This is Whiskey Wanderlust.
And we're on an expedition to discover how Colorado is elevating craft spirits from grain
to glass.
We bring whiskey explorers like you an inside look at the distilled stories, colorful characters,
and rich flavors that make Colorado a true whiskey frontier.
So pour yourself a dram.
And join us on an unforgettable journey.
In this episode, Law's Whiskey House.
Welcome everyone to the fourth episode of Whiskey Wanderlust.
I'm Corey.
I'm Ryan.
Ryan.
Thanks for joining us again today.
First of all, we want to thank everybody for their ongoing support.
We're now on episode four and we've seen a lot of great support throughout to get us
to this point.
Awesome interviews and we're building a little bit of a fan base, which has been great.
And we really want to appreciate you guys for your involvement with that, sharing stuff
on social or spreading the word.
It's been great.
And be sure if you're not subscribed yet, be sure to like and subscribe this episode
here and be sure to drop us a rating.
And we'll be giving out some shirts to some of your viewers out there.
So really cool, fun shirts we've been making.
So be sure to drop us a note and we'll get in touch.
But today's episode is now episode four and we are interviewing Law's Whiskey House up
in Denver.
And Ryan, why don't you tell us a little bit about what we're going to talk about today.
Yeah.
So we had the opportunity to talk to Casey Rizzo, who is the brand manager at Law's Whiskey
House and Sam Poirier, who is the head distiller.
Yeah.
So it was a really fun time going up there and talking with them and getting a tour of
the facility and just talking whiskey with those two.
Oh, one of the cool things, which we'll talk about in a minute, but we were able to get
not only a tour of their facility there, but before it was finished, their tasting room,
which might as well talk about it now.
We were able to kind of see the new tasting room while it was still in progress.
And in December, we were able to go back and actually attend the soft opening for that
space there, the Whiskey Sanctuary.
And it is, it's a beautiful, it is fantastic.
Yeah.
You guys are in the Denver area.
Look up the Whiskey Sanctuary, go get a taste, go get a tour.
The lounge there is top rate, beautiful staircase.
It's down and down like a whiskey barrel.
If you want to check out the more, check out the real we put up on Instagram in December.
But tell us a bit more what else stood out to you.
So the thing that I really like about laws is their whole, there are no shortcuts, ethos.
And just so that's something that I try to live my life by, like, you know, personal
development and I don't want to take any shortcuts.
I want to do things the right way.
I want to, you know, make things methodical and do it the right way.
And so I really appreciated that, that they're, you know, not taking any shortcuts, which
also led into, you know, with Al, the decision to not really open up and make other spirits
early on.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, so Al, the founder, right from Canada, came to Denver by way of New York
for a long time.
And he founded the facility really incognito, right.
And apparently gargoyle industries and Sam even talks about it.
It was trying to find the place before it was even open.
And so Sam's been there for 13 years, right.
Cause they just celebrated 13 years.
So he's been there a long time.
But the dedication to just crafting whiskey and then him making a certain promise to his
wife, which is kind of fun, which you guys go to the tasting room, they see two things.
First of all, that there is no shortcuts.
Ethos is in the speakeasy, speakeasy tasting room that you come into at the end of the
tours and there's a big black wall of gold lettering.
It says there are no shortcuts.
And there you can also get samplings of Marianne's promise, which is the rum that they make specifically
for the tasting room.
So we should check that out as well.
But the whole gargoyle thing, the whole Gothic theme runs really throughout the new tasting
room itself.
It's really cool.
Yeah.
Which is called the whiskey sanctuary.
Right.
And it's really cool.
They've got like this, the tour starts and they're in this little kind of like a chapel
almost.
Yeah.
With real pews from a Methodist church.
And then huge windows where you can see their grain storage outside.
And so it's an awesome space.
Well, and one of the fun things you'll see in the episode today is behind us, there's
a drawing, it's a chalkboard drawing.
And I remember this chalkboard drawing and there's been some debate over which version
I saw originally, but they see drew the one that you see in the episode and they've carried
that.
It's basically a diagram of the distilling process and their practices there and it's
hand drawn and they've kept some of those elements in the new tasting room.
So now they have chalkboard with that same kind of hand drawings in the new whiskey church
there and it's really, really cool.
And the original chalkboard still lives on.
It's in the tasting room.
You got to look for it.
You got to keep your eyes open.
So if you stop in there, look for it.
There's a special place for that one in the hallway.
Yes, it still lives on, which is cool.
But talking with Casey and stuff about that and her involvement with it, she's been with
Laws a long time as well.
And kind of on the same note, it takes a village ethos.
The thing that stood out to me and Casey and Sam both really talked about this a lot was
the family, it takes a village methodology that they go through and they really seem
like a tight knit group.
Obviously, their efforts come out in their spirits.
I mean, they're producing some of the best bourbon coming out of Colorado today.
And I think anywhere really, that's my personal opinion.
I really love their work.
But it comes out in anything they're doing, including the new tasting room, including
the interview.
I think you guys will see it come through really how they talk about everything.
It's really cool.
So it's a good family oriented project there for sure.
And I really appreciate how, you know, with it taking the village, just how everybody
kind of has some input into the final product.
And Sam's title is head distiller, but he's not master distiller because they don't have
a master distiller because they just have a team working on all the products they're
putting out.
Yes, it's super cool.
And some of the things that you weren't privy to were some things that happened off screen,
which actually speaks to this particular version of the bourbon here.
This is a special release that they released only to Costco.
But Sam and Al both spoke very highly of that particular release.
If you have an opportunity to get their hands on a bottle of that from secondary markets
somewhere, I encourage you to do so.
It's one of their best.
Maybe someone can reach out to you and buy a couple of the stock.
They're going to pay a premium price for that for sure.
I may have gotten more than one bottle.
Yeah, same here.
But the other thing is to, that's a good way to mention this.
One of the cool things they had is a calligrapher who was etching on the glasses or the bottles
for everybody.
So we ended up getting whiskey wine to lust etched on the one.
We each got a bottle and got whiskey wine to lust etched on the bottle.
So it was a special thing.
And really this is a big thank you to Casey and Sam for inviting us out for that particular
soft opening event.
It was great.
It was a great, great event.
And just really goes back to the start where we interviewed them and just had a great time.
So thank you guys for inviting us up there and let us participate in that.
Appreciate that.
And then also there'll be a bonus or bootleg episode.
We'll call it bootleg.
Coming out, we got to catch up with Al at the soft opening event and we expected to
have maybe like a couple of minutes.
He could just tell us, you know, like, oh, it's great to have it open now.
But he sat down and had a full conversation.
And so you were able to have a full interview conversation with him.
And so what we put in that out here in the short time.
So if you're not subscribed, subscribe so you can be on the lookout for that too.
But it was a really cool, really cool conversation.
We had, we talked about the, about the process for the building and then the whiskey and
he really dove into it there as well.
And you probably won't see it in the final cut, but we got interrupted by a state senator,
which was really cool.
It was really cool to meet her and just it, it really, the moment really was like the
impact that Alice had on local community there and people walked in, they were really drawn
to him.
And he's a very warm and friendly guy.
And so we were, we were greatly honored to have the time that he gave us.
Like we felt really, like we're really grateful for that.
So thank you Al.
I thank you Al for that.
I mean, you had a ton of other things to do, shaking hands and you know, but the time you
gave us was great.
So we really appreciate that.
So we'll get to that though and that moving episode.
So yeah.
And so without further ado, here's our conversation with Casey and Sam.
Welcome to Whiskey Waterlust, Corey and Ryan, and we're here with Casey and Sam from Laws
Whiskey House here in Denver.
And we're excited that they're going to be able to join us and talk to us about their
awesome whiskies they have here.
So yeah, let's just get into it.
So Casey, let's start with you.
Tell us Laws, give us a background.
How did this place come into being and tell us a little bit more about Al and Mary Ann.
Yeah.
Well, Laws, we've been around for almost 13 years now.
So we started distilling in 2011.
We didn't open our doors or sell any whiskey until 2013, but Al Laws, our owner, founder,
CEO, puts the Laws in Laws Whiskey and his wife, Mary Ann, they actually come from Canada.
And so he kind of developed a love of whiskey fairly early on in life.
You know, I hear that up in Canada, it's pretty much like hockey maple syrup whiskey.
So started drinking whiskey early on, developed quite a love for whiskey early on, grew up,
became an adult, moved to New York and worked on Wall Street for Merrill Lynch.
So he was in the oil and gas industry.
Maybe not a job that he loved, but maybe not his passion.
