J. Rieger & Co.

Kansas City’s distillery since 1887; founded by Jacob Rieger (Austrian immigrant from Goritz, 1877); pre-Prohibition largest mail-order whiskey house in the U.S.; closed December 1919 under Prohibition; revived 2014 by Andy Rieger (great-great-great-grandson of Jacob) + bartender Ryan Maybee — first legal distillery in KC since Prohibition. A 138-year-old KC brand across two operational eras.

Description

J. Rieger & Co. is one of Kansas City’s deepest-tenured brands by any measure — founded in 1887 by Jacob Rieger, an Austrian immigrant who arrived in Kansas City from Goritz in 1877 and founded the distillery 10 years later in the West Bottoms neighborhood, directly across from the Livestock Exchange Building.¹²

The 1887-1919 operational era was remarkable: by 1900, Jacob’s son Alexander Rieger had grown the operation into the largest mail-order whiskey house in the United States, with over 100 alcoholic products spanning whiskies, gins, rums, and stomach bitters.² The operation was shut down in December 1919 by federal Prohibition — a 32-year founding era ended by federal mandate.

The brand stayed dormant for 95 years. Then in 2014, Andy Rieger — the great-great-great-grandson of Jacob Rieger — and renowned Kansas City bartender Ryan Maybee relaunched the distillery, backed by the late Master Distiller Dave Pickerell and Master Distiller Tom Nichol.²³ J. Rieger & Co. became the first legal distillery in Kansas City since Prohibition — a meaningful KC distilling milestone.

The operation today encompasses distilling + tasting room + cocktail bar + retail. The brand presence at the Plaza Provisions food hall (opened Aug 2025) extends J. Rieger into the Plaza-adjacent market.

Ownership and history

Year	Event
1877	Jacob Rieger immigrates from Goritz, Austria to America
1887	Jacob founds J. Rieger & Co. distillery in West Bottoms, KCMO
By 1900	Alexander Rieger (Jacob’s son) takes over operations; grows brand into largest US mail-order whiskey house
December 1919	Federal Prohibition forces closure; the original Rieger operation ends after 32 years
1920-2014	95-year brand dormancy
2014	Andy Rieger (Jacob’s great-great-great-grandson) + Ryan Maybee relaunch the distillery, backed by Dave Pickerell + Tom Nichol; first legal post-Prohibition KC distillery
2014 → present	Continuous operation as cocktail bar + tasting room + whiskey distillery
August 2025	Plaza Provisions food-hall bar vendor presence begins

Tier classification

Tier 1 — Multi-generation Rieger family operation; deepest KC-brand heritage tracing to 1887; founder’s great-great-great-grandson leads the modern revival.

Criterion match: Andy Rieger is 6 generations from Jacob — direct family lineage carrying the founding brand forward; revival positioned with backing from distilling masters; first legal post-Prohibition KC distillery (institutional KC milestone). The 138-year-old brand across two operational eras places J. Rieger in a category of one among KC operations.

Sources

Verification

• Level: Verified(Layer 2)
• Independence: 5 independent sources
• High confidence: all founding, family-lineage, Prohibition-closure, and 2014-revival facts
• Outstanding: specific West Bottoms current address; product line + tasting-room hours; Andy Rieger’s specific role beyond co-founder

See also

• andy-rieger-and-ryan-maybee — co-founders (revived KC’s historic J. Rieger distillery)

Footnotes

1. J. Rieger & Co. — official “Our History / About Us” page. https://www.jriegerco.com/history/about-us. Source for 1887 founding by Jacob Rieger; West Bottoms location; Austrian immigration; Alexander Rieger expansion; mail-order whiskey position by 1900. ↩

2. Wikipedia — “J. Rieger & Co.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Rieger_%26_Co. Source for Jacob Rieger 1877 Goritz-to-America immigration; 1887 founding; December 1919 Prohibition closure; 2014 revival by Andy Rieger + Ryan Maybee; Pickerell + Nichol Master Distiller backing. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. J. Rieger & Co. main site. https://www.jriegerco.com/. “Kansas City’s distillery since 1887” framing. ↩