OUR STORY: HOW WE GOT STARTED

1999 Our founder and CEO, Floyd "Beau" Wheeler has his first bourbon with a splash of cranberry & ginger. The Bourbon - Maker's Mark. A creature of habit, from 1999 - 2006 this how he drinks Bourbon. Until he discovers the Old Fashioned. 2006-2011. He experiments with other bourbons in making the best Old Fashions and other cocktails, but keeps coming back to Maker's Mark.

Upon return from a civilian deployment from Iraq in January 2011, Beau learns his family had postponed Christmas until he was back. His dad gifts him a small 1 liter barrel to age whiskey. As a well versed home cook, and culinary school drop-out :-) he skips the actual aging and sets to blending to create new flavors of whiskey with off the shelf aged product, which quickly become the house favorite of visiting friends and family. He would continue blending and testing and tasting for four more years, until....

• 2014 - In Dallas, Texas Beau tries 1792 Port Finish bourbon and introduced to the distinctly new flavor profile of a finish bourbon which for highlights the natural flavor of the bourbon even more. From this moment he is a bourbon collector and neat pour kind of kind guy.
• 2015 - Whiskey Advocate Magazine publishes stories about Bardstown Bourbon and Barrell Bourbon, highlighting the process of purchasing whole barrels from distilleries. This is a new concept to him and he starts to wonder if he could do the same. He begins to learn more about the industry and newly legalized distilleries in MD and seems like an option.
• 2017 - Uncle Nearest launched and now there was even representation in the industry. If the Whiskey Advocate Magazine was the spark, Uncle Nearest and Fawn Weaver were the gas.
• 2018 - Starting with his Certified Bourbon Steward, Beau began to educate himself in the industry with time at Moonshine University; Wine Spirts and Educational Trust; and an unpaid internship at Blue Dyer Distillery in Waldorf, MD every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6PM-12AM for over a year.
• 2020 - Free State Distillery is incorporated in honor of Maryland's anti-prohibition past. The mission: make the best spirits possible in each category to bring us all together in the style of camaraderie in the Bourbon community.
• 2021 - The company secures a location and begins building the actual distillery and tasting room. Beau and investors do much of the demolition and clean-up work themselves before working with multiple contractors to finish the build out.
• 2023 - After working with a brand development team on our first brand called "Circa," a copywriter who was part of the team recommends the founders actual name highlights the premium sound of "Arthur Wheeler." Arthur Wheeler Spirits Company is born.
• 2024 - March, after a small business summit in which Kim Wheeler, Beau's, wife, asks the coordinator if there was chance we could work with the team, the team graciously agree to meet with a company with no product for sell at the moment. After subsequent meetings and pitches, Arthur Wheeler Spirits Company becomes the first official Whiskey Partner of the Washington Commanders.
• 2024 - October, After 3 years of construction, permitting, licensing, and perfecting blends the distillery opens on October 24, 2024 with - audaciously - 6 spirts; Vodka, Rum, Rye Whiskey, Bourbon, Signature Toasted Stave, and Cask Strength Bourbon.

• 2025 - January, early in the year, with a new quarterback the Washington Commanders win in the playoffs for the first time in 30 years and demand for our 1932 Bourbon Whiskey is in high in Maryland and D.C.
• 2025 - April, with just 17 accounts the demand is too high for Beau to continue to deliver with his hand truck and sprinter van and attempt to create more accounts and staff the tasting room. DMV distribution comes on board.
• 2025 - May, DMV distribution expands our reach from 17 accounts to 130 in 1 month. Our spirits wine 4 medals at the London International Spirits Competition, including a 96 Point Gold medal for our Signature Caribbean Rum, making it the highest rated Rum made in the United States of America.
• 2025 - June, We win 3 more gold medals at Bartenders Spirits Awards, including the Craft Whisky of the Year Award for 2025 - cementing Beau, his vision, and most importantly his palate as worthy force in the new spirits industry.