GALION – A new business opening in the heart of Galion hopes to make the city a new destination location.
The Iron Vault Distillery held its official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday afternoon, opening its doors for customers to tour the distillery, sample the products and buy merchandise. The new micro-distillery owned by John Bassett, Lori Bassett and Sam Thacker, will produce its own vodka, moonshine, rum and whiskey, including bourbon.
“We’ve already got Galion as a destination location,” said John Bassett. “We’ll make all the businesses here busy.”
The distillery is located at 134 Harding Way West, right next-door to the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce. President Joe Kleinknecht joked that Chamber members would be frequent patrons of the distillery.
In a newly-remodeled facility, Iron Vault has tasting rooms in the front and production facilities in the rear. Attendees of Saturday’s ribbon cutting were able to tour the facility and become educated on the fermentation and production process.
Bassett emphasized that while tastings are available, the distillery is more about production than consumption.
“We’re limited on what we can do here because we’re not a bar, we’re a distillery,” he said. “We make it, we allow you to taste it, we can even sell you a few bottles, but we’re not a place to sit and drink.”
Visitors to the Iron Vault Distillery can currently purchase vodka or moonshine. Rum and whiskey are aging in barrels, and will be available once the product is aged to perfection. Flavored vodkas are being considered for future production.
John and Lori Bassett and Sam Thacker have been friends for more than 21 years, first starting with brewing beer as a hobby. The next steps was to get approvals to make other alcohols, starting with a mash, which becomes a wort, and is then fermented into alcohol.
The team partnered with Chris Erb, who has a background in the alcohol industry. The Iron Vault Distillery was founded in 2017.
Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary sampled a taste of moonshine and promptly handed his car keys to his wife. He praised the Iron Vault founders for their vision for the city of Galion.
“They had an idea and a potential location, and a lot of things have happened for our community,” O’Leary said.