Definitely paid the bills and supported his whiskey habit.
So he has over 600 bottles in his own personal collection at home.
All open, all willing to share with family and friends.
He's the first person to tell you if you have a good bottle of whiskey, open it, drink it,
share it, enjoy it.
There's always going to be whiskey aging in a barrel somewhere.
So he really was thinking about starting a distillery.
He was talking with his wife, Mary Ann.
They were actually thinking about starting it out in Brooklyn where they were located
at the time.
But Merrill Lynch transferred him and his family out here to Colorado where he realized
very quickly what a lot of us transplants to Colorado realize that it's a great place
to live.
It's a great place to raise your family.
And it also happens to be a great place to make and age whiskey.
So there seems to be a lot more room out here to take that endeavor on.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, we are very much known for this big craft beer boom out here in Colorado,
which has been very exciting.
And now we're kind of right in the middle of this big kind of craft spirits and whiskey
boom, which is awesome.
Got a really educated consumer base here in Colorado.
Yeah, well, I mean, in Beard, Colorado, I've got a long history, right?
Got a few small guys here, right?
But it's been fun to, like you said, transplants, right?
I'm a transplant.
And I moved here from Arizona where I think when I left, there were like five distilleries
in the state.
And I like, you know, I ran across one of the trail maps here.
I was like, holy smokes.
And on the map of the 60 some odd distilleries, I was like, this place is.
Yeah, I think it's probably upwards to 100 now.
Yeah, I think you're right.
So I mean, it's a great place to start up.
So tell us more about that journey, though, like he didn't just decide to open up a distillery
here.
Like he did some he did some massive research.
Yeah, you know, he's an analyst by trade.
So he sat back and analyzed everything, read a lot of books.
Him and his wife went down to Kentucky to travel the Bourbon Trail, do a little bit
of research, kind of met some people along the way.
And one of those people that he met was a gentleman by the name of Bill Friel.
Bill was the master distiller of Barton's for over 35 years.
He's one of the only living members in the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.
He was a consultant in the whiskey world for a long time and then very happily retired
when Al was able to kind of set up this very quick, almost 30 minute meet and greet with
them to pick his brain.
They were chatting, drinking 30 minutes turned into an hour, turned into two hours.
At the end of this conversation, he had convinced Bill to come out here to Denver and help him
start this distillery.
So Al obviously has this big passion for whiskey.
Bill saw that and really wanted to cultivate that, which we all appreciate.
So they came out here, we got this building, all the equipment.
And then July 4th, 2011 is when we distilled our first bourbon here.
And Bill was very much a guide in that whole process for Al, but he wasn't necessarily
teaching him exactly how to make whiskey.
Because when he was back here with Bill and they're running their first batches, Al was
asking every question he could.
He wanted to use that time while Bill was out here.
And Bill would be like, I'm not going to make your whiskey for you son.
What do you think?
Interesting.
So he was answering every question with a question and guiding Al through that process,
but he wasn't going to tell him how to make his whiskey.
Interesting.
That's definitely that guide mentality is a good thing, right?
Yeah.
Well, Al refers to Bill as his Yoda because of that kind of cryptic response to every
question.
Yeah.
But then it allowed Al to kind of create everything his own.
And so it wasn't just a remake of something else.
It was very much his own.
Absolutely.
With the confidence that he had someone there who's been doing it for 40 plus years.
Yeah.
He didn't guide him or show him the way he basically kind of hopped on his back and whipped
him into shape.
Yeah.
Just wax on and wax off a couple of times.
So let's kind of back up too.
Because it sounds like Al does research, right?
They're making a huge leap coming from New York out here with the transfer, but they're
in a new area, right?
Obviously doing, they're tapping some good talent, right?
But what was the vision that he originally set out to cast for laws?
And tell us more about that.
Yeah.
You know, we have our flagship four grain bourbon, which is what started it all.
And that was really Al's vision and still fairly unique to us with our mashbills, 60%
corn, 20% wheat, 10% rye, 10% barley.
And usually in the bourbon world, you see bourbons either referred to as, you know,
weeded bourbons or rye heavy bourbons.
So either or is the flavor grain.
Because sometimes those grains don't really play together very well.
Al really liked the idea of the drinkability of a weeded bourbon, something like Maker's
Mark with the complexity of a rye heavy bourbon.
Something like four roses was kind of some inspiration for him.
So he really wanted to be able to capture that drinkability of the wheat and the complexity
of the rye in a four grain bourbon.
So it is a little bit more detailed process to be able to express those grains together
and get them to play well.
But that was really the first thing that started it all.
Yeah, I think he saw there was kind of a gap.
There was this missing piece in American whiskey.
He wanted to make great traditional American whiskey, but he wanted to have all of his
favorite components from whiskeys in one drink and to experience those flavors or aromas
throughout that one sip.
So I mean, he does a good job.
And one of the unique things I've been talking to you guys too is your history, right?
Is you guys, Al set up to make whiskey, right?
And that's it.
So there was a three year gap between the time that he started distilling to the time
that started selling, right?
Whereas a lot of other facilities go and make other spirits, vodka, gin or whatever.
Al didn't do that at first, right?
Even though I know you guys have some side projects going on, which we would hopefully
talk about too, but it's exclusively whiskey throughout with a Laws label on it, correct?
Yeah, yeah.
And that was really important to us as well.
We've never ever sourced.
We've never released kind of a young whiskey under three years really.
So that was a big goal.
Al wanted to make a straight whiskey.
He always wanted to put that on the label from day one, which is at least two years
old.
He made some stuff, aged it for two years, kind of was tasting through it.
We were well on our way, but not quite there yet.
So waited a whole nother year at three years.
It was kind of like, yep, this is a great profile.
This is where we want to start.
And that's when we first bottled.
So we've never released anything under three years.
And anything that you ever have had from Laws or will have from Laws has always been distilled
right here in our distillery.
It's definitely a unique position to be in, to be able to lay down product for three years
and not put something out.
But Al is pretty stubborn and he loves whiskey.
He doesn't drink vodka.
Doesn't drink beer or wine.
This is what he set out to do is make great whiskey.
And you have to be patient to do that.
And I understand he had some creative methods to kind of stay afloat during that time, right?
As you guys were waiting for things to age.
Yeah.
Well, for one, I mean, Al and Marion had their day jobs.
It was just them when they started this place.
So I think they made the first 50 barrels or so before they brought anyone else in.
But yeah, he also had some friends around that.
The industry he worked in and met through the corporate side of the world that he was
able to sell off the first barrels that he made to bring some money back in.
And those barrels, some of them still exist or referred to as their origins barrels because
they're the start of it all here at Laws & Ska.
Well, Wall Street's no stranger to liking good whiskey.
So I think he probably had some deep pockets to friends that would enjoy the product.
So that's good.
We've been able to buy some of those barrels back over the years.
I feel maybe a few of those friends originally kind of bought those barrels.
It's like, oh yeah, we'll help you out.
And in the first couple of years, realized very quickly what they had.
So we've been able to sell or buy a few barrels back.
But some of those barrels are definitely owned by those people now.
And they're like, no, we know what we have.
We're not letting those go.
And they're still aging here, correct?
There's not many back there.
Oh, okay.
They have their names written on the outside of the barrels too?
Yep, they're painted black.
They say origins.
And the origin series still to this day is kind of our limited release.
We do once a year to put out something special.
Now you said Al doesn't drink vodka, but I understand there might be an exception to
that.
I don't see how to drink vodka.
Perhaps there is.
Please remind me.
I should recall a conversation with some of your friends down the street.
Oh, I mean, I'm sorry.
What he does, he prefers the rye vodka from Bear Creek.
The Bear Creek vodka they make down there definitely has a soul and has some flavor
to it and some body to it.
It's a great vodka, but it has more complexity than something you're buying off the shelf.
Yeah, we had the pleasure of tasting that when we were down there too.
And it was awesome.
Yeah.
I don't like vodka really either, especially straight.
But yeah, it was really good.
So yeah.
Now there was also kind of a unique story behind because when Al first started this
place, a little incognito, right?
A little nondescript, right?
And even had a certain sign that was up before it was Laws, right?
Yeah.
You'll see throughout this distillery as well, quite a few gargoyles hanging around.
Some of our barrels even say Gargoyle Enterprise as opposed to Laws Whiskey House, some of
those older barrels.
And Laws Whiskey Houses are doing business name, but Gargoyle Enterprise is what we fall
under.
So for the first couple of years, this building did say Gargoyle Enterprise out front, you
know, Whiskey is a long game.
