High Bank Distillery Co. is ready for location number three. Just a year after opening its second location, the local distillery will continue to expand, opening a new restaurant and speakeasy at 28 S. State St. in Westerville next spring.
High Bank will preserve the historic facade of the 7,000 square foot building in the heart of Uptown Westerville that began its life as a Post Office. A full-service restaurant and bar, two patios and a retail shop will span 3,600 square feet on the ground floor, while 2,000 square feet of space underground will be transformed into a speakeasy.
The speakeasy will take things in a new direction for High Bank, with the space described as an “entirely different experience” than their current locations. It will focus on specialty cocktails and light bites in a sophisticated, intimate environment.
There’s something fitting about High Bank’s new location in Westerville as the city was home to the event that shares the name of the distillery’s whiskey.
High Bank shares, “In 1875, a man named Henry Corbin took a chance and opened a saloon in an area known to strongly oppose the consumption of distilled spirits. Not once, but twice, the saloon was blown up. It was said before the first explosion, he came outside to address the protesters with two pistols drawn. That single act is believed to have ignited the “Whiskey War” of prohibition and launched the Anti-Saloon League.”
Now spirits will be flowing from a location that once played a role in prohibition.
“We want to honor and preserve the history of Westerville by bringing our third location to a city with such a rich story,” says Co-Founder and Master Distiller Adam Hines. “We are excited to tell stories and create experiences for the community through both our restaurant and distillery. We are renovating the old Post Office building into two entirely new spaces. Actual Prohibition, anti-saloon league propaganda was mailed out from this building, which is amazing to me.”
Westerville imbibers will also quite literally be able to take their consumption to the streets as the new location will be outfitted with an exterior DORA window (which runs weekdays from 4 – 10 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.).
The site will be co-developed by Steve Wathen of Equity and John A. Brooks of BTTS Holdings, with the building conversion led by WSA Studio.
High Bank opened its first location in Grandview in 2018 and expanded to Gahanna last May. Their spirits have won numerous awards, including Best Blended Whiskey In America in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
For more information, visit highbankco.com.