Legacy in a Bottle

After nearly six decades of farming, Tom Bindner's final corn crop can be enjoyed by generations to come.

- Lisa Foust Prater

Tom and Linda Bindner bottle the family's bourbon.

Three years ago, I introduced you to the Bindner family from Marcus, Iowa.

My friend Diane Williams is Tom and Linda Bindner's daughter. When Diane and her brother, Dean, visited the Century Farms Distillery booth at the Iowa State Fair in 2021, they knew they had found the perfect Christmas gift for their dad: bourbon whiskey made from corn grown on their 130-year-old western Iowa family farm. Siblings Don and Dennis agreed, corn was delivered, and the distilling process began.

Diane and I drove to the distillery in Spencer, Iowa, about an hour northeast of the Bindner farm, in July 2022. I watched as her family bottled and sealed several bottles of whiskey that had been quick-aged using wood chips. Four sealed oak barrels containing what would become bourbon were left to age at the distillery.