MGP and the Ross & Squibb Distillery
Type: Contract or bulk distiller
MGP is associated with both the company and its Lawrenceburg, Indiana distillery. The site was named Ross & Squibb in 2021 and reverted to MGP Distillery in 2026.[7][8] Its importance extends far beyond the names on its own bottles, with many American whiskey brands having built their reputations around whiskey sourced from its warehouses, particularly rye.[12]
Distillery at a glance
| Field | Verified record |
|---|---|
| Country and locality | United States, Lawrenceburg and adjacent Greendale, southeast Indiana.[3] |
| Founded | 1847, according to the producer. The original name is disputed: the producer calls it Rossville Distillery, while Cincinnati Magazine calls it Rossville Union Distillery.[1][11] |
| Founder | George Ross.[7] |
| Acquisition entity | MGPI of Indiana, LLC acquired the LDI distillery assets on 28 December 2011.[3] |
| Current legal owner and effective date | Not reliably established in the supplied record. |
| Ultimate parent | Not reliably established in the supplied record. |
| Business status | Current legal status of the operating entity cannot be confirmed from the supplied record, checked November 2026.[3] |
| Distilling status | Producing, according to reporting checked November 2026. The observation date is not specified in the supplied record.[12] |
| Visitor access | Cannot confirm public access, checked November 2026.[12] |
| Site status | Cannot confirm from the supplied record, checked November 2026. |
| Stills | Sixteen active stills reported; the site uses multi-storey continuous column stills. Checked November 2026.[11][12] |
What MGP is known for
The defining feature of Lawrenceburg is the relationship between one large producer and many separate whiskey businesses. Sempreon, the company formerly called MGP Ingredients, says it has worked with more than 1,000 American whiskey customers since 2012. That is a cumulative customer claim, not a count of brands currently receiving whiskey.[6]
Garden & Gun describes start-up brands building their reputations around barrels from the distillery, especially its rye. This helps explain why the MGP name matters even when it is not the most prominent name on a bottle: the whiskey's producer and the brand presenting it can be different businesses.[12]
It is equally misleading to think of Lawrenceburg as making just one interchangeable whiskey. The same report describes more than forty whiskey mash bills in a typical year. A mash bill is the grain recipe used to make a whiskey, so that breadth represents different starting recipes rather than forty labels applied to identical spirit.[12]
The useful distinction is between producer, customer and brand. Lawrenceburg's production history belongs to the distillery; the history of a customer buying its whiskey belongs to that separate business. Neither should be substituted for the other.
MGP, Ross & Squibb and Sempreon
MGP stands for Midwest Grain Products. The company's headquarters are in Atchison, Kansas, separate from the Indiana distillery, and its own account traces its corporate legacy to 1941.[2][6][12]
On 2 November 2026, MGP Ingredients became Sempreon, Inc., trading on Nasdaq under the ticker CASK. The change had been announced on 15 October; Julie Francis was named as Sempreon's president and chief executive in the company's announcement marking the change.[6][9]
The corporate rename did not mean that every distillery would take the Sempreon name. The announced policy retained distillery names including MGP and Lux Row.[9] Consequently, the company name and the Lawrenceburg site name need to be read separately.
Ross & Squibb was itself a branding change, not the opening of a new distillery. Announced on 30 September 2021, it accompanied a stronger emphasis on the company's own labels, while third-party production continued under the MGPI of Indiana name.[7]
That distinction explains why different contemporary accounts can use different names without describing different production sites. The precise date of the 2026 return to MGP Distillery is not established in the supplied record.[8]
From Rossville to a national whiskey supplier
The producer dates the Lawrenceburg distillery to 1847 and calls its original operation Rossville Distillery. Its later history includes Seagram ownership, a period as Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana, usually shortened to LDI, and acquisition by MGP.[1][3]
| Date | Event and significance |
|---|---|
| 1847 | Distillery established, according to the producer. Its original name is disputed: the producer gives Rossville Distillery and Cincinnati Magazine gives Rossville Union Distillery.[1][11] |
| 1933 | Joseph E. Seagram and Sons acquired the site.[1] |
| 2000 | Seagram merged with Vivendi; Pernod Ricard subsequently owned the plant until 2007.[11] |
| 2007 | CL Financial ownership began, with the operation known as Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana.[3] |
| 28 December 2011 | MGP acquired the LDI distillery assets through MGPI of Indiana, LLC.[3] |
Under Seagram, the site was rebuilt and expanded, chiefly to make Seagram's Seven Crown. Cincinnati Magazine describes the 95% rye mash bill as “a Seagram's Seven Crown signature”, placing a recipe now associated with sourced American rye within that earlier production history.[11]
The 2011 purchase also needs a little precision. It covered more than 50 of the site's 78 acres, while bottling assets went to an unaffiliated third party. Buying the distillery assets and buying every activity formerly associated with the site were not the same transaction.[3]
Story box: Two names behind Ross & Squibb
Founding story: George Ross founded the distillery in 1847. Its original name is disputed: the producer gives Rossville Distillery, while Cincinnati Magazine gives Rossville Union Distillery.[1][11] George Ross is named as founder by The Spirits Business.[7]
Turning point: MGP acquired the LDI distillery assets on 28 December 2011 through MGPI of Indiana, LLC, as recorded in its acquisition announcement filed with the SEC.[3]
Documented record: The Ross & Squibb name combined George Ross of Rossville with the Squibb Distillery; George Remus, who bought Squibb in 1921, also inspired the George Remus Bourbon name, according to The Spirits Business.[7]
Verdict: Documented. The supported claim is the naming connection, not an assertion that Rossville and Squibb were one original business.[7]
Verdict: Disputed. Squibb's founding year is not reliably established: The Spirits Business gives 1869, while Cincinnati Magazine gives 1846.[7][11]
Earliest naming source in the sheet: The Spirits Business, September 2021.[7] Last checked: 7 November 2026.
