LeClaire, Iowa, December 4, 2011 - After its much anticipated release, Mississippi River Distilling Company's Cody Road Bourbon Whiskey was a near sell out within a day of its release on Friday, December 2, 2011.

"We had a line waiting outside the distillery starting at about 9 a.m. before we opened at 10 on Friday," Ryan Burchett, owner and distiller says.  "We had a steady line of people until about noon and sold all 120  bottles we had at the distillery in four hours."

As of Sunday afternoon, Rock Island Hy-Vee still had some of the Cody Road Bourbon for sale but was only putting it out one bottle at a time.  Hy-Vee's in both Ankeny and Marion, Iowa also still had small quantities left.  But most retailers had sold their entire stock by the end of the weekend.

The distillers have been keeping fans and followers updated on where they can find bottles via Facebook and Twitter as they hear updates or are able to call retailers.  Many area stores sold out within a day of delivery, some selling as many as 60 bottles.  The state of Iowa limited retailers to no more than 60 bottles per store.  Within 24 hours, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division had sold out of all the stock they had.

"We had hoped this would go over well, but we very pleasantly surprised when the state had orders for all the cases we sent them," Garrett Burchett, owner and distiller says.  "Unfortunately, it moved so fast that it was gone before some retailers didn't even have the chance to order it from the state."

In total, MRDC made just short of 1,000 bottles of this first batch.  The bourbon is made from grains harvested from within 25 miles of the distillery.  Corn comes from LeClaire and the wheat and barley come from Reynolds, Illinois.  The spirit is aged for nearly a year and distillers only released the first 6 barrels they made.

The Burchett brothers have been busy for the past year planning for the demand and have continued making and barreling their bourbon.  The next release of Cody Road Bourbon will be Friday, March 2.  Moving through 2012, larger releases of bourbon will become more regular to help catch up to demand.

"We anticipate having more in this next batch.  Supplies will be tight through the year, but we hope to have enough for everyone's stockings by next Christmas." Ryan says.

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MOLINE, ILLINOIS - WQPT, Quad Cities PBS will air a holiday special Monday, December 5^th at 7:00 pm featuring local gospel singers The Westbrook Singers.  The concert is the first in a series of programs supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council that will highlight Illinois artists.  The program will also air on December 8 at 9 pm and Christmas Day at 2:30 pm.

"Earlier this year the Illinois Arts Council called to offer WQPT the opportunity to create a television series that focused on artists who work out of the State of Illinois. We had been hoping to create a series like this for some time, but this grant made the dream possible," said WQPT General Manager, Rick Best.

The series titled "Artists in Profile" is set to begin airing in early 2012 and will include three specials. The first one "A Westbrook Singers Christmas" and a second Westbrook gospel concert scheduled for March along with a concert by the Bucktown Revue. In addition there will be 10 half hour programs. "So far we have interviewed 10 artists of every kind and taped the three specials" said WQPT producer, Lora Adams.  "Our idea was to talk about how artists are inspired and educated," Adams said adding "WQPT had been trying for several years to find the funding to capture the remarkable voices of the Westbrook Singers and now we have." The Westbrook Singers website calls them "An extraordinary group - brother & sisters - dedicated to the spread of Gospel music in a style that is both contemporary and traditional."

All of the concerts were taped over a three day period at Fusion Communications.  "We were so fortunate to have had Capri College come in and provide hair and make-up services to the casts and to Foster Family Music who lent us a really gorgeous piano," said Adams.  Lighting for the concerts was designed by Butch Bos and Jeff Lyle and audio recording was done by Lars Rehnberg. Camera operators were Adam Less, Cody Lambert, Todd Steffens, Chris Ryder and Mike Lambert.  "We hope people will tune in and enjoy the concert" said Best.

WQPT is a media service of Western Illinois University located in Moline, Illinois.

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