We didn't really want people talking about what we're doing in those first few years.
Knocking on the door.
Hey, what are you doing in there?
Yeah, like what's going on in there?
That's happened though, right?
Of course it happened.
We'll get more into that later.
So yeah, we were very incognito the first three years, just kind of making an aging
whiskey.
And when we were ready to bottle and sell, that is when Gargoyle Enterprise came down
and then Laws Whiskey House came up.
And so we've been known as Laws Whiskey House forevermore.
And that Gargoyle name lives on.
The Gargoyle name lives on.
So gargoyles are here to protect the good spirits from the bad spirits.
So we appreciate them being in our distillery.
And we also, you mentioned, you know, we do do some side projects and Sam gets to do some
fun things.
And that goes under our Gargoyle name if we're not producing whiskey.
And there was one particular promise that...
Ah, yes.
Internally, we refer to it as the broken promise, but yeah, so Al's wife, Mary Ann, is a rum
drinker and she loves rum.
So yeah, I think part of the negotiation when they were coming up with the ideas to start
the distillery was, well, you have to make me rum.
Sure.
And we have made that rum.
We have never put it out, but we do have a good amount of rum and I think it's pretty
good.
Mary Ann likes it most importantly.
So that was referred to as Mary Ann's promise or Mary Ann's broken promise throughout the
years.
That's what you do.
You get a label, right?
Mary Ann's promise and you have like a forged crack right in the bottom.
We do have labels.
It is called Mary Ann's promise.
And you'll see that at some point from us, maybe when we open our new taster room that
we have.
Yes, the label's done.
It's ready to go.
We will launch it with the new tasting room.
There may be some different things associated with time and waiting on the label as well,
but it is here.
So I think Mary Ann is happy.
That's one of the things that I really appreciate about your distilleries is that your whole
ethos is of patience and slowing down and on the wall in there, yeah, there's no shortcuts.
Can you tell us more about that ethos, the patience and the waiting?
Yeah.
I mean, we live by that here.
We do everything the hard way and the slow way.
So from the traditional process we use in our whiskey production to building the company
and the brand, we want to do it right and make sure that everything's up to our standards.
So it's not a fast process.
It's not.
Whiskey takes time.
It takes patience between that second and third year that Al decided to age that whiskey
for that additional year.
He went out and got a tattoo of a gargoyle just kind of sitting on a barrel waiting to
just symbolize that you need to be patient.
It takes time.
So that's a big component of whiskey and good whiskey for sure.
The gargoyle is such a cool icon that you guys have it kind of more incognito and not
a script as you kind of layered in things, but it'd be cool to see the gargoyle of the
last one of your bottles eventually.
So tell me, and I'm a little bit of a brand nerd and talking to you now, I'm kind of realizing
is there a significance behind the design of the mark there on the logo?
Yes, there's significance behind everything here.
I kind of figure not every distillery though has that approach.
So tell us more about, I mean, that looks like a Celtic knot at first glance, but tell
me more about it.
Yeah, absolutely.
So it is essentially kind of two knots intertwined, really one symbolizing time and one symbolizing
process and where they meet in the middle is where you get that great whiskey.
All right.
So let's talk a lot about laws and the origins, but tell us more about your origins, right?
Because you've got quite a journey to get here, right, and work at events and hospitality,
right?
Tell us how you ended up here and your journey to become a brand manager here at Laws.
Yeah, well, I have always loved whiskey and kind of the beer scene as well.
And I really started kind of in this hospitality and events field.
I worked in a very service industry, hospitality focused world for a long time, 60 hours a
week till four o'clock in the morning and got kind of very burnt out on that and pivoted
at one point into kind of like an HR role that was fine, but not in any way of passion
at all.
And I was introduced to laws and I actually took my husband here on a tour and I just
instantly fell in love.
And after the tour, I was like, I could do that.
And he was like, you really could do that.
And a few years later, it was kind of by happenstance that I was even seeking anything out because
I had just had a child.
So I was on maternity leave.
I wasn't thinking about going back to my corporate job.
And I was working at a brewery and Laws just posted that they were hiring for the tasting
room for brand ambassadors in the tasting room.
And at the time I had a very small baby.
Like I didn't know if the schedule would work for me.
I didn't know like what the hours were, what they were offering.
I was like, I have to come in and interview for this position.
And I interviewed with the tasting room manager and Sam's wife, Julia, actually, she was in
the tasting room at the time.
And she was my very first interview.
And I got it.
And it was like, essentially dream job from the beginning.
I never miss a chance to talk about or drink whiskey.
So I was just in love from the very beginning.
I really like being able to kind of take information about distilling and kind of compress it down
to smaller parts for people to understand, for the masses to understand.
Sure.
Well, you've done a good job with this thing, right?
Because I understand you drew this.
I did draw that, yes.
And that's a big part here.
We're super nerdy.
We really get into education.
And I think all our brand ambassadors do a really, really great job at introducing whiskey
to the masses.
So you can come here with very little knowledge or even any sort of love for whiskey and really
experience a great tour and get a love for whiskey.
And also you can come as an Uber whiskey nerd and find stuff for you as well.
So yeah, I've kind of just used this opportunity to get my hands dirty wherever I can and say
yes to any opportunity that has come my way.
Now I get to be more on the brand and marketing side of things, which is pretty awesome.
Do you remember who did your tour when you first came in?
Are the others still here?
They are not still here now.
I don't remember who it was actually.
You can ask for the Sam.
Oh, I don't give tours.
No.
But Sam did watch my first tour.
So when you become a brand ambassador, one of the first things that you have to do is
like do the tour for one of the distillers.
You're a pretty intimidating guy.
How did that go?
It was intimidating.
It was very intimidating.
And I didn't know Sam very well.
So I was like, oh, and Sam is obviously a wealth of knowledge.
So I was like, oh yeah, here, jump on your first tour.
And Sam's going to be here with like a notepad taking notes about how you do.
So that was intimidating.
But I made it and he said that I could, I passed and I could go on to the next thing.
So here you are.
How many years ago was that now?
That was five years ago.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Or five years soon.
My five year anniversary is coming up.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Awesome.
So we back up too, because you mentioned that you kind of have roots here in Colorado,
but you're also out from Mount East, right?
Tell us a little more about like, you had some family in both places, right?
Yes.
I kind of bounced back and forth between like the four corners area, Durango and Massachusetts.
So my dad's always lived in Mass.
I moved out here to Durango with my mom when I was very young.
So yeah, I bounced back and forth, met my husband back East, and then we moved back
out to Denver in 2007.
So we've been out here for quite a long time now.
We got two data points now from Al and Marian moving out from Mount East.
You're now from Mount East.
And I think we've got one more coming, right?
Because that's where you're from.
Yes.
Right.
I'm from Maine originally.
And I will say Al and Marian are actually from Alberta, Canada.
So that's true.
That's true.
Not out East, but they were in New York for a long time, pretty far North.
So tell us more about your journey than getting here.
How did you, I mean, Portland to Colorado, fill us in.
Yeah.
So I mean, I grew up, my dad had a home still at home.
I think as a kid, that image, just the vessel is pretty cool in itself.
You know, it's kind of copper pot sitting on the stove with a long copper little coil
going through the sink with ice in it and then dripping down into a bottle.
I think also there was kind of a rebellious nature to that that stuck with me.
But my dad made very poor quality country wine.
I don't, you know, I was a kid.
I didn't consume it.
I'm told it was pretty terrible.
But he would distill it into some version of brandy.
So that was my first introduction into distilling when I was a kid.
And I think that image always stuck with me.
And then growing up in Portland, I grew up around the restaurant scene and the craft
beer scene and worked for a really great spot that took me all over, all over the world
visiting these small farmhouse breweries in Belgium.
We would travel to all different places and get to experience that meet people.
And that was my introduction into the passion of why people do this.
So I wanted to learn more about that.
And ultimately, I dove into reading everything I could about distilling, took some courses
and eventually got an internship here in Colorado.
That's what brought me out here in 2012, which is where I met my wife at a distillery and
been making whiskey ever since.
We did a short stint back in Maine helping a friend open a distillery, but my wife is
from the Denver area and wanted to come back here.
So that brought us back out here.
And I was looking for work and I was talking to the distilleries around the area.
And Laws was one of them and I didn't have an appointment or anything.
I just came and I knocked on the door.
There's no one out front.
But it happened to be Al who was back here running all the equipment that day.
And he was like, oh, come on in.
And he showed me around and I think that probably lasted for about an hour.
And you could just feel the passion and the reason behind everything he was doing here
really struck a chord with me.
