Photo provided Brown County’s Hard Truth Distilling Co., in partnership with the recently founded Mellencamp Whiskey Co., is releasing a new whiskey collection specifically celebrating and supporting Hoosier farmers.
Emerging from an initial field of 47 competitors, three items manufactured in Bartholomew and surrounding counties are now among the eight quarter-finalists in the Indiana Chamber’s third annual ‘Coolest Thing Made in Indiana’ tournament.
The three products are: Camping trailers made by Hiker Trailers, 2860 N. National Road, Suite B, Columbus; Children’s bicycles manufactured by Guardian Bikes ,2230 D Ave E Suite C, Seymour, and Hard Truth Maple Bourbon Cream, made by the Hard Truth Distilling Co., 418 Old State Road 46, Nashville.
Hiker Trailers made it to last year’s semifinal round, while Hard Truth Distillery made the quarterfinals a year ago. Guardian Bikes, meanwhile, is making a strong showing in its first year, tournament officials stated in a press release.
Winners for each round are chosen by fan voting, with the products receiving the highest votes in each bracket moving to the next round.
All eight quarter-finalists can be seen and voted on at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce website. Go to indianachamber.com and follow directions to get to the tournament’s homepage.
The quarterfinal round of voting tipped off Tuesday morning and will conclude at 9 p.m. Friday. An individual may vote once per match-up per round.
You must vote for all match-ups in each round to have your votes count. With the beginning of each new round, the previous votes are cleared and every remaining competitor starts with an empty slate.
Voting for the remaining rounds is as follows:
Quarterfinals: Nov. 14-17
Semis: Nov. 20-24
Finals: Nov. 27-30
The five other remaining competitors are: Aqua Blast Corp. Custom-Build Power Washer (Decatur); Birthday Chocolates (Wayne County);Blue Fox Farms LLC, selling woodland and wetland plants (Noble County); Hoosier Racing Tire (Plymouth), and Polywood Chinoserie’s Martha Stewart 4-piece deep seating set. (Syracuse).
The winner will be announced Dec. 13 at the Indiana Chamber’s 2023 Best IN Manufacturing Awards Luncheon.
