For 14 years, Gary Hinegardner has helped Wood Hat Spirits become a popular distillery as it grew over 300 tons of corn and made more than $2 million in sales.

That success caught the attention of the hall of fame committee at the ABV Barrel Shop in Arnold.

Hinegardner was named one of three inductees in this year’s ABV Barrel Shop Hall of Fame ceremony on April 11. It was the first hall of fame award for Hinegardner, who has received many honors and accolades since he first opened his Wood Hat Spirits distillery in New Florence in 2012. Months ago, the distillery earned top honors at the 2025 Heartland Whiskey Competition, winning the Best Farmer-Distilled Bourbon award nationally and the Best In State award for Missouri.

“Gary is a legend in the state of Missouri, but his reach is far greater than the Show-Me State,” ABV Barrel Shop owner Steve Akley said. “Many in the industry, including those from the big heritage brands in Kentucky look to his knowledge when it comes to corn. For those of us from Missouri, he’s a living and breathing logo for his brand. He’s got the unique look to how he dresses including the wood hat, the distinctive voice I love to imitate and the big, welcoming smile.”

Established just four years ago, the ABV Barrel Shop is the world’s only single barrel whiskey store. Every year, the business selects individuals who demonstrated professionalism in single barrel sales for its hall of fame.

“They’re the big mouth in town in terms of bourbon, not only in Missouri, but in the Midwest,” Hinegardner said. “He does a lot of stuff out of Kentucky and Tennessee. They specialize in just barrels.”

Hinegardner said he has known Akley for 10 years. The two have done educational programs on whiskey and bourbon.

“He’s very verbose about whiskey and he does a lot of stuff,” Hinegardner said.
The other inductees were Adam Stumpf of Old Monroe Distilling of Columbia, Ill., and Royce Neeley of Neeley Family Distillery of Sparta, Ky. Old Monroe Distilling has been in business since 2015 and hosts weddings. Neeley Family Distillery also has been operating since 2015.

The ABV Barrel Hall of Fame Festival was split into four sessions throughout the day. Hinegardner was at all four sessions, making speeches, offering samples and signing bottles.

“He’s one-of-a-kind and represents the best the distilling industry has to offer when it comes to American Whiskey,” Akley said. “I’m pleased to call him my friend and someone that is worthy of the title of hall of fame inductee.”

At his booth, Hinegardner had a picture of Montgomery City resident Shannon Brock posing with Cateto corn four years ago.

“We had that picture down at the hall of fame because we opened the barrel of whiskey that day that she picked the corn we grew to make the whiskey that we opened that day at the hall of fame,” Hinegardner said.

Hinegardner worked as an agronomist at the MU Extension Office in Montgomery City before opening Wood Hat Spirits. He has been a big fan of corn for most of his life. He has a 10-acre research field with 70 different plots of corn next to the Wood Hat Spirits distillery. He uses corn to make whiskey.

“The thing about it is not because we needed more whiskey, but we needed a better market for corn,” Hinegardner said. “There was never a corn that was created just for whiskey. All of the rest of the corn is created for some other purpose, normally feeding cows and pigs and ethanol plants. But not for whiskey. Nobody did that. It amazes me that there wasn’t any corn for the billions of dollars of money that this country makes on whiskey.”