Keith Kerkhoff
“The Steward of Templeton”
Keith F. Kerkhoff was born on June 17, 1954 to Meryl and Imelda Kerkhoff, one of seven children. Meryl’s dad (Keith’s granddad), Alphonse (“Al”) Kerkhoff, was among the handful of bootleggers in Templeton, Iowa, who made rye whiskey from Prohibition through the 1970s, actually taking the time to age the spirit in barrels so that his product would be smoother and more marketable. In those days, Al Kerkhoff’s rye was usually shipped to Chicago, and was said to be a favorite of Al Capone. When Keith was in eighth grade, he asked his father, “Isn’t grandpa going to show us how to make whiskey? It’s our heritage,” but his father told him to “not concern yourself.” But the recipe soon passed from father to son, and before long, Keith’s dad, Meryl, held the family’s long-held and time-honored whiskey formula, but didn’t distill commercially. However, just having the prescription came with a certain amount of Iowa Street Cred: In hard times, whiskey-making was one way midwestern families had always supplemented income. Though actual production had ceased for years, the history passed in stories and family memory. One day, however, the opportunity to actually resurrect the brand arrived.
As the 2000s dawned and modern spirits culture revived, an entrepreneur named Scott Bush approached the Kerkhoff family with the idea of bringing the Templeton Rye legacy back into legal production. The narrative had public appeal: bootlegging stories, Prohibition lore, hardscrabble Midwest lineage. In 2004, Keith was urged by his father to invest in the project. He did, skeptically at first, accepting a future with long lead times, barrel aging delays, and uncertain demand. Plans to eventually distill in Iowa were finalized, but for the time being, Templeton would source from MGP. The early batches were modest, but the bottles moved quickly, and Keith and his father hauled 100 more cases to the Iowa State warehouse. There, all those bottles also found new owners within just a few weeks. The brand leaned heavily on its legitimate family narrative, naturally emphasizing the Kerkhoff recipe, the bootlegger past, and the catchy tagline “The Good Stuff.”
A bottle of ‘The Good Stuff’ rolls on down the bottling line.
Unfortunately, at that time, Keith was also made to take on continuing his now-ailing father’s roles in farming, auctioneering, as well as in managing Templeton Rye’s operations. When Meryl died in 2010, Keith then became the central figure in carrying forward his family legacy, a good son with a responsibility to his family, his business, and his town Kerkhoff emphasizes that Templeton’s story is a story of reclamation in turning the hidden skill of his ancestors into a legal, quality whiskey that can be honored, not buried in secrecy, and in doing so, honoring the town and the people who have supported his family’s dream.
Nowadays, Templeton Rye is available in all but one US State and produces all of its own juice. Templeton has expanded twice in the past ten years and is now capable of distilling up to 500,000 proof gallons annually. It now employs nearly fifty people at its production, bottling and packaging facility in Templeton, whose entire population holds steady at about 350. As for Keith, he still farms full time, occasionally auctioneers and is found at the distillery the remainder of his time. Keith and his wife Carolyn have three adult children, Kody, Kenzie, and Kiley. Kiley works in agribusiness, while Kenzie works for a software company. Keith is delighted at the prospect of Kody soon taking over farming so he might focus more fully on the distillery.
Keith Kerkhoff’s story is thus one of inheritance and reinvention. He did not invent Templeton Rye; he inherited its myths and fragments of its recipe, and made the choice to bring them into daylight. In doing so he stands at a crossroads: the heir to clandestine heritage, the public face of a modern spirits brand, and a custodian of family tradition.
Sources:
Breakthru Beverage, “10 Minutes with Keith Kerkhoff”, breakthrubev.com, Jan. 28, 2016
Westword Denver, “Templeton Rye founder Keith Kerkoff…,” Kevin Galaba, June 18, 2014
Buena Vista Today, “Spirited Enterprise”, Matt Voights, August 2011
Whisky Advocate, “Templeton Rye…”, Susannah Skiver Barton, April 13, 2017
Forbes, “The Rye Brand That Was Actually Helped By Prohibition,” Gina Pace, January 16, 2020
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
