This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Tom’s Town Distilling Co. is a locally owned craft distillery, cocktail lounge, and tasting room in the Crossroads Arts District, founded by Kansas City natives Steve Revaré and David Epstein. Billed as downtown Kansas City’s first legal distillery since Prohibition, its art-deco brand draws on the Prohibition-era reign of political boss Tom Pendergast — the namesake “Tom” of “Tom’s Town.”

Description

Tom’s Town Distilling Co. is a craft distillery, cocktail lounge, and tasting room in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District at 1701 Main Street. The business produces premium craft spirits on-site and operates a restaurant and tasting room described as an art-deco lounge, offering distillery tours, craft cocktails, and small plates. Its spirits portfolio includes Eli’s StrongArm Vodka, Pendergast’s Royal Gold Bourbon, McElroy’s Corruption Gin, and a range of other gins, vodkas, whiskeys, and canned cocktails.123

The brand is built around Kansas City’s Prohibition era, when the city — under the political machine of boss Tom Pendergast — largely ignored federal Prohibition and became known as the “Paris of the Plains,” with money, jazz, and liquor flowing in the open. The distillery is named for Pendergast (the “Tom” of “Tom’s Town”), and individual product names reference period figures of the era.14

Tom’s Town is described in its own materials and in local coverage as downtown Kansas City’s first legal distillery since Prohibition.24

Ownership and history

Tom’s Town Distilling Co. was founded by Steve Revaré and David Epstein, longtime friends and Kansas City natives who have known each other since kindergarten.4 The two have personal family connections to the city’s Prohibition-era history that helped inspire the concept: by their account, Revaré’s great-uncle was Maurice Milligan, the federal prosecutor whose case sent Tom Pendergast to prison, while Epstein’s grandfather, Herman Epstein, was a rival “rabbit” bootlegger to the Pendergast organization.4 Feeling that Kansas City’s rich Prohibition history was under-told, the founders set out to tell that story through liquor.4

The distillery was established in 2015 and opened its Crossroads tasting room around the end of 2015 into 2016, becoming downtown Kansas City’s first legal distillery since Prohibition.245 Distribution began in Missouri and Kansas and has since expanded to additional states.26 The business remains an independent, locally owned operation with no corporate parent.14

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Tom’s Town Distilling Co. — official site, “Our Story” — https://www.toms-town.com/our-story — accessed 2026-05-31. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. PR Newswire — “Tom’s Town Distilling Co. Now Distributing in Missouri and Kansas” — https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toms-town-distilling-co-now-distributing-in-missouri-and-kansas-300297830.html — accessed 2026-05-31. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Visit KC — “Tom’s Town Distilling Company” business listing (1701 Main St) — https://www.visitkc.com/business-detail/toms-town-distilling-company — accessed 2026-05-31. ↩

  4. KCtoday — “Q+A with Steve Revare, co-founder of Tom’s Town Distilling Co.” — https://kctoday.6amcity.com/steve-revare-co-founder-of-toms-town — accessed 2026-05-31 (founders, kindergarten friends, KC natives, Milligan/Epstein family ties, Pendergast theme). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. Crossroads Community Association — “Tom’s Town Distilling Co.” — https://kccrossroads.org/explore-the-crossroads/toms-town-distilling-co-2/ — accessed 2026-05-31. ↩

  6. Feast Magazine — “Tom’s Town Distilling Co. Expands Nationally, Adding 10 New States to Distribution Territory” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/tom-s-town-distilling-co-expands-nationally-adding-10-new-states-to-distribution-territory/article_c687ac6a-e9b2-11e8-a568-734ef4c25b73.html — accessed 2026-05-31. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Crossroads