And when I walked out the door, I called my wife and I was like, this is the spot I want
to work at.
I need to be here.
And luckily, the cards aligned or the stars aligned.
The gargoyles aligned.
And about a month later, he gave me a call and they had an opening.
And I've been here for almost 10 years.
OK.
So had the gargoyle sign come off when you walked in the door?
No, it's funny is this whole space we're sitting in now was one of our rack houses, the main
rack house at the time.
And all of the barrels were painted as the gargoyle that we see up here behind us.
And when we did our public launch, we had to go in and reface all the barrels because
we didn't want to have some confusion.
So we had to sand them all down, paint them.
Originally, all of the barrels were painted white.
Like this is barrel number 100 we have behind me because we were painting over that gargoyle
and making sure it was all branded properly for the launch.
So you just I mean, you go around and look at it for every gargoyle sign on the neighborhood
knock or did you did you have an inkling that he was doing some stealing?
Well, I had known about it when I was working at another distiller in Colorado.
I had heard about him starting up.
And so I knew it existed here.
I don't know that there was any sign on the front of the building at the time.
So kind of nondescript warehouse, I think I got the address off the Internet.
Yeah.
So where did travel says you landed here.
So so so in that time, since you've been here almost 10 years, how have you seen the whiskey
itself kind of evolve and change or has it evolved and change at all?
Yeah, absolutely.
I haven't moved away from any of the core kind of foundations of what we started the
company on.
But I would say that every little factor has changed over the years.
I mean, we're obsessed with making the best whiskey we can.
And for us, that means we run experiments constantly.
If anyone proposes something, we'll we'll debate it.
We'll test it out.
We'll patiently wait and then we'll get to taste it on the back end and talk about these
things we've seen.
But we we're not set in stone with like, this is how we make whiskey.
You won't ever change.
We have changed little things slowly over the years.
But we like to think we're making our best whiskey today.
Because of the experience we've had, you know, in all these little test runs that we've done
over the years.
But it's a slow process in whiskey changing things.
Sure.
And you have to be pretty confident to make a consistent change like that.
But really, you know, quarter everything we do is showcasing the beautiful grains that
we grow here in Colorado and maximizing those flavors.
So that that's what we're looking at when we're doing anything.
That is the pinnacle of what we're trying to do.
So I certainly want to talk to you about, you know, sourcing locally, sort of Colorado.
But before we get there, I mean, when I moved out to Colorado, I had journeyed through Colorado
a couple of different times.
I discovered like, my other state when we first moved to Springs, though, I just found
a whiskey trail map and was like, starting to explore and end up down.
I remember where I first tasted your whiskey because I was down at the Edelweiss restaurant
in Colorado Springs, a little German restaurant, great place, by the way.
And I asked the guy, what local Colorado whiskeys do you have?
And he said, we have Bloss.
I said, well, tell me about it.
It's like the best whiskey I've ever had.
I was like, OK, I'll try one.
And so sure enough, I tried it.
It was like really good.
That was near six years ago, right?
So you guys had been producing for a handful of years at that time, but obviously, I mean,
you guys were doing something really good early, right?
And you guys have developed a brand for yourself and reputation.
So tell me more about how you help maintain the reputation from what you guys are doing
while still evolving the future of the brand.
And tell me about your role, specifically your role in that.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we are not reinventing how to make whiskey, you know, and Al had Bill here with
him to kind of guide him through that process.
But what we do here is we're using local Colorado grains with big flavor grains grown for their
flavor, not for their big yield or how easily they are to process in the whiskey production
process.
We do traditional sour mash whiskey, open air fermentation.
We double the still in copper pot stills, and then we age in full size, 53 gallon barrels.
So following these traditional methods, there isn't a desired end result that's going to
be the highest quality.
And we believe that we're using the highest quality ingredients to start with.
One of the reasons Al wanted to start this year in Colorado.
So maintaining and building off what we already have going for us is pretty easy because we
have such a strong system here.
And so many people are so passionate about what we do that it makes it pretty easy for
us.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then with being here in Colorado, you really want the flavors of Colorado, the terroir
of Colorado to come through in the glass.
And so what are some of the ways that you feel the grains are coming through in the
end product?
Yeah.
I mean, we focus on terroir a lot.
That's something that is discussed less in the whiskey industry than it is in, say, wine.
But it plays a huge role in what we do.
And that, of course, starts with the grains that we use.
When we talk about terroir, we're talking about the variety of grain that we're using,
the conditions it's grown in.
Of course, the production process here in Colorado is pretty unique.
And that's mostly a factor when it comes to maturation here at high elevation.
But the grains that we're using terroir, most of those, the three grains, the wheat, the
rye and the barley are coming from Alamosa in the San Luis Valley, where it's a very
unique climate to grow grain because it's high elevation.
It's about 7,500 feet there.
It's dry.
It's hot in the daytime.
It's cold at night.
And then that whole valley is an ancient lake bed, so it has a really unique soil type.
So they're growing these heirloom varietals of grain that were brought there generations
ago and now have kind of cross-bred over the generations to become their own unique varietals
of grain.
Yeah, and we obviously focus on terroir a lot.
And Sam said you hear that word a lot in the wine world.
It was actually kind of argued for a long time that grains didn't express the same flavor
terroir as wine.
And one of those reasons is because farmers never really, grain farmers have never really
had to grow for flavor, right?
They typically grow these high yield commodity grains.
About 85% of distilleries in the entire country still get their grains from five commodity
huge farms.
So a lot of the whiskey that you're getting, good, bad, expensive, cheap, that's still
probably coming from these five commodity grain farms.
And a lot of distilleries won't focus on their grain at all.
If you go to a lot of distillery tours, they'll kind of go right by that, what their grain
is or where they source their grain from.
So by being able to really dive into our regionality and have such great relationships with our
farmers and know exactly what season our grains are coming from, being able to go down to
our farms and discuss all those elements with our farmers, it really shines and makes a
difference in our whiskey for sure.
On Colorado, I mean, Colorado's been producing these grains for a long time.
So it's not like it's unfamiliar to Colorado farmers that this stuff is here, right?
So it's interesting though that, and speaking of different distillers and different people
in the industry, right?
I mean, they've mentioned that, you mentioned the commodity farms, like there was basically
was like beer feed.
That was like the two things that people grew it for.
I don't think beer is actually looking for the same flavor profile as the whiskeys are,
right?
You're not getting that refined flavor profile.
So it's interesting though that we're coming around now and the craft distillery world
is driving that, right?
Yeah.
And the craft distillery world and the craft beer world is really driving the survival
of a lot of these small farms too, because they can't necessarily compete against these
larger commodity farms.
So we've had the pleasure of working with some of these farmers who have pulled back
and really focused on these flavor grains, which is really nice.
The relationship is totally codependent.
I mean, we couldn't do what we do without these farmers.
And for their business, selling grain to distilleries has been huge.
It's changed the entire business.
Right.
Well, and I know obviously you guys are very proud of your rye as well as your bourbon,
but specifically rye, as I understand rye thrives here in Colorado in the high country
and the climate we have here, right?
So tell us a little bit more about how that rye would stand out based on the grains that
you're using here versus lower elevations and other places where you're going to find
that product.
Yeah.
Well, this rye in particular is such a big, bold flavor.
It's beautiful.
And that rye is able to produce those flavors because it's stressed out in that environment.
They have ancient water rights down there because the family has been down there for
a hundred years.
So they can give it water when it needs to, but it's a very dry climate.
And those hot days and the cold nights stress the plant out, force the roots to go deeper
and produce this big grain forward flavor.
So the San Luis Valley rye that we have here are whiskey.
The rye varietal is called SLB rye because it is now recognized as being unique to that
one valley.
But a lot of people think with rye as being kind of one dimensional, it has spice, right?
And it's kind of like a cracked black pepper.
This has so much complexity to it.
There's these beautiful vegetal notes.
There's some citrus notes.
We get a lot of black tea in our whiskies because of the grain we use and it's in the
rye, it's in the bourbon, all of our whiskies.
It's unique and it's full body.
It coats your mouth.
It's just a really fun experience sipping on that whiskey.
And not only do we use this very special varietal of rye that can only be found in this one
pocket of Colorado, but it is 100% of that rye.
So much like bourbon has to be 51% corn, rye has to be at least 51% rye.
And a lot of ryes that you see on the market will still be at that 60, 70%.
Throw a little bit of corn in it to sweeten it up.
Some malted barley for that conversion factor.
You'll see some 95, 5 ryes out there now with that 5% barley for that conversion of starch
to sugar.
