About
America's most prolific contract distiller, producing bourbon, rye, and grain whiskey for dozens of well-known brands. The Lawrenceburg campus (originally Seagram's, then LDI) is particularly famous for its 95/5 rye mashbill, used in Bulleit Rye, Templeton, and many others. MGP rebranded its own whiskey line as Ross & Squibb in 2021. An open secret in the industry -- many 'craft' brands source from MGP.
Production Details
The MGP (Ross & Squibb) Tale
In the river town of Lawrenceburg, where Indiana meets Ohio and Kentucky at the bend of the Ohio River, stands America's most influential distillery that few drinkers know by name. Here, limestone-filtered water from the Ohio River watershed has fed copper stills since 1847, when the nation was still finding its whiskey voice.
The distillery has worn many names across its long life—Seagram's, LDI, and now MGP—but its purpose has remained constant: making whiskey for others. In the red brick buildings that line the riverbank, more American whiskey flows than perhaps anywhere else, yet until recently, none bore the distillery's own label.
Walk through these production halls and you witness the industry's best-kept open secret. The same stills that craft MGP's famous 95/5 rye mashbill—a recipe that finds its way into Bulleit Rye, Templeton, and dozens of other bottles—also produce bourbon and grain whiskey for brands across the country. Craft distillers building their reputations, established houses expanding their portfolios, entrepreneurs launching new labels—all find their way to Lawrenceburg.
The limestone-filtered water that built this operation carries the mineral signature of three states, drawn from an aquifer that stretches beneath the Ohio River valley. It's water that has made whiskey since before the Civil War, when this stretch of Indiana represented the frontier's edge of industrial distilling.
For generations, the distillery's craftsmen perfected the art of making other people's dreams. They mastered mashbills, refined fermentation, and operated stills with the precision of contract manufacturers who understood that their reputation lived in every bottle that left their dock, regardless of whose name appeared on the label.
In 2021, something shifted. The distillery finally stepped forward with Ross & Squibb, putting its own name on whiskey for the first time in decades. After 174 years of making America's whiskey, MGP began telling its own story—one still, one barrel, one honest label at a time.
The river still flows past Lawrenceburg, carrying the same limestone essence that built an empire of whiskey made in shadows, now stepping into light.