Iron Street Distillery sits in downtown St. Cloud, Minnesota, where founders Terry and Robin Baune transformed their passion for craft spirits into a full-scale operation. The husband-and-wife team opened their doors in 2018 after years of perfecting recipes and navigating the complex licensing process. Terry brings a background in engineering and brewing, while Robin handles the business side with her marketing expertise. They chose St. Cloud specifically to revitalize part of the downtown area while staying close to their roots in central Minnesota. The distillery operates out of a renovated commercial space on East St. Germain Street, where they’ve installed custom copper stills and created a welcoming tasting room. Their focus centers on small-batch whiskey production, though they also craft vodka and gin to keep cash flow steady while their aged spirits mature. The Baunes handle most operations themselves, from mashing to bottling, maintaining tight control over every aspect of production. Visitors find a genuinely local operation where Terry often leads tastings himself, explaining the science behind fermentation and distillation. The space feels more like a working distillery than a polished tourist attraction, which appeals to people who want to see actual production rather than just sample spirits. You’re likely to catch them in the middle of a distilling run, and they’re happy to explain what’s happening with whatever batch is currently cooking.