But we do this 100% rye.
It's 50% raw rye, 50% malted rye to still get that conversion.
So not only do you have a rye with a very unique varietal of rye grain, but you're just
getting 100% expression of that rye, which is pretty unique.
Right.
And you had mentioned you're doing a sour mash process for that too.
We do a sour mash for all of our whiskey series.
And then so like how, I guess going back, how far is that mash still from?
So it's fresh back set.
So what we do is when we are running a stripping run, when that waste product, which is the
grain, the water, dead yeast, whatever other trace alcohols may be in there, that gets
separated off.
The solids go out for cattle feed and that sour liquid back set is separated off.
And we'll add a little bit of that back set from the last distillation to the next cook.
And that's going to acidify the strike water to get us in those ranges we like to be for
the brewing process.
But it also adds a substantial amount of flavor and character to your whiskey.
There's been times where we don't have back set available and we've used some other kind
of acid to acidify the strike water.
It just doesn't have the same character to it as sour mash whiskey does.
So I mean, the seasonality here in Colorado is wild.
I mean, if you've never spent the springtime in Colorado, come prepared for everything
from, you know, shorts weather to frigid cold.
But that and fall can be very similar, right?
And that's harvest time.
So even summers vary a lot.
So tell us how, especially when you're making whiskey, right?
You're trying to make a more consistent product every year, but your grains can vary every
year.
The harvest time can be cut dramatically short, like all that stuff, right?
How in the world do you manage that?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, that's huge for us because we're buying grains from just two small family farms and
the conditions of each growing season change the grain pretty drastically.
Now our head blender, James Coons, strives for consistency, but we know that we're at
the mercy of the grains we're using because we're just buying them from two farms.
So season to season, the flavors are going to change a little bit.
It's been most evident.
There was one year in particular that is burned into our memories because the rye was very
heavy in certain protein that made it very difficult and challenging to process in our
plant.
It was very difficult in fermenters.
It would just blow up.
And so every morning you'd come in and you hear it just dripping over the fermenters
as you come in and you got to get the pressure washer out and clean everything off the first
thing you do.
But it's a factor in flavor for sure, but we lean into that.
I think our whiskey year to year is very similar, but there's going to be nuanced flavor differences.
And some of the grains, like you said, the rye is actually planted in the fall.
It goes dormant over the winter and then it sprouts in the spring.
They bring in, they have it grazed down by sheep and goats.
So it produces a viable crop for them.
Get fertilized to it at the same time and it's good.
Yeah, absolutely.
The wheat and the barley are the spring crops and corn.
It's fun to see kind of some of that seasonality as well.
Sam mentioned our head blender, James, and he does a wonderful job of our kind of flagship
bourbon and rye.
Those will be batched in a hundred barrels.
So there are about a hundred barrels that come together and he chooses those barrels
and blends them together to get that consistency.
But in some of our bonded products, we release a bottled and bond.
We were actually the first distillery in Colorado to ever produce a bottle in bond bourbon.
And now this year's release, we have a seven-year bonded bourbon, a seven-year bonded rye, and
a seven-year bonded wheat.
So they're all at seven years this year.
But one of the big things about bonded is that it has to be made in one distillery,
in one distilling season, which is just six months out of the year.
So for us, that also means one harvest season.
So you do see some really cool grain variation from year to year and even season to season.
So last year we produced and put out an eight-year bonded bourbon and we did two of them.
And so if you see those on the shelf, you'll see it either says F or S on it.
So that's the spring or fall distilling season.
And even though they were produced in the same year, in this exact same process, same
facility, aged for the exact same amount of time, they do have really cool nuances to
them.
So that's really fun too, because again, we are a grain forward distillery.
We want to highlight those grains and highlight the personality and what the grain flavor
actually brings to the whiskey for sure.
And so being that these releases are all small batch, that you have people who drink your
whiskey specifically for that, because they're not looking necessarily for consistency, but
because of the uniqueness of your product experience.
So tell me, I mean, we talked about your wife works here, Al and Mary Ann, I mean, you guys
have mentioned this before, but local sourcing, it takes a village, right?
It's really the mantra that Al's is-
It's one of our many mantras we have here for sure.
I mean, it sounds like you're building a village.
I mean, you got farm, you got whiskey, it's like everything and family involved.
Tell us more about that and how that impacts not only the product, which love to hear that
too, but the working culture and like you guys and it sounds like you guys are very,
it's not like you're more of a family than you are.
I think we're very lucky to work in this industry.
It's a great industry to work in and we don't want anyone here who doesn't want to be here.
It's a job at the end of the day, of course, but it's not a job to a lot of us.
I mean, we're all very passionate about whiskey and about what we do and proud of what we
do because we're all so involved in the decisions made for our product.
We don't have a master distiller here.
It's not my title.
I'm the head distiller.
I manage the production of spirits, but everyone on our team over here and on James's side
at the barrel house, they have an input and if they want to try something, they want to
learn something or bring something in, we'll do it different.
So we create a culture that everyone has committed something to the product and it means a little
bit more for sure to us because of that.
Yeah.
I mean, Al is a self-described whiskey nerd and he has a, I think, great habit of seeing
and seeking out and kind of collecting other whiskey nerds.
So I think our village is just a collection of whiskey nerds right now.
And yeah, it's one of those things that everybody does have input.
No matter what your position is in the company, when you come in, one of the first things
that you do is work alongs with the distillers on the production floor so you really get
a sense to understand it from the ground up and then we do have such great relationships
with our farmers as well.
So I think it's a great sense of pride to be able to say that when you drink our whiskey,
the brain in our whiskey has only ever been two places, on the farm where it's grown and
malted and then in our distillery and if someone asks me a question that I can't answer about
grains, I can text any one of our farmers and they will get back to me right away.
So it's great to have that relationship and understanding because you can really wrap
your head around the whole process and everybody in our company in this village has that knowledge
and understanding which is really cool.
It's clear to me that for all we talked about today and Al's original approach to this,
there's a lot of heart in these products and I taste that coming through the bottle and
it's...
Definitely.
Laws is one of my favorites that I enjoy routinely and it's a great product that comes through
like that.
So Sam, let's circle back just a little bit and tell us more about some unique stuff that
you're excited about coming up and any new techniques you're using or any new experiments
that are coming out.
Tell us more about what's coming up.
Yeah, absolutely.
We probably make 99% whiskey here and most of that production time is spent between our
two flagship products, the bourbon and the rye.
But with Al's approach, he always wanted to make four grain bourbon but he also wanted
to showcase each one of those mother grains.
So we do make some 100% wheat whiskey, 100% rye whiskey.
We make some fun corn whiskey.
Most people don't think of corn as contributing too much flavor but it definitely does and
it's fun to be able to taste those whiskeys as well as 100% malt whiskey and see what
they're contributing to our whiskies.
But beyond whiskey, like I kind of just said about the community and about people wanting
to learn something, if we want to make something else, then we'll bring it in and we'll run
a short run towards the end of the year usually.
So we've made some agave recently, agave spirit.
We've made a good amount of fruit brandies here.
We've made apple brandy, plum brandy and then all different grape riles.
And then because we're opening this new tasting room, we want to have a full vibrant cocktail
menu, right?
We have to make some of these things that contribute to those great cocktails.
So we've made a curacao, which is based on the aged brandy that we have, which is now
about seven years, been aging in French oak.
There's a Amaro, which this one is more like an aperitif.
So it's a little lighter, sweeter, floral and fun.
But we've put out some of the brandies.
We'll have Mary Ann's Promise, the rum that we've made.
We made it quite a long time ago and it has been aging, will be showing its label here
soon.
No one is missing anything.
What are you working on?
Are you doing some vermouth?
Are you working with some vermouth?
Oh, yeah.
So we're going to be working on a sweet vermouth for a cocktail program over there working
with a local winery, which I'm very excited about.
I think it's coming along nicely.
I love a Manhattan.
On James's side, he has a lot of flexibility with specialty aging, especially finishing
and casts that he sources from all over the place.
So that's a big product line in our experiential series.
He does a really great job with that.
One of them being the Cognac finished bourbon whiskey that we put out, which is mature bourbon
that rolls into first fill Cognac casts, French oak casts from the Cognac region.
And then they're aged for another year or beyond in those first fill casts before they're
rolled into a giant Cognac footer, which is a large scale oak vessel.
It's about 32 barrels, I think of bourbon.
And that Cognac footer was used as a blending vessel for Cognac for 50 years or so before
we got it.
So James does somewhat of a slayer process over there where he now has this thing full
and been aging for years.
