Cottle Village Farmstead + Distillery will open in Cottleville later this year

We love getting out to the green pastures of Cottleville, and now we’ll have even more incentive to do so when Cottle Village Farmstead + Distillery opens later this year at 6470 Hwy. N. By then, this 4.5-acre plot of land and its various buildings (farmhouse, shed and barn) will have been retooled to create a unique drinking and dining experience, as reported by St. Louis Magazine.

Stephen Savage, of Wheelhouse, The Midwestern and Start Bar, owns Cottle Village with his wife Emily Savage. “It’s a different way of life out here, uniquely beautiful,” he said.

The way he describes it, it does sound dreamy. It’s still very much a work in process, with the finished product at least a year away.

First, the Savages are focusing on the 8,000-square-foot Tavern that will seat 270 people in various different spaces, and The Still, where the whiskey will be made. This part of the project should be complete by the end of this year. They hope to have the outdoor area – the field where the Tiny Tavern and stage are – completed by next spring, and the private party space done by fall 2025. The Tiny Tavern will serve drinks and light snacks to have on the grass. “There are a lot of components, many moving parts,” Stephen said. 

Although the Savages have yet to secure a chef to head the kitchen, they have visions of a well-done basic menu, reasonably priced and using local ingredients. They are teaming with ninth-generation distiller Demetrius Cain, of Nobletons Distilling House in Union, Missouri, for the whiskey production. But Savage’s plans don’t stop there. Although it’s a longer-range goal, he said he’d like to use the basement to house a butcher. 

As for decor, Emily said they want everything to be natural: woods, grasses and deep green shades. “We want to captivate people, help them slow down their pace of life, ” she said.