When he was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in India during the 1960s, Gary Hinegardner became a big fan of corn.

So after the trip, he decided to become an agronomist.
“When I came back to the States, I decided I want to make a career out of this,” Hinegardner said.

Sixty years later, Hinegardner is still a big fan of corn. He has a 10-acre research field with 70 different plots of corn at North Service Road in New Florence, which is near his distillery, Wood Hat Spirits. He uses corn to make whiskey.

“I grew up in agriculture,” Hinegardner said. “It’s all around me. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all farmed and raised crops. So it’s been in my genes.”

Hinegardner has enjoyed success with his Wood Hat Spirits distillery. It grew 398 tons of corn and made more than $2 million in sales since it opened in 2012.

Now, Hinegardner is putting the distillery up for sale so he could concentrate on making better corn. He made his decision to sell it during the summer.

“We’re not going to close,” Hinegardner said. “We’re just going to let some other people own it.”

Hinegardner said the building, located at 489 Booneslick Road, was in existence for 10 years before he bought it to start his distillery.

“One part of the building had apartments,” Hinegardner said. “Another part of the building had a sign company. Another part of the building was one of those places that never really got off the ground.”

Recently, Hinegardner went to Mexico to grow some corn.
“In breeding corn, you cross this with that,” Hinegardner said. “Then, you take that corn and you plant it. Then, you may run across it again with something else. Well, that will take another year. By going to Mexico, I get two years in one. I can cross and grow corn in Mexico. What we grow in Mexico, the seeds will be ready in April. Then, we’ll plant them in New Florence. We get two years in one. We grow two crops a year that way. We’ll get it done twice as fast.”

Hinegardner makes whiskey by using corn that is eaten by people. He makes four different types of corn a day.

“If you’re in the ice cream business, you’re going to concentrate on a multitude of flavors rather than trying to find the best one flavor to sell,” Hinegardner said. “People come in all kinds of sizes, shapes and colors. Whiskey and everything we eat food-wise are kind of the same way. We have different tastes and dislikes.”

Hinegardner said taste is very important in making whiskey.
“We’re looking at something that tastes good to a whiskey drinker,” he said. “It’s something that doesn’t burn or sting. It’s something that has a smooth entry with a lasting finish and a really nice finish. We like a spicy finish. But it’s got to be smooth. We’re the smooth people in the industry. We make whiskey that’s really smooth because of the corn that we use.”

Hinegardner grew up outside Neosho. After graduating with a Master’s degree in agronomy at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Hinegardner landed a job with the MU Extension office in Montgomery City.

“At that time, there were other places in Missouri I could have picked for a job and I picked Montgomery County,” said Hinegardner, who moved to Montgomery County in 1974. “Montgomery, Lincoln and Warren counties were all in one group at the time. I chose this area because of the soil. That’s what I based my decision on.”

Hinegardner said he’s teaming up with Grow2Gather to open a farmer’s market in New Florence later this year.

“We’re going to start small, then see where it goes,” Hinegardner said. “You’ve got to have a market, then you’ve got to have vendors. It’s got to come together all at the same time for it to work. Nobody has done it around here, so we’re going to try and kick it off and see what happens.”