Before the founders of St. Augustine Distillery debuted their Florida business, consultants told them they needed three elements to succeed: high-quality products, a bottle design that stands out, and a compelling story that connects with consumers.

Keeping much of the property intact enhances the visitor experience by connecting the present with the past. In many cases, owners incorporate history into other aspects of the experience, from naming spirits after local sites to relying on traditional production methods.

Customers touring McClintock Distilling in Frederick, Maryland, can see original beams, repurposed as a door frame, that still bear grease stains from when the early 20th–century building was an auto repair garage.

“When we moved in, we found a lot of cool parts that we wanted to repurpose and made sure that the history was kept in place,” says cofounder Braeden Bumpers.

The original wooden sliding front doors remain in place, while the “Ideal Garage Co., Inc. Service Dept.” sign hangs above the distillery bar as another reminder of the building’s former life. McClintock opened in 2016 and expanded in 2021, adding an underground cocktail bar in a space where auto parts were once stored. McClintock’s Back Bar serves drinks made with the company’s gin, vodka, liqueurs, and whiskey.

But preserving a building that is more than 100 years old takes time and money. Bumpers, his business partner and cofounder Tyler Hegamyer, and Hegamyer’s parents handled much of the initial renovation themselves to cut costs, spending 17 months and $150,000 on the project.

The team removed the carpet, drywall, and other features added over the last few decades to return the property as much as possible to its original appearance. They restored the original steel-framed windows, some of which were concealed behind drywall, and spent months carefully removing paint from the walls. “The building was not in the best shape when we took it over, so we really wanted to restore it to that original look that it had,” Bumpers says.

Renovating a historic building requires balancing the need for preservation with practical details that make it usable. When Charlie Pipal purchased the early 20th–century structure that now houses Quincy Street Distillery in Riverside, Illinois, in 2009, it was a sizable warehouse with a spartan interior. Built circa 1915, the vast space likely housed an auto showroom and/or repair garage, and would require dividing up to accommodate multiple businesses. Pipal’s development company, Quincy Street Studios, installed partition walls inside the building, whose vernacular exterior architecture blends Classical Revival and Arts and Crafts styles.

“We did it as sensitively as possible, because we enjoyed seeing the nature of the space—the Chicago common brick walls and these giant concrete trusses overhead,” says Pipal, who is also a professor of architecture and historic preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Quincy Street Studios placed the partitions under the trusses so they remained visible, allowing tenants and visitors to appreciate the building’s height and structure.

Bourbon maker Woodford Reserve also relies on old-school production methods at its historic facility. A different distiller constructed the building in 1838 in Woodford County, Kentucky. Longtime distilling company Brown-Forman owned the property from 1941 to 1973 and then repurchased it in the 1990s. After restoring it and adding cypress wood fermentation vats, Brown-Forman opened Woodford Reserve in the space. The site’s previous distilleries also used wood vats, says Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris. Smaller than typical stainless steel tanks, wood fermenters keep temperatures lower, which takes longer and creates a more complex flavor, he adds.

“I’m very proud of the fact that one of the things we did at Woodford was to make a modern bourbon the way our ancestors did,” Morris says. “We are making whiskey like it was made when the building was made in 1838. Not many people can say that.”

Other historic buildings on the estate include an 1812 log cabin known as the Pepper House (named for the Pepper family, which founded the original distillery on the site). After a $3.5 million restoration completed in 2024, Woodford now uses the Pepper House for VIP tasting experiences. Visitors on tours will also see rehabilitated warehouses that date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The distillery’s commitment to restoration earned it designation as a National Historic Landmark.