CEDAR ridge winery & Distillery

For folks looking for a fun road trip from Kansas City, there’s no better destination than the beautiful Swisher countryside. Presenting your guide to one of the state’s most renowned and beloved hospitality destinations, in partnership with Travel Iowa:

Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery– the only winery and distillery in the state.

From acres of Iowa-grown grapes, to their unending bushels of corn straight from the fertile Midwestern soil, the Quint family puts only the best into their wines and spirits.Just a short 30 minute drive from Iowa City, the rolling hills of the winery make for the perfect backdrop for a visit to get to know this remarkable, award-winning family-run establishment that shines a light on the best of Iowa.

Kick off your day with brunch for the group– whether on the patio or in the open air event space, you’ll have great views and plenty of delicious eats and drinks to choose from. We loved the margherita pizza, made with house vodka marinara sauce, sliced fresh mozzarella and basil pesto, and the “Iowa Bruschetta” is a perfect nod to the state, with Sweet corn, cherrywood-smoked bacon with bbq garlic aioli, served with toasted baguette and pork rillette. Add on a few butcher boards and you have the perfect pairings for your cocktails.

The cocktails range from perfectly executed classics, to imaginative inventions like the Ocean Eyes– a taste of tiki in the middle of corn country with Iowa Straight Bourbon Whiskey, pineapple juice, lime juice, chai simple syrup, orange bitters, and mint. Another crowd favorite was the Bluebeard-- made with the Slipknot No. 9 (the Distillery's collaboration with the internationally recognized, Iowa-grown heavy metal band) and house-made blueberry syrup, cinnamon, lemon juice, and lime juice.

More of a wine fanatic? You can sip one of Cedar Ridge’s 16 wines, grown with 10 different varietals of French-American Hybrid grapes on their 76-acre property. They’re the only winery in the state that sources grapes from out of the state to blend with estate grown grapes. Be sure to fit in a stroll through their vines– or if you really plan ahead, you can time your visit to volunteer during the grape harvest and learn more about their winemaking firsthand.

For the spirit lovers, I highly recommend embarking on a distillery tour to learn all about the production behind the number one selling bourbon in the state. Their distillers produce award-winning whiskeys– named distillery of the Year in 2017 by the American Distilling Institute, and Best American Single Malt in 2021 by the John Barleycorn Society– and are eager to share the passion behind their process. It’s a labor of love: from the corn itself (some of which is grown on the Quint’s own family farm), to the mash process, to the distilling, to the unique manner in which they age their spirits (Iowa’s landscape allows Cedar Ridge to utilize lateral warehouse configuration that embraces fluctuating temperatures, racking their whiskey barrels low and wide to avoid sweet spots and allowing barrels to mature at similar rates). The smells in the warehouse add an extra dimension to the tasting portion of the tour– you can sense the same notes in the whiskey that are wafting around you from the fragrant barrels.

No matter the time of year, it’s always a wonderful time to experience the hospitality that Cedar Ridge has to offer– from the delicious food, to the knowledgable staff tours, and the beautiful scenery– it’s the perfect spot for the #YearofTheRoadtrip!