He'll deplete it by one third every year and have those first fill Cognac cast bourbon
agent ready to top it back off.
It's almost like an affinity barrel.
Just keep it.
That's cool.
Yeah.
James has a lot of really cool projects under the bourbon or whiskey line at least.
Yeah.
The Cognac was kind of an insider and fan favorite that we released in the tasting room.
And now 2024, we'll release it again.
I guess 2025, we'll release it in the fall.
And it will be our fourth year, our fourth iteration of this now kind of wider release.
So every year, because we're layering that bourbon into the footer and only harvesting
about 25% for every single release and then immediately topping it back up with bourbon
aged and those Cognac barrels.
It has a personality and really cool uniqueness to it every year.
We'll always have a couple of these bottles offerings on the shelf in our tasting room
if people want to try them.
But soon you'll be able to sit down and have them in a cocktail too at our tasting room.
And for our listeners, don't expect them finding this stuff on shelves.
You have to come to the tasting room to try this stuff.
So be sure to stop by.
Again, you guys have a new tasting room, which by the time this episode launches, it'll probably
be open, right?
Knock on wood, Sam.
But tell us a little bit more about the tasting room and what you guys are excited about there.
Yeah, well, I mean, this has been a long time coming.
I've been here for five years and we've been talking about it enthusiastically for the
five years that I've been here.
And yeah, right now we have a small little tasting room that is very loved and we obviously
offer these tours and we can do neat tours and flights of whiskey.
And we're just really excited to kind of launch this brand new tasting room right next to
our current distillery.
That's really going to be more of a visitor experience.
Al was really intentional about getting the whiskey right first.
There's a lot of distilleries out there that have these kind of big grand tasting rooms
and like the whiskey is kind of like the secondary part to the experience.
And we focused on our product and now we're excited to unveil this new tasting room that
is at the quality level of what we think we're pouring into your glass.
So this will be the first time we will be able to have cocktails in a cocktail lounge
and really express the whiskey in that type of way as well.
So we're really excited to have this as like a staple and really an educational space for
our whiskey.
Circling back to something you said, Al wanted to make sure that the whiskey was right first
and understand that you've received a few accolades recently for that whiskey.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, I mean, we've received a few accolades throughout the years that we're very proud
of that we can really hang our hat on.
This year though, we received through the World of Whiskey Awards, the honor of best
small batch bourbon in the world.
So that's something that we're really excited about and hanging our hat on.
People always talk about Kentucky bourbon.
You compete with some big names for that, right?
Yeah, Kentucky bourbon is great.
We are not trying to be Kentucky bourbon.
We are a Colorado bourbon.
But the way kind of this competition does break down is it's the best small batch Kentucky
bourbon and then non Kentucky bourbon, but then it goes for world's best.
So this year, not only did we get best non Kentucky bourbon, but then we did be out four
roses to be the world's best small batch bourbon.
So definitely something that we're-
Do we have to bleep that out or four roses?
I don't think so.
Send a cease and desist to like, oh yeah, we're that.
So all right, sorry, man.
I don't think they're too worried about us.
I don't think so.
It's nice to be recognized.
I mean, we put so much work into this.
And of course we believe we're producing world class bourbon.
Sure.
I mean, four roses, I mean, the name carries, right?
And it's-
I love four roses.
Yeah.
It's great, right?
And they do a great product and they're well known.
And it's cool to see Colorado, you know, it's not the only distillery recently it's
been recognized in that space.
So to me, that's exciting, right?
Because it's, and I think we talked a little bit before about, you know, Colorado and it's
where it's going with in the craft world and the name it's making for itself.
But you know, tell us more about like how you guys are playing a role in that.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that, you know, going back to Kentucky bourbon, that's kind of recognized
as something in the United States as quality bourbon.
But I think we are seeing kind of a new wave of bourbon as well.
So I think really in the next 10 to 20 years, as more distilleries across the country are
able to pull back and embrace their regionality and use those grains from their region and
those resources, we're going to see a very different American whiskey map develop where
you see very much in Scotland with the different regions of Scotch, where you will start to
see kind of, you know, like those and recognize those New York whiskeys.
You know, they have that big Empire Rye program and Texas whiskeys and Colorado whiskeys.
And so I think now people are really starting to perk up and pay attention to kind of that
regionality.
And that's really important to us and be able to say that we are, you know, from the beginning,
you know, grown, distilled, aged and bottled in Colorado and foofed down with Colorado
water.
So we're really excited to kind of at the beginning of all of this, really plant our
flag in the ground and be a Colorado whiskey and really represent those Colorado flavors
in our whiskey.
Yeah.
And at the same time, I think we're very fond of our peers here in Colorado, too.
I think there's some really great stuff coming out now.
We've been making whiskey here for 15 plus years and there's some mature, really well
made whiskies on the market from Colorado.
So, yeah, I mean, the other folks we've interviewed, I mean, great people making great products
and it's exciting to see that come around.
But I mean, for you guys, it doesn't end here in Stillerite, right?
Like it goes beyond that to the knowledge where you're sourcing stuff, but where you're
making whiskey, but you guys are also giving back to the community.
So we'd like to spend a few minutes talking about our Angel Share segment, which is where
Ryan and I, we met through a fostering program for fostering kids.
And so it's a part that is near and dear to our heart to give back to the community and
stuff.
And so, you know, heavily involved in our faith based program stuff in Colorado Springs
there and we love highlighting the opportunity that you guys have had to give back to the
community.
And I understand you've been a part of a number, right?
And I think one that you shared with a distillery down the way here, tell us a little bit about
that one.
And then you spoke about waters too.
Why don't you give a segue into that as well?
Yeah.
So one that we released last year that we're really proud of, and it goes along with what
Sam was saying about just the Colorado distilling community as a whole.
We did a collaboration wheat whiskey that we released last year with six other distilleries.
So it was seven Colorado distilleries total.
And that was really great because you, to really first highlight the camaraderie within
the Colorado distilling industry.
You see a lot of collaborations in the beer industry, but you don't really see a lot of
collaborations in the spirits or just our whiskey industry.
And so A, we wanted to highlight that to show that, you know, we are all friends.
We all appreciate each other and learn from each other and talk.
So this was almost nine years in the making.
But quite a long time ago, all of these seven distilleries got together, chose a mash bill,
took the same wheat from the Cody family farm down in the San Luis Valley and distilled
wheat whiskey at all of our distilleries.
And then we brought them back and married them together and then aged them in barrels
in our distillery and then released that as a collaboration wheat whiskey.
And from the beginning, we got every aspect of that donated.
So the Cody farm donated those grains.
We got the bottles donated.
We got the labels donated.
Every distillery donated their time and resources.
So we were able to, when we sold that, a hundred percent of the proceeds from those bottles
went to Colorado causes that we cared about.
So each distillery was able to pick a cause and us and Bear Creek teamed up and we did
do the same cause, which is actually a building right down the street that is going to help
and house homeless and unhoused youth of Colorado, which was something that's really close.
We had an opportunity to talk to Jay about the project and it sounds like a really good
project.
Yeah, it should be opening that building soon.
Yeah.
And it's hyper local.
It's here in your neighborhood.
And so that's a really beautiful thing to be able to.
Yeah.
They always had a youth center down there, but now it's going to have a lot more resources
and housing for these kids too.
So just to be able for everyone to get together.
And then it was aged for, was it seven years?
I'm thinking seven distilleries and it was aged for seven years as well.
So just for everyone to see that so long ago and donate to that and really it's quite a
feat to be able to give a hundred percent of proceeds from those sales as well.
That's a big commitment, right?
Because you're talking about production volume, yes, but then you're talking about storage
for seven years, right?
And that's, I mean, yes, there was a financial contribution given, but to me it sounds like
you guys gave a lot more than just even what maybe came out in the financial, the big check
that went to the program, which totally worthy cause with a lot of on-house kids and stuff.
And unfortunately, like we were privy to watching some of the dissolution of like the big group
homes, right?
And where those kids go, you know, a lot of them ended up on the street.
So we, on a word, we fully backed that project.
That was a really great project to do, but I mean, you put a little more than just, you
know, whiskey behind that.
So that's-
You guys put time.
Yeah.
Which is a much bigger investment.
We're all happy to do it.
And we are lucky to be able to have, you know, quite a few releases that we're able to do
something with like that.
You know, last year we did our first woman of laws barrel, single barrel pick where we
kind of organize all the women within our organization.
And we got to do this really cool barrel pick from, you know, we all got together, talked
about the Tasty Notes, picked this barrel.
We worked on the label together.
