Parkway Distillery opening its doors this weekend

By Jazmine Knight

A new distillery is putting on the finishing touches for its grand opening in St. Joseph on Saturday.

Parkway Distillery, the first distillery in St. Joseph since the prohibition era, has made some major changes since March.

The distillery, located at 415 N. 13th St., is now fully furnished with tables, chairs, lounge areas and more. Co-founder Edison Derr said they hope to have the bar about 90% finished before they open on Saturday.

“We’ll be working on that last 10% forever. But we’ve got all of our licenses in, so our distilling will be starting very soon,” Derr said.

Parkway has barrels arriving the first week of June containing bourbons and rye whiskeys. In the meantime, the business is stocked up with great cocktails and spirits.

Though Parkway Distillery has made a lot of progress, the staff still hopes to make a few improvements.

“Mother Nature has been dumping gallons on us every day. So, like, our pickleball courts will probably be a week or two depending on when we can get four or five straight days of no rain,” he said.

They also plan on adding more greenery and plants to the outdoor spaces, Their goal is to create a relaxing space for guests to enjoy Downtown.

“We kind of have two different outdoor spaces. We have a nice deck that smaller and large groups can sit on, enjoy themselves with nice fans and nice lighting, you know, all that stuff to be comfortable,” Derr said. “And then also we have kind of the patio area, be a little bit more ‘let your hair down’ area. We’ll have a couple of tables where any cigar smokers would like to sit and enjoy, enjoy a glass of bourbon and a cigar.”

Also on the back patio will be gazebos and two pickleball courts available for rent.

Back in March, Parkway Distillery hosted an open house. Derr said the event was a huge success that served as an opportunity for them to garner feedback.

“I had a good friend of mine, she was in here for like three seconds and she said, ‘Where are the purse hooks?’ And I was like, “My goodness, we just got the bar,’” he said. “But now there’s purse hooks, so we’re good.”

Derr also gives special thanks to the St. Joseph community for showing immense support.

“The community has been great. We’ve hosted a couple of different viewing parties for different organizations, and it’s been lights out,” Derr said.

For the grand opening this weekend, Parkway Distillery will be partnering with Felix Street Gourmet and Room 108 to host a free crawfish boil.

“So come on and get a cocktail, get a free bowl of food and then drink a couple more cocktails or waters or we got the Mexican bottled coke (and more),” Derr said.

Derr is most excited for him and his partners to have this great accomplishment finally completed. The four co-founders have put in countless hours and effort perfecting Parkway to cater to the community.

“They’re going to look back on it and remember it forever. And that’s part of building the team,” Derr said. “There’s going to be a lot of hard work these first couple of weeks, but they’re also going to be super proud of everything they did and it’s only going to make it better.”

Those interested can visit Parkway Distillery’s Facebook page or sign up for its mailing list, where you can get special announcements such as when they’ll be releasing spirits and dates of special parties.

Parkway Distillery will open Friday from 3 to 11 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.