Production and the people behind it
Lawrenceburg's scale is visible in its multi-storey continuous column stills and extensive warehouses. Garden & Gun reports sixteen active stills and historic brick and concrete warehouses, several with basements; these are reported observations checked in November 2026, not a statement of annual production capacity.[11][12]
Continuity also lies in less conspicuous details. The house yeast strain was first cultivated in the 1940s, and samples are stored at several offsite locations. Alongside the many mash bills, that maintained yeast culture is part of the documented production system.[12]
The human record is particularly clear around Greg Metze. He joined in 1978, became master distiller in 2001, and his departure was announced on 20 May 2016 after 38 years, according to the producer.[2][11]
Cincinnati Magazine recorded Metze tracking daily batches on shirt-pocket notes he called his “Palm Pilot”. Its description of old manual control panels that “looked like a World War II submarine” captures the transition towards computerisation without suggesting that the people responsible for production became incidental.[11]
The sheet identifies Ian Stirsman as master distiller at Lawrenceburg. Earlier figures include Jack Pytleski, who retired in 1983, and Larry Ebersold, who left in 2007.[11][12]
From supplying brands to building its own
MGP completed its merger with Luxco on 1 April 2021, making Luxco wholly owned. That transaction is an important correction to the idea that the company exists only to supply whiskey for other people's labels.[4]
Whisky Advocate identified George Remus bourbon, Rossville Union rye and Eight & Sand blended bourbon as the Lawrenceburg operation's own brands. The broader company's November 2026 announcement listed Penelope, Yellowstone, Rebel, Remus, Ezra Brooks, Blood Oath and Lux Row among its bourbon brands.[6][10] That group portfolio should not be treated as proof that every named whiskey was distilled at Lawrenceburg.
Penelope Bourbon was acquired in 2023. In 2026, MGP Chapter One: Out of the Shadows made the producer name more explicit on a bourbon release, with the label declaring: “The distillery behind the curtain is revealed.”[9][12]
Garden & Gun describes Chapter One as a 10-year-old bourbon bottled at 55.5% ABV (111 US proof), made from 60% corn, 36% rye and 4% malted barley, and aged in Warehouse G. It debuted at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown in September 2026.[12] Those details describe that release, not a standard recipe for everything Lawrenceburg makes.
What the 2026 Kentucky idlings meant
The announced temporary idlings concerned Limestone Branch in Lebanon and Lux Row in Bardstown, effective from 1 May 2026. They did not mean that Lawrenceburg had stopped distilling.[5]
This is a useful example of why a group announcement must be read site by site. A parent company can own several distilleries with different production decisions, while a corporate rename can happen independently of those decisions.[5][6]
For this article, the relevant distinction is straightforward: the Kentucky announcement concerned two named Kentucky sites, whereas Lawrenceburg remained the Indiana production operation. Their subsequent restart status is not established in the supplied record.[5]
Where to go next
- Bulleit: explore a separate American whiskey brand history.
- WhistlePig: continue with another American whiskey brand profile.
- Four Roses: read a separate distillery and ownership history.
Sources
- MGP Ingredients. MGP supports Lawrenceburg heritage with limited edition. Producer's account, undated in the supplied record. https://www.mgpingredients.com/more-information/news-press/news-releases/mgp-supports-lawrenceburg-heritage-limited-edition
- MGP Ingredients. MGP Ingredients Announces Greg Metze is Departing Company after 38 Years of Service. Producer's account, 20 May 2016. https://www.mgpingredients.com/more-information/news-press/news-releases/mgp-ingredients-announces-greg-metze-departing-company
- MGP Ingredients. Exhibit 99.1, 28 December 2011. Company announcement filed with the SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/835011/000117184311003784/exh_991.htm
- MGP Ingredients. Form 8-K, 1 April 2021. SEC filing. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/835011/000162828021006351/mgpi-20210401.htm
- MGP Ingredients. Exhibit 99.1, 7 April 2026. Company announcement filed with the SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/835011/000083501126000052/ex991mgpdistillery.htm
- Sempreon, via Business Wire. Sempreon Officially Debuts as the New Name of MGP Ingredients. Producer's account, 2 November 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261102243674/en/Sempreon-Officially-Debuts-as-the-New-Name-of-MGP-Ingredients
- The Spirits Business. Luxco renames distillery to bolster MGP's own label brands. September 2021. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2021/09/luxco-renames-distillery-to-bolster-mgps-own-label-brands/
- Drinks Intel. MGP Ingredients moves into consumer brands with bourbon launch. 2026. https://drinks-intel.com/spirits/mgp-ingredients-moves-into-consumer-brands-with-bourbon-launch/
- Beverage Information Group. MGP Ingredients to rebrand as Sempreon, adopt CASK ticker. 15 October 2026. https://bevinfogroup.com/2026/10/15/mgp-ingredients-rebrand-sempreon-adopt-cask-ticker/
- Whisky Advocate. Indiana's Growing Crop of Distilleries. Undated in the supplied record. https://whiskyadvocate.com/Indiana-Whiskey-Distilleries
- Cincinnati Magazine. The Biggest Distillery You've Never Heard of is in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Undated in the supplied record. https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/high-spirits-blog/mgp-ingredients-lawrenceburg/
- Garden & Gun. Inside the MGP distillery. 2026 reporting, publication date not supplied. https://gardenandgun.com/inside-mgp-distillery
This desk-researched article follows verified fact sheet TOP-A311, separating company filings, producer accounts and trade reporting.
Last checked: November 2026