Cape Cod's first distillery is in the works

Skip Wrightson at Kilchoman Distillery, Islay, Scotland

HYANNIS, MA -- Locals and regular visitors to Cape Cod are familiar with the traffic jams near the Airport Rotary. It's a place people try to avoid.

Not so for Skip and Rick Wrightson, the son-father entrepreneurs who hope to renovate a vacant building near the rotary to create a distillery they call the Cape Cod Distilling Co.

They would use the former Western Tools Supply building at 411 Barnstable Road as their production facility, and give public tours once work is completed on what is projected to be a $3.2 million renovation and retrofitting.

No whiskey would be sold on the premises, although small tasting samples would be available to visitors. Their plans are scheduled to go before the town planning board on April 8. If the town approves the project, applications must be made for state and federal licenses.

Skip Wrightson said he expects one of the company's core products would be a four-year-old "American single malt" whiskey. No brand name has yet been chosen for the Wrightsons' proposed products. He and his father will use Scottish-made copper pot stills in the operation of what will be the first distillery on the Cape.