ストーンフェイシズ蒸溜所Stone Faces Distillery

Stone Faces Distillery is a small-batch craft distillery located in Vermillion, South Dakota, operating as part of the Valiant Vineyards Winery and Distillery property. The Nygaard family established Valiant Vineyards in 1996 when Eldon Nygaard, who helped draft the legislation enabling commercial wine production in South Dakota, received the state's first commercial winery license. His son Leif Nygaard later expanded the family's agricultural tradition by founding Stone Faces Distillery, named in homage to the region's iconic landscape.

Leif Nygaard produces a focused lineup of handcrafted spirits using locally sourced South Dakota grains and traditional copper pot still methods. The distillery's whiskey offerings include rye whiskey and bourbon, both crafted to reflect the agricultural character of the eastern plains. Stone Faces also produces vodka, rum, and apple brandy, rounding out a portfolio built around the Nygaard family's deep agricultural roots.

The tasting room is located at the Valiant Vineyards property, offering guests the opportunity to taste across both the winery and distillery lines in a rural South Dakota setting. The combination of wine and spirit production under one family estate makes Stone Faces a distinctive destination in the Missouri River region of the Northern Plains.

The distillery represents one of the few grain-to-glass operations in South Dakota and continues to build a reputation for craft whiskey produced with regional identity and family craftsmanship.