It was a very collaborative label design and then who we were going to donate some of these
proceeds to.
And for the woman of laws barrel, last year we were able to donate to frontline farming,
which is a, you know, BIPOC and woman-led farming advocacy program within Denver.
So that was really exciting.
Our origin series that Sam mentioned every year, we donate a portion of the origins on
Colorado gives day, which allows our donation to be matched.
And then each villager employee within our village is able to pick their own organization
that they donate to.
So that's another thing where, you know, we focus on a lot of philanthropy, but we also
allow everyone to kind of focus on something that they personally care about as well.
So the origins releases is really close to our heart and every teammate's heart as well.
Right.
That's good.
Well, then you have a new one coming up, correct?
We do have a new one coming up, which is super exciting.
It's going to be the first in a series release.
There it is.
And it's our headwater series.
So a lot of our focus is around kind of water conservation and water rights.
And, you know, we've done a lot within the distillery.
Sam can talk to that about, you know, how, how we're trying to, you know, save and recycle
and reuse water.
So we will have, this is the first headwater series that's focused on the Colorado river.
But you know, Colorado is, is the headwater state.
There's a lot of rivers that, that are very important to a lot of different states that
kind of start in Colorado.
So we want to focus on those and focus on the, the water rights and water conservation of
each of those rivers.
So this one is a special four grain bourbon that is also proofed down with a little bit
of water from the Colorado river as well.
And then proceeds, a percentage of proceeds from this will go to an organization that
is focused on protecting and conserving specifically the Colorado river.
That's a, that's a huge topic, right?
Because I mean, Colorado river for those who don't know is pretty much the main water source
for the Southwest region, including Nevada, Utah, Arizona, obviously Colorado and California.
And even Mexico, right?
So it's a huge river, right?
There's been concerns about water levels of the reservoirs along the Colorado river all
the way down into Arizona and further.
So this is a really, I know this type of effort is going to have multi-generational impacts
if we do it right.
Right.
So absolutely.
And you know, we recognize that whiskey alone can't, you know, do all for, for any of this,
but it is something that we, it's important to us.
You know, water is a huge component of whiskey from our productions to growing the grains.
So we really just want to highlight that and really, you know, kind of one drop at a time
help with this project.
So Sam, tell me about what went into this and tell us what makes this particular product
special.
Yeah.
So this is a small batch blended by James and the team over there.
So when James is picking out barrels for the batch, our flagship product, he's going to
pull down a couple hundred barrels and taste through them all, kind of categorize them
and flavor profiles.
But he's also going to go through and pick out some outliers that he thinks are special
as well.
So those barrels are always something that you can go back and use to create a small
blend or something special we're putting out.
First impressions drinking this whiskey, it's going to hit all of our classic notes that
we get with our four grain bourbon from the grain.
So black tea or Pico tea that we talk about a lot because it has that nice orange citrus
notes to it.
Honeysuckle even honey.
But you're going to get to taste all the great grains that we have in it too.
Peyton our CFO actually got some water from the headwaters of the Colorado River right
where it starts and a very small amount was added to proof this whiskey back as well.
So it's just a little fun thing to tie it all back together.
Portoir right?
Exactly, exactly.
And the label is a topo design.
We worked with a local company kind design on that.
So on that front label that bend in the river is actually a part of the Colorado River right
kind of in the Grand Junction area.
I believe it's called knee Canyon kind of that that horse thief Canyon down there.
So that is part of the Colorado River that you see on the label as well.
So you guys are obviously producing whiskey and sounds like sounds like it's gonna be
great but that would not be without people buying this thing right.
So how do how do people get involved with this particular initiative and how can they
help support the cause here?
Yeah this is going to be available both in our tasting room and then online to ship to
your door from lawswhiskeyhouse.com.
Well I think right now we're gonna move into the tasting segment but for now we'll close
off here.
Sam, Casey thank you guys for joining us today.
This has been a great conversation and we're looking forward to seeing the impact this
does when and we maybe circle back and cap off what contributions you guys are able to
get for that.
So that'll be exciting.
So anything else?
No thank you guys very much.
Yeah thank you.
Yeah awesome.
So we're gonna do our tasting segment now with Sam and Casey here at Laws Whiskey House
and we're gonna be they're gonna be featuring a special release that they're releasing this
year.
Sam or Casey why don't you guys kick it off.
The fun part.
The whiskey drinking part.
So we are going to do I'm gonna walk you guys through kind of our three step tasting process.
This is a way we really like to introduce kind of whiskey to everybody.
So we are going to take three sips out of this total.
So every time I do say you know like here's our sip or not you know chugging it all back
we want to save some.
Good note.
Good start.
Before we do anything do not put this up to your nose until I tell you to.
You know that's the most important important part.
You just have to listen to me for a little bit because that's the first mistake that
lots of people make when they're nosing and tasting whiskey.
You know I pour whiskey and the first thing people want to do is kind of dig their nose
right into it.
That's what I do.
Yeah and you can actually kind of ruin your tasting experience with that.
You want to get your your poking stick so you can slap it.
My my teacher.
I can't see this is Casey's awesome design here.
He even has her poking stick.
I need to whip anybody in shape.
But it's not like you know whiskey is a high proof spirit.
It's not like a fine wine.
We don't want to dig our nose too far into it because it can actually singe or burn our
olfactory nerves in our nose and the olfactory nerves are what help us smell and evaluate
whiskey and when you actually singe your olfactory nerves it takes your body about 30 to 40 minutes
to regenerate those nerves.
So when you dig your nose too far into a glass of whiskey you can really almost ruin a huge
huge part of that experience.
So I really like the nose my whiskey kind of chin to chest area is a good area to kind
of walk the whiskey around the glass around.
I even like to roll it along my chin.
That almost forces you to open your mouth because that's how you want to nose your whiskey.
You want to breathe in your nose and then out your open mouth.
You're just going to get a lot more nosing notes.
Don't believe me.
Open your mouth.
Close your mouth.
I'm telling you the truth.
It's science.
I don't know.
So yeah let's just kind of nose that first and this is what we like to call kind of just
our acclimation nose and sip.
So you know this may be your first I think first whiskey of the day.
We'll say it's five o'clock.
It's my first whiskey of the day for sure.
For the record it is five o'clock in the evening.
It's not 10.45.
But you know if I not to put any pressure on you but like what do you smell in this?
Certainly smell sweetness obviously.
Particularly with this the sweetness is really present.
I mean honey or honeysuckle.
I can get some of that black tea I think is one thing to describe.
I get some barrel flavors too.
So caramel.
Some of those barrel notes are coming through nicely.
And again this is our acclimation smell.
So you get a lot of people that say like I smell whiskey.
I smell alcohol.
Ha ha ha.
Yes absolutely.
If you smell whiskey, alcohol, college, regret.
Like those are the answers.
This is what you're smelling.
So now we're going to do our first sip.
And this sip we're not really trying to taste the whiskey or pick up any tasty notes.
We're really just coating our palate and getting our whole mouth ready.
So we're going to take a little sip.
We're going to chew on it.
Swish it around like mouthwash.
And then swallow it.
So cheers.
Cheers.
So I had an opportunity to meet a sommelier in Wisconsin at a distillery up there.
The one called J. Henry.
And the term what your whistle comes from this process of initially wedding your.
I don't know.
Maybe there's probably a parameter out there.
But someone will comment and say.
So the term what your whistle came from this process of what we're doing right now.
Or wedding whistle getting the first part off.
Acclimating.
Yeah.
There you go.
So you know if you have someone in your life that does not like whiskey so sad I know.
But sit them down and do this process with them because you can turn a lot of people.
We lose a lot of potential whiskey drinkers on that first sip.
Right.
People you know you're at a bar in college the first time someone's like take this.
Here's a shot.
You do it.
You're like oh what was that.
Thank you.
No thank you.
Yeah.
Because it's this type of spirit we do kind of want to acclimate and prepare our palate.
So now we're going to go in for just that second smell.
And you guys did a really great job at picking some of that stuff out.
I get more floral notes for me.
I mean there's some.
Yeah.
I can't pin down the flower scent perfectly right now.
Like an herbal.
I'm getting a little bit of like toffee I think.
Yeah.
I get a lot more of that herbaceous.
So where you might have gotten like whiskey or alcohol on that first maybe you can get
some of those sweet notes.
You guys got really great sweet notes on that first one.
Yeah.
And I think for us sometimes it's easy to overlook the standout flavors and aromas because
we're so used to our whiskey we're sometimes looking deeper and looking what's different
or what nuance flavors are in this batch in particular.
