Rob Taylor and his wife, Christi, co-founded Revelton Distillery in Osceola. (Photo: Rob Davis)
By Steve Dinnen
In the plush Sina Villa Medici hotel in Florence, Italy, the welcoming drink at Harry’s Bar Firenze regularly takes top honors in national aperitivo competition. And with a little luck — and money — that accolade could include Iowa-made Revelton mulberry gin.
Revelton Distillery, in Osceola, recently launched its second round of capital formation. The opportunity is open to accredited investors with a minimum of $25,000 to participate, which is meant to help the distillery expand into markets in other states and, possibly, Italy.
If you’d like to pitch in, Revelton co-founders Rob and Christi Taylor would love to hear from you (info@reveltondistillery.com). He is a former lawmaker, she is a practicing physician, and they both got their first taste of the spirits business in 2011 at a bourbon festival in Kentucky, where a Wild Turkey distiller told them that most of Kentucky’s bourbon was made from Iowa-grown corn.
Hmm, the Taylors thought. Why ship corn all the way to Kentucky when you could just make Iowa bourbon from Iowa corn? Soon enough, Rob enrolled in a distillers’ school and started building a distillery. Revelton joined a small but growing group of other Iowa distillers that have popped up in recent years, including Cedar Ridge in Swisher, Blue Ox in northeast Des Moines, and the reimagined Templeton operation in its namesake town.
The Taylors found a property alongside Interstate 35 just outside Osceola and set up shop in late 2020 in a former winery. Tours and tastings are available on the weekends, when you can visit the spacious tasting room on the top floor and the full-sized distillery in the basement. The commander there is “Lucy,” a gleaming 33-foot tall metal still. The corn, rye and nearly everything else comes from local farms. Spent mash is kept local, too: It’s fed to cattle.
At present, the company makes rye, whiskey, bourbon, gin and vodka. A warehouse behind the still holds the barrels of rye, whiskey and bourbon, which require aging. Vodka and gin can be directly bottled and sold, generating cash while those brown liquors age.
Currently, Revelton markets in Iowa and three other states. Rob said the new $6 million capital campaign will fund the company’s expansion. Lucy can produce a lot more alcohol, and there is plenty of warehouse space, but entering new markets takes money. Rob did not specify which states, although neighboring Minnesota and Illinois would bring in 15 million more potential consumers.
And, of course, there’s Italy. “We’re thinking globally,” Rob said.
That may not be as off-beat as it sounds. An Italian family participated in Revelton’s first round of capital investment, and Rob, speaking just after he finished a trip to Italy, said the family may well pitch in again. Investors were limited to 1% in Round One, but that cap has been lifted.
The Spirits Business, an industry publication, recently reported that Italy has surpassed Spain as a top importer of British gin. Revelton has gained a reputation for its mulberry gin. With proper funding, maybe an American gin can land a spot on the drinks menu at Harry’s Bar Firenze.
