Thornton Distilling sits inside what was once John Bielfeldt's brewery, built in 1857 atop a limestone-filtered artesian spring in a small town just south of Chicago. The spring still flows today, feeding production of the distillery's Dead Drop Spirits lineup. During Prohibition, the building became the Chicago Outfit's largest bootlegging operation in the region, and that history hangs in the air when you visit. You can feel it in the original cellar, the aged brick walls, and the fact that they named their signature bourbon after the secret caches bootleggers used to stash bottles. The distillery makes a range of spirits in-house including bourbon, pecan bourbon, single malt whiskey, gin, absinthe, vodka, and rum. Their single malt uses locally sourced Illinois peat, a first in the state, and the Edelweiss barley variety they work with was lost for nearly a century before they brought it back. After a tour of the production floor and historic cellars, you settle into the on-site bar and restaurant for elevated pub food and cocktails. It's a genuine destination, not just a tasting room with a gift shop.