Journeyman W.R. Whiskey

About Journeyman W.R. Whiskey

The Featherbone Factory — built by E.K. Warren in the 19th century to manufacture women's corsets — sits on the banks of Lake Michigan just across the Indiana border in Three Oaks, Michigan. As the factory changed hands in the twentieth century, it became a production site for everything from buggy whips to pickles. Today, it's home to Journeyman Distillery and Bill Welter, Journeyman's master distiller.

Welter, who was formerly a banker in Indiana, began his Journey when his family business was sold in 2006. He moved to Scotland, where he began to learn the art of craft distillation from Greg Ramsay (master distiller at Nant Distillery) and Bill Lark (master distiller at Lark Distillery). After returning to the United States, Welter spent time producing and resting whiskey using a prominent organic & kosher distiller’s facility in Chicago before opening the doors of his own distillery in Three Oaks with the intention to offer grain-to-glass spirits from day one/drop one.

W.R. Whiskey is made by distilling a mash of 60 percent organic rye and 40 percent organic wheat through a 5000-liter, copper pot still imported from Germany. The organic rye and wheat are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, artificial pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormones, feed additives, or genetically modified organisms and enable Journeyman Distillery — and all of its products — to be certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association.

A tribute to Journeyman founder Bill Welters grandfather, William and his father, Chuck. They were risk takers and entrepreneurs; a whiskey for everyone who took a chance in life, big or small, win or lose. W.R. is the un-aged version of their flagship Last Feather Rye and in many cases shows the high quality of the spirits produced at Journeyman before any aging takes place. Journeyman W.R. Whiskey has hints of bananas, mango, and ripened fruit on the nose - clean and flavorful.

Pick up a bottle today!