Templeton Rye distillery opens

Templeton Rye Spirits returned home Tuesday, as the company opened a 34,500 square-foot distillery in Templeton, Iowa, where a storied whiskey the brand is named for was originally developed by bootleggers during Prohibition.

The company had been distilling and aging its whiskey in Indiana before finishing and bottling it in Iowa. In 2015, Templeton Rye settled three class-action lawsuits that accused the company of intentionally misleading customers, because the bottles were labeled 'made in Iowa,” among other things.

The new distillery, located on 20 acres just east of downtown Templeton, and will produce up to 500,000 proof gallons of rye whiskey annually and have 28 employees, according to a news release from the company. The $35 million project includes a museum, visitor center and tasting room.