Farm Journal Field Days: Tour An Illinois Seed-to-Spirit Operation

Farm Journal is bringing producers together at some of America’s top farms and we want you to be one of them. 

Join us in DeKalb, Ill., on Aug. 23 for a behind-the-scenes look at Whiskey Acres, a seed-to-spirit operation and the nation's only certified on-farm craft distillery.

“We're a commercial grain operation, raising corn and soybeans,” says Jamie Walter, president and CEO of Whiskey Acres Distilling Co. “But we added a value-added business to our operation, making whiskey. We have a big visitor center here, and we refer to ourselves as an estate distillery. You’ll see our fields, our distillery production, our visitor's center and our aging rick houses. We do it all right here on the farm.”

Register now for Farm Journal Field Days!

Listen in as Walter chats with AgriTalk Host Chip Flory:

Ever since 1998, when Jamie returned to the family farm to work with his father, Jim, after an off-farm career as a lawyer, he began investigating ways to diversify their 2,000-acre corn and soybean operation. He shipped corn direct to Japan, grew specialty corn and even dabbled in vegetables. None stuck.

Yet another idea kept creeping into the picture: What if they used their grain as a feature ingredient in premium spirits such as vodka, whiskey and bourbon? In 2011, they decided to see if they could make an on-farm distillery work.

“Our first juice came off the still in the end of 2014,” Walter says. “Now we're producing about 100,000 bottles of high-quality craft spirits a year now here on the farm. We're running two shifts a day now, seven days a week making product.”

Walter farms with his father, Jim. They grow commodity corn, as well as a number of specialty grains. 

“We're finding some of our heirloom and specially corns have some very unique flavor profiles,” he says. “So, we're working more and more with that. We also raise some wheat, rye and barley for the distillery.”

Products from Whiskey Acres, which include bourbons and vodka, are sold at 600 locations throughout Illinois, with a few locations in Wisconsin and Nebraska.

“So, while you can come here and take a tour and have a cocktail and buy a bottle on any weekend, you can also go to stores, restaurants, bars throughout Illinois and find us,” Walter says. 

Walter says their team’s master distiller has a master’s degree from Scotland. They have received several awards for their spirits. In In May, their Bottled in Bond Bourbon and Bottled-in-Bond Rye both won double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. 

“The judges said it was among the finest spirits anywhere in the world,” Walter says.

Whiskey Acres is a partnership with Walter, his father and Nick Nagele. The team is proud to take crops grown on their own land and turn it into a high-value product. 

“What we like to say is that we do everything from seed to spirit and that's pretty unique in the industry,” Walter says. 

During the Farm Journal Field Days in-person event at Whiskey Acres, attendees will also hear from industry experts:

• Eric Snodgrass, Nutrien Ag Solutions will present, “High-Impact Meteorology - What to Expect in the Months Ahead”
• Analysts Mark Gold and Matt Bennett will participate in a “Grain Marketing Roundtable”

See the full agenda here.

Register to secure your spot at Farm Journal Field Days in DeKalb. The in-person registration cost of $49 includes online event access.

Other Farm Journal Field Days in-person locations include:

• Aug. 25 in Belzoni, Miss., hosted by Silent Shade Planting Company
• Aug. 26-27 in Colby, Kan., hosted by Frahm Farmland

Register now for Farm Journal Field Days!

Read more about Whiskey Acres: Proof Positive: Grain Farmers Distill Crops into Premium Spirits for Retail

Thank you to the 2021 Farm Journal Field Day Sponsors: 

AGI SureTrack, AgLeader, BKT USA, Inc., Brandt Industries, Culvers, Duck Foot Parts, Farmers Mutual Hail, Kansas Corn, Kinze, Neeralta, New Holland, Nutrien, OKO Tire Sealants, Pivot Bio, Precision Planting, Rawhide, The Tire Grabber, Yetter, Pioneer/Corteva, Red Wing Software, Trust in Food, Machinery Pete, Lincoln Financial, Inner Plant,