Spirits of Design

January 13, 2025

Words by Laura Spencer

Two Kansas City distilleries with links to the Prohibition era serve up sexy lounge spaces for the modern day.

o-founders David Epstein and Steve Revare opened Tom’s Town Distilling Co. in the Crossroads Arts District in 2016. The company’s name is a nod to political machine boss Tom Pendergast and his outsized influence in Kansas City.

“So much of the Tom Pendergast story was based on the fact that Kansas City was a lively place during Prohibition,” Revare says, “so we wanted to tell it through spirits.”

Clockwork Architecture + Design worked on the renovation of the three-story 1908 brick building at 1701 Main St., which features a custom-made walnut bar and an original tin ceiling. Revare credits Epstein’s collaboration with interior designer Mark Sudermann for the relaxed vibe in the main lounge.

“One of the signature things are these green velvet banquettes that are around two of the walls,” he says. “We tried to decorate it as an homage to the time of Prohibition.”

The bottle design, he says, is inspired by the Art Deco style of the Kansas City Power and Light Building and the Chrysler Building in New York City.

“An embodiment of the brand,” says Revare, “is to make you feel comfortable, maybe take you back in time a little bit, and a unique place in Kansas City to hang out with a ’20s and ’30s vibe.”

The founders later discovered family ties to Pendergast—from job patronage and bootlegging to legal scrutiny.

For the latest iteration of J. Rieger & Co., there’s also a direct personal connection.

Austro-Hungarian immigrant Jacob Rieger established J. Rieger & Co. in Kansas City in 1887. According to the company’s website, it “grew to be the largest mail-order whiskey purveyor in the world.” But that came to a halt during federal Prohibition when there was a ban on large-scale brewing operations from 1920 to 1933.

In 2014, co-founders Ryan Maybee and Andy Rieger, the great-great-great-grandson of Jacob Rieger, resurrected the brand in the historic East Bottoms with the release of the signature Kansas City Whiskey.

An embodiment of the brand is to make you feel comfortable, maybe take you back in time a little bit.”
~ Tom’s Town Distilling Co. proprietor Steve Revare

“Reviving a historic brand in a historic area had a lot of importance to us,” Rieger says, “to ensure that when we were telling our story it felt like history was surrounding you.”

The company first rebooted in a 15,000-square-foot warehouse. But visions of expanding to create an East Bottoms destination led to the 2018 purchase of the former Heim Brewery bottling plant—an empty three-story brick building dating to 1901.

“The windows were boarded up. There were no walls,” Rieger describes, which allowed them to “more or less create from complete scratch.”

J. Rieger & Co. tapped architecture firm GastingerWalker& for the historic renovations. Brand director Lucy Rieger designed the interiors with, as her husband Andy Rieger says, a “strong vision for a cohesive experience.”

In 2019, the new distillery opened with four bars and restaurants, a historical exhibit, a gift shop, event spaces and guided tours. And a 40-foot custom-built slide.

“Each space within the building has a different vibe, from the high-end Hey! Hey! Club to the social Monogram Lounge,” Rieger says. “They all fit within the brand’s overall aesthetic.”

The Electric Park Garden Bar, an indoor/outdoor bar and restaurant, gets its name from the all-electric amusement park that first opened in 1900 in the East Bottoms.

The glass bottles also have a clean, historic look to evoke the brand’s history—with the Rieger name and shield.

“We wanted to ensure that with our packaging, it felt like what would it evolve into if there was never Prohibition,” he says.

According to Rieger, the spaces in the building—and the products, including whiskey, gin and other spirits—are all part of the same brand family.

“They all have to hold the same quality standard to heart,” he says. “And they all have to be something that when people go away from that product, leave the building, whatever it is, they say, ‘Totally worth it.’’’

Tom’s Town Distilling Co.
1701 Main St., Kansas City, Missouri
Architect: Clockwork Architecture + Design, @clockworkad
Interior Designer: SID & Co., @sidandcompany

J. Rieger & Co.
2700 Guinotte Ave., Kansas City, Missouri
Architect: GastingerWalker&, @gastingerwalker