Yeah.
I mean I'm picking up a little bit like a hint of citrus too a little bit.
It's not heavy but you know there's I mean getting that herbal stuff too but other than
it's like smells a bit orange peel or something that's.
Yeah almost like orange.
Yeah.
Peel.
Like clove.
Yeah.
Totally.
Usually comes from the rye.
And then the second sip is our evaluation sip.
So we've acclimated now we can kind of sip and appreciate and taste this whiskey this
bourbon.
So cheers.
I get a lot of citrus kind of hits me in the right up front but also there's a fun playfulness
between I think wheat and rye initially.
You get you get some of the spice you get some of the herbal notes from rye but I think
that's really the wheat has that really nice sweetness but it has the kind of this feisty
peppery note our wheat in particular it's a fun kind of spice.
And the finish lingers like in a very pleasant like it's hanging out with you.
Yeah.
Like I'm still experiencing and you know and you're getting that quite warm from the rye
right that peppery warmth that comes in right.
And you get on that finish you get those oak notes coming in.
I think this has quite a bit of mature barrel notes in it that come towards the backside.
But for someone who might be afraid of a rye finish because it has a high intensity peppery
finish this is not this is very subdued but still nice.
You know it kind of hits you on the back end like the first when you first taste it it's
sweeter and then that pepper note kind of comes through on the finish.
Yeah we seek out that mint note in our rye we really love it and some barrels it's a
little more subdued but when we get that kind of bright mint note we definitely want to
include those barrels because that's something we really like.
With the rye you get anise you get herbaceous notes but the mint is something we seek out.
And when I'm kind of picking out tasty notes sometimes I get really dorky and I close my
eyes and I have to kind of sit in the dark with it for a little bit but a lot of times
I'm really pulling from my memories so a lot of my notes will be like oh this one camping
trip or oh like sitting in the kitchen cooking at this one time before I really am able to
narrow it down to what that tasty note is.
And you know there is no right or wrong answers when you're talking about tasting.
That's one of the coolest parts about whiskey is it's so subjective and everybody evaluates
whiskey differently so I always tell like people you know don't get hung up on these
hoity-toity tasty notes.
Absolutely go with what you know.
You know the reason that I told you not to dig your nose too far into this glass and
your olfactory nerves are so important is because the olfactory nerves are the only
nerve in your entire body that have like a straight shot to the limbic system in your
brain which is the part of your brain that stores memories.
So usually the first thing you get is a memory so you know one tasty note that I always joke
about that personally I don't like is marzipan.
You know you hear it everywhere you see it in big tasty notes in write-ups and magazines
on the little tasty notes in the liquor store.
Marzipan is everywhere.
I don't know how often you all eat marzipan but I can say I have only had marzipan like
twice in my life so marzipan will never be a tasty note for me.
I don't know if I've ever had marzipan I've had marzipan.
That is similar.
That's like more peanut buttery.
So yeah you really want to go with what you know you could really throw out any tasty
note and I'd be like oh yeah absolutely great talent wow and that's why you know whiskey
is so fun there I truly believe there is a whiskey for everybody because people pick
out different notes and people evaluate whiskey differently.
To your point I have a tendency to smell a lot of trees because I grew up camping and
I love to smell the trees and so but I try to stay away from trees because it's not a
tasty note most people recognize.
I don't know what a ponderosa's pine smells like.
And when we're talking about the four grain and wanting to taste all of the grains we're
looking for it.
Corn you know people don't associate it with a ton of flavor but it does have flavor and
I think it has a corn silk kind of note it sometimes comes off kind of nutty and you
can you can look for that in there.
Of course sweetness comes from corn whiskey as well but the barley presents as kind of
a toasted bread or biscuity note and oftentimes nutty as well.
You get obviously kind of that spiciness that are basis from the rye.
Wheat actually tends to surprise people you can get a lot of you know cinnamon and baking
spices from the wheat as well so I always describe wheat as like a warm hug.
We talk about a lot about nosing and tasting but there's another nerve in your body and
your face that's really affected by whiskey drinking as well it's your trigeminal nerve
that's kind of throughout your face right here.
I'm doing kind of a whiskey trigeminal nerve you know there's always like a nurse or a
doctor that knows more about the trigeminal nerve than me and is like well actually the
trigeminal nerve does all of these things.
One of my best friends is a reconstructive facial surgeon I asked him if I was saying
this correctly and he told me I was.
But the trigeminal nerve when you're drinking whiskey specifically tells you a feeling which
is heating or cooling so when you drink a whiskey you can't really pinpoint that flavor
but you get that heat or that cooling that's really just your trigeminal nerve telling
you that.
We have those hundred percent expressions as well and I can very much tell the difference
between the wheat and the rye.
The wheat does hit me kind of in my cheeks and flushes my cheeks and I get those warming
notes the rye hits me right along my jaw line and gives me more of like that mint beer mint.
That's the same effect you get like when you eat something sour right it's that same nerve
right that same tingle right yeah.
So you know you focus on smell you focus on taste but then when you kind of recognize
also what that trigeminal nerve does as well it kind of adds another element of being able
to pick out notes in there.
And then finally the last part is we like to add just a little bit of water so we have
this Eldorado Springs water that we proof our whiskey down with.
Sam I told you I don't have any left.
Yeah yeah so I'll let you guys do this however you prefer I like to do just start with a
little tiny squirt and see how it's going to open up your glass.
Everybody again whiskey subjective so everybody likes a different amount of water.
I will say it's like a haircut like once you cut it all off you can't go back once you
had too much water you can't take it out so start a little at a time.
Maybe like to also let it sit for a second because as you're adding water that that whiskey
is interacting with the water and it gets a little feisty so 30 seconds or so it's going
to mellow out.
Some people are kind of snobby about water I would never be also there is no wrong way
to drink whiskey if you are drinking whiskey you are drinking it right so don't ever let
anyone tell you otherwise.
I would say maybe don't put Coca-Cola.
We won't judge you to your face in that we might talk about you behind your back but
you know if you're drinking whiskey we applaud.
And there's that one guy from Kentucky.
I like a bunch of ice and a big pour whiskey end of the day.
You know just even adding just a little bit of water changes everything about that whiskey
so you know you hear about it opening up and it really does so even just a little bit of
water is just going to change your whiskey drinking experience completely.
So here's.
You know back to one of our friends a little north of us that just that's just fantastic
and delicious in there.
So I mean water not that's that's really good maybe a little softer now.
Yeah I think I can taste a lot more of the corn I think once we added the water totally
getting more of that mint.
Yeah.
So some of those more subtle flavors are starting to kind of come through.
Yeah and this is at a hundred proof.
So we don't do anything under 95 proof we are a high proof distillery sorry not sorry
so we kind of start at 95 and go up from there.
But one of the things about you know having a higher proof is being able to express all
those flavors but also allow you you know as a consumer yourself to like add water and
move it down in your glass and get that whiskey expression that you.
And like we said we cater to the whiskey nerds so if there's something you're looking for
we probably have it we have castor and there's some big whiskeys down there.
Bonded and then our flagship products.
Yeah we have we have something for everyone single barrels.
Well for our audience to you know water is cheaper than whiskey right.
So when when still these are proofing down it's nothing wrong right 80 proof is common
right.
But when you do see higher proof whiskeys it doesn't necessarily mean it's burns and
especially craft distillery like laws right.
You guys I've never experienced the burn that you might get from a higher proof whiskey
even if you're going all the way up to castor.
There's there's a certain craft that's put in that that comes from blending and all those
other practices you guys put in before you put in the bottle.
So I've never been off put by the higher proof that you guys put in the bottle.
So you guys do a good job.
Some of them get pretty high proof in this unique dry climate that we age whiskey.
Absolutely.
It's not uncommon for us to see something coming out of the barrel north of 140 proof.
Yeah yeah.
On weed and there's some neighboring facilities that are right now the bottling 130.
130.
I think whatever 291.
You know I like it with a little lower proof personally.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean you're seeing it go to the bottle like that.
It's a lot of fun.
So yeah our castor drink dry especially it's it's good at a higher proof and it is surprisingly
dangerously drinkable.
You would be surprised taking a sip and realizing.
Well as a as a closing note cheers.
Cheers.
This is great thanks guys for guiding us through this.
Thanks so much.
And look for the headwater series release on their website right.
You can go to the website and or better yet come down to their tasting room and check
out their new digs here and enjoy it.
Enjoy a nice drink here.
So thanks guys.
Thank you very much.
Cheers.
Thank you for joining us on Whiskey Wanderlust.
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