Hard work and corn whiskey go together, right?

Tim McGraw thinks so. The country superstar, who is known for lionizing the American worker, looked for a signature distillery to bring to his Field of Dreams concert on Saturday in Dyersville and found it with Webster City’s Wildcat Distillery Co.

Earlier this summer, Wildcat was named the official whiskey sponsor for the concert.

Alissa Nelson, a Wildcat co-owner, said at first it didn’t seem real.

“I received an email one day from Nick Abate with the company that is putting on the concert. My initial thought was there is no way this is legit — it has to be a scam — ha! After that initial shock and first phone conversation, however, it came about that they had been looking to partner with local companies that embodied the spirit of the hard-working American, and the Wildcat story caught their attention. Tim McGraw’s team actually asked the concert coordinator to reach out specifically to us, even though there are other distilleries closer to Dyersville, where the event will be held. They loved our farm to glass approach, and the idea of till, mill, distill, and felt it was a perfect fit to align with Tim McGraw’s values.

“We are definitely honored to have been chosen.”

The concert is also a tribute to McGraw’s late father and professional baseball player Tug McGraw, who played for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. The location is the site of the filming of the iconic 1989 “Field of Dreams.”

“The four owners, myself and my husband Tony Nelson, my brother Brad and his wife Amanda Lemke, will be in attendance as Brand Ambassadors,” Nelson said. “We’re lucky enough to be able to have our own tent at the event so we can work with the public direct. The event itself will provide the bartenders in order to serve our whiskey, including a local favorite – our State Fair Lemonade made with our Honey Moon Whiskey. We will have giveaways and other fun things there for people who attend the concert.”

To prepare for this weekend, the Wildcat crew began the process months ago by pulling three barrels of whiskey for the event.

“This was a corn whiskey that we had tucked away a few years ago for a future release,” Nelson said. “When this opportunity came about it seemed the perfect fit for the product release. We named it ‘Wildcat Distilling Co. Iowa Corn Whiskey’ as a flagship for our brand name whiskies and bourbons that we have plans for continual expansion in the future. We liked this product so much, we wanted it to have our namesake, as it is purely derived from the corn we grow on our very own farm. The strongest tasting notes of this are caramel, vanilla, and the age on it creates a very smooth drinking whiskey, overall.”

Whiskey can’t be hurried, Nelson explained. From start to finish, it takes years.

“The age on it truly depends on when the flavor hits the tasting notes we are looking for. It requires plenty of barrel tastings throughout the aging process.”

Wildcat, with its 626 Second Street tasting room and farm distillery near Duncombe, is hoping all this portends greater things for its future of its till, mill, distill ethic.

“We are definitely hoping that it brings more visibility to our tasting room, and Webster City to a much larger market, and helps more and more people to see us as a destination location.”

She added, “We’re proud of our community, and the support that it’s given us. We’re hoping that this will help bring even more tourism to the community too.”

Will there be “leftovers?”

“This will be an ongoing product that we are extremely pleased to say will be available for purchase at our tasting room after the event,” Nelson said.

“Additionally, we will have some concert specific T-shirts available at the tasting room prior to the concert for those who are attending the event, or who want to in spirit. This is in thanks to Stanhope State, who we’ve been lucky enough to partner with.”

When the music dies down, what’s ahead for Wildcat?

“Without giving away too much right now, we’re happy to say a lot is coming up. Events, a new tasting room, and additional products are on the horizon.”

The Field of Dreams concert includes Ty Myers, Hailey Whitters, Timothy Wayne, Cody Lee and Dani Rose. A few tickets are still available.