Distillery coming to Downtown area

By Jazmine Knight

St. Joseph will be welcoming a new distillery next month.

Parkway Distillery, located at 415 N. 13th St., is scheduled to host an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.

“To our knowledge, this is the first distillery in St. Joseph since Prohibition,” said Edison Derr, co-founder and an operating partner in the business.

“In a playful way to reawaken the spirits in St. Joseph.”

Customers can expect a wide array of flavors when visiting the new distillery, including both canned and bottled spirits, wine, beer and other non-alcoholic drinks. Parkway Distillery will still be utilizing the Hot Rod, which creates authentic spirits.

Derr says the idea for the distillery came up when he was having cocktails with a few friends.

“We’ve got all these breweries popping up in town. Why? Why do you think we don’t have a distillery?” he said. “My basic answer was nobody sat down to do it. And their response was, well, I want to do it.”

Derr thinks this distillery will help not only the Frederick Corridor, but St. Joseph as a whole, thrive.

“The easiest way to describe it is kind of the mullet of businesses. We want to be business up front, inside a relaxed business, nice, comfortable chairs, comfortable seating and all that. Then a little bit of party in the back,” Derr said.

The distillery will offer a tasting room equipped with pieces from historical St. Joseph facilities.

“One of the significant pieces is the terracotta arch, which is kind of a centerpiece of the distillery,” said Kelly Crawford, owner of Crawford Construction and a partner for the distillery. “It is an 1884 terracotta arch that came from the Tootle Wheeler Monitor dry goods building.”

Crawford Construction is responsible for putting in many of the historical pieces in the distillery.

“The other piece that’s very central to the distillery itself is the bar. And the bar came from Goetz Brewery, and its era is about 1935 and it was the Goetz executive Bar where all executives eat lunch,” Crawford said.

They also salvaged pieces from a recent building that was torn down in the Stockyards Exchange area.

“All the doors at the distillery came from the Stockyards Exchange. And so we’re even using the locks and hardware and they’re dated 1893.”

Saving pieces like that is important to Crawford because he said it highlights the kind of town St. Joseph is.

“I think St. Joe has such a rich history, and the architecture here in town is so varied and different from a lot of places. It’s just important to try to save parts of St. Joe.”

Outside, guests will be able to gather on the covered deck or sit courtside next to the two pickleball courts. Derr said they got the pickleball idea from one of their partners.

“I don’t know if he’s ever played it before, but he was just obsessed with reading about it and reading about how people love it and how it’s growing,” he said.

The end of each court will have a gazebo and off to the side, a large, open patio area.

“We’ll have some tunes playing and people, people running around playing different activities, pickleball, cornhole, different types of patio activities,” Derr said.

Both the tasting room and the pickleball area are available for rent.

Derr, who is also a co-founder of Riverbluff Brewery, said that when Riverbluff opened, the community support was outstanding. He hopes for the same outcome with Parkway.

“It was just amazing how the town came together and supported it. You know, we put our blood, sweat and tears into that place and it paid off in a big way,” he said.

Derr and the rest of the Parkway family invite all of St. Joseph to come out and have a great time.

The distillery is set to open to the public in late April. Visit its Facebook page or website at parkwaydistillery.com for more information.