High Bank Distillery Company has revealed plans for its expansion and is set to open its second site in central Ohio this spring.
The distillery, which will occupy 7,500 square feet of space, will reportedly include a bar, restaurant and retail store, as well as barrel storage and some smaller footprint distillery operations.
“Guests love our current atmosphere and feel of our open space,” High Bank co-founder Jordan Helman told Columbus Underground, adding: “Our goal with High Bank 2 is to keep those key elements, integrate elements of our distillery operation and find unique design moments to differentiate this space from our first location while staying true to the High Bank brand.”
Helman and fellow co-founder and distiller Adam Hines said they felt that the area, which borders New Albany, is underserved by unique local offerings and that they wanted to fill a gap in the market.
“People want to have cool, elevated, unique places to visit in their local suburbs and not always have to go Downtown,” said Helman.
While the new space will primarily serve as a bar and restaurant, Hines revealed that it will be able to provide a small amount of distilling, however the primary focus will be on barrel storage.
Outside of special bottle releases, both of the distillery’s retail shops will be stocked with the full line-up of High Bank spirits, including: High Bank Vodka, Statehouse Gin and whiskey series: Whiskey War, Midnight Cask and Whiskey War Barrel Proof.
“We took it (the pandemic) as an opportunity to try and find unique ways to grow our business,” said Helman, highlighting how the distillery began to make hand sanitiser in addition to its portfolio at a time when people needed it most and it helped draw new people to the distillery as well as help retain staff on the payroll.
Construction is scheduled to start on the new space in the next few weeks, with a slated spring 2022 opening.