In 1915, when Wyoming coal miners wanted a drink after a hard day’s work, it wasn’t so easy to do. One option was to visit a local “blind pig” (the rural name for ‘speakeasy’) that sold illegal moonshine – unaged white whisky – in secret areas of the remote sagebrush. This old tradition has been revived in style with properly aged whiskey that is now legal to buy in the old mining town of Kirby.

Using grains grown exclusively in the Bighorn Basin, pure limestone water from the Madison formation, and allowing their whiskey to age a minimum of five years, Wyoming Whiskey is a leader among American whiskey distillers and is Wyoming’s first legal distillery. Currently, tours of the facility are not available due to Covid-19 concerns. However, the Whiskey Shop is open and offers tastings of their core range of whiskies, seasonal releases, and some that are only available in Kirby.

Once the doors can reopen, visitors will be given a tour of the working distillery with a guide detailing the entire bourbon-making process – from the milling of their locally grown grains to open fermentation to distillation using their custom-designed, 38-foot copper still. After concluding your tour in the warehouses where you will see barrels and be treated to the sweet aromas of the aging process, you are invited back to the Whiskey Shop for a proper tasting and an opportunity to purchase many unique WW products and gear.