New drinking establishment to open just outside of Old Town, but it’s not a bar

There’s a new drinking establishment opening just outside Old Town, but it’s not what it sounds like.

“We have no intention of being a bar,” said Ronnie Price of Wheat State Distilling.

The business at 925 E. Murdock, which is the southwest corner of Washington and Murdock, is a distillery, event space and store.

“We want to be an experience,” Price said.

It’s the latest twist on a business that former owner David Bahre started in 2013. He opened Wheat State as a distillery on the north end of Wichita. Later, he partnered with Old Town developer Dave Burk and Key Construction president Dave Wells on a downtown tasting room at the Venue — Distillery 244 Old Town.

The tasting room closed several years ago, but the venue is still there.

Burk and Wells are still partners in the distillery, this time with Price, who will run it.

There’s a soft opening Saturday.

“We’re not going to make a huge deal of it,” Price said. “It’s just kind of to get our feet wet.”

Hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Price said he’s still working on his drinking establishment license for events. He can accommodate up to 75 people.

There will be a merchandise room for samplings of whiskey, rum, vodka and gin.

Price said he hasn’t changed the whiskey recipe but has tweaked the one for rum.

He said he plans to add other drinks, such as rye.

“Our hope is to keep something fresh in the merchandise room.”

He’ll also sell items such as key chains and coasters along with roasted coffee beans that have been placed in bourbon barrels to soak up their flavors.

Price also is a small partner in Alchemy Coffee Werks, which sells coffee beans to area businesses, and he plans some coffee-infused liquor as well.

With the tastings, Price said he wants to teach people how to properly enjoy drinks.

“It’s barbaric to just shoot bourbon without taking the time to sip it and know all the flavors you experience in it.”

Wheat State won’t offer food, but whoever rents the space can bring in their own.

Price said it was important to him to have the entire Wheat State business in one place, including the distilling, tasting and sales.

He said the previous Old Town venue wasn’t conducive to that.

“Bourbon tends to permeate all things.”

He said it also didn’t make sense to move the business to Andover, where he’s mayor, because it was already licensed here.

“I’ve got a lot of support for it,” Price said of his constituents. “They know what I’m doing, and they understand.”

He said it also was important to him to keep the Wheat State name.

“It was already established,” Price said. “We still are Wichita’s first distillery of spirits, so it was important to hang onto that.”