Events

Hosted by The Mather & Iron Fish Distillery The art of bourbon blending is as much about tradition as it is about creativity – and now you have the opportunity to craft your own.  ~ Limited seating for this event – To reserve & purchase your tickets email: ~ You are invited to an exclusive Bourbon Blending & Finishing Workshop featuring Iron Fish Distillery cofounder Richard and Sarah Anderson, who will guide you through with this rich history of bourbon, the nuances of a barrel finishing and the art of custom blending. Evening Highlights: Welcome reception featuring a cocktail and first round of appetizers – an opportunity to network with whiskey aficionados, (or those just getting acclimated). Introduction to the history of bourbon and the craft of blending whiskey. Tips on performing sensory analysis to evaluate whiskey like a pro. Tasting and exploration of four unique barrel finishes: Michigan Maple Syrup Barrel finish; Caribbean Rum Cask finish; French Cognac Barrel finish; Spanish Sherry Barrel finish Guided session on crafting your own Four Cask Blend. Enjoy and evening of discovery, creativity, and expertly crafted whiskey in an intimate setting at the historic Mather. Participants will select the best blend in a blind tasting and earn the opportunity to bring a party of four for our VIP Estate Farm and Distillery Tour, followed by dinner including wood fired pizza and a round of cocktails. About Four Cask Bourbon: Four Cask reflects the vision of our talented blending team, using carefully sources high-rye bourbons finished in barrels from around the world: Spanish Sherry; French Cognac; Caribbean Run and Iron Fish Michigan Maple syrup. Each cask adds a layer to this rich complex, and beautifully balanced whiskey. This whiskey recently was awarded a Double Platinum Medal, the highest achievable medal at the 2025 ASCOT AWARDS in the Special Barrel-Finished Bourbon Category. The American Spirit Council of Tasters (ASCOT) Award is an international spirits competition created by spirits personality and nationally recognized veteran tasting judge, Fred Minnick. About Iron Fish Distillery: Iron Fish Distillery was founded in 2016, as Michigan’s first farm distillery growing grain and distilling spirits, and barrel finishing sourced whiskey. Located along the Betsie River watershed, home of the Steelhead. This MAEAP certified working farm, and distillery attracts over 120,000 guests annually to the agricultural destination, reborn on a long-time abandoned 120-acre farm located in rural Springdale Township in Manistee County. Every step of our soil-to-spirit process, started in our farm fields where we grow and harvest our own grain to milling, mashing, fermenting, and distilling and barrel aging occurs on site. Iron Rish also sources bourbon for finishing in barrels from around the world. To date, our library of barrel aged spirits exceeds 2,500 barrels, consisting of carefully sources farm barrel finished whiskeys and estate whiskey distilled from grain grown on our farm and from nearby farms.