J. Rieger & Co.

It's a tall one and a short and squatty J. Rieger & Company bag.

Spoiler alert, there's no J-Rigger in either one

of these bags.

Okay, so

... it's a really neat distillery.

Um, you know, J. Rieger is, has got some ...

I really like, I really like the location J. Rieger has.

That's some, they're, when you go there they've got several bars and a great, great outdoor area.

Uh, it, it's a great stop, no doubt about that.

Our next victim at the Martini Expo is Ryan Mabie.

Ryan is the co-founder of J. Rieger & Co. Distillery, which also has a bunch of restaurants on site.

They are from Kansas City.

Um, he, J- he was named Bartender of the Year by Imbibe Magazine, which is a magazine we love, of course.

Sure.

But I didn't know about the brand, right? Um, but I had an opportunity to open up a restaurant on the first floor, uh, in this old hotel building, so it would've been the original hotel lobby.

And so I just decided to call the restaurant The Rieger, named after the hotel, and I started researching the history of the hotel, looking for old photographs and stories and anything that I could weave into the concept of the restaurant, and that's how I accidentally discovered the history of J. Rieger & Company and realized that there was a whiskey distillery in Kansas City prior to Prohibition.

Prohibition.Well, and you guys have basically invented Kansas City Whiskey, right?

Yeah.

I mean, Rigger uses a deep burgundy red for their rye.

Blue is their bourbon.

And then white is their KC whiskey.