was serving in Afghanistan with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, (Night Stalkers of “Blackhawk Down” fame), died when his MH-47 helicopter lost power in the mountains.

Several of the Night Stalkers came to Iowa as an Honor Guard for Travis’ funeral. His father, Brad, and stepmother, Kandie, invited all of us to their home in Reinbeck for a little get-together. As a former Night Stalker myself, I knew they would be bringing their traditional bottle of Wild Turkey to drown their sorrows and toast our fallen comrade.

Not wishing to go empty handed, I stopped at the Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits store in Cedar Falls on the way. I was looking for something with an Iowa connection and the salesman, Alan, led me straight to the Templeton Rye. I presented the bottle to Brad Vaughn and we commenced to toasting and remembering Travis. We loved the TR and it put Wild Turkey to shame. Brad and Kandie have that empty bottle on display in their buffet along with other memorabilia about Travis.

As my unit (B Co, 248th AMC based in Boone) prepares for our third deployment since 9/11 — this time to Iraq — several of us have pledged to gather upon our return and share Templeton Rye together. I guess you could say that Templeton Rye is the unofficial “Official Whiskey of Bravo Company.”

We really appreciate Dave’s enthusiasm for TR and his service to our country. Got a TR story of your own to share? Please leave a comment below, or click here to tell us all about it.

Scott Wegner sent us with the following TR recipe, which we’re excited to try out.

The Wall Street

2 oz. Templeton Rye
1 tbsp. or so freshly grated ginger root
Fresh lemon juice (about 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon)
2 dashes bitters
(Shake these ingredients and pour over ice)
Fill with ginger ale
Garnish with a lemon wedge

Robert from Huntsville, Alabama, wrote us an e-mail with this Templeton Rye story:

I grew up two miles west of Templeton. In 1948, 18 of us FFA students took a 4000-mile trip out west. While in a town in Idaho, a man saw “Manning, Iowa” on the back of our FFA jackets and stated, “Is that anywhere near Templeton, Iowa?” I asked him how he knew about Templeton. He said, “That’s where Templeton Rye was made.”

Just goes to show that TR was still notorious 15 years after Prohibition and many states away. Got a TR story of your own to share? Please leave a comment below, or click here to tell us all about it.

Mox Irlmeier is the youngest of 12 children. He raised seven of his own children who have, in turn, given him 20 grandchildren. Mox is responsible for making and packing the boxes at the Templeton Rye distillery. Mox’s previous occupation was a farmer and a meat cutter, which would explain why he lists working with meat as one of his hobbies along with gardening and watching ball games.

Mox is a fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Detroit Tigers and insists that he doesn’t have a favorite color — in fact, he says he likes them all equally. (He’s color blind.) One of the mottos he lives by is: “Never put something where you can’t see it, or it may get lost.” Mox lists Bob Feller as one of his heros. His favorite way to drink The Good Stuff is straight with a water chaser.