You want to kick it off? You want me to?
Um, yeah, I can try kicking it off.
Who did the last one?
I think I attempted to, and then I just kept screwing it up.
Oh, and then you did.
You should try it this time.
All right.
We'll see how I do.
This is Whiskey Wanderlust.
And we're on an expedition to discover how Colorado is elevating craft spirits from brain 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.
On this episode, tell new a distillery.
Welcome to Whiskey Wanderlust. My name is Ryan.
And I'm Cory.
And we are continuing our journey through the Colorado whiskey landscape.
And today we're talking to tell new a distillery out of our VATA Colorado.
Yeah. And this is episode five, which is hard to believe.
We've already released four or five.
I mean, for those that are weekly and monthly podcasters,
you know, hitting five episodes is kind of a kind of a big deal.
So, yeah, it's been a ton of work, but it's also been a ton of fun.
And so we appreciate all the feedback we've been getting everybody tuning in subscribing.
If you're not subscribed yet, please do so.
We have, you know, just a bunch of extra content coming out
that you don't want to miss both on YouTube and through the podcast feed,
wherever you get the podcast.
So real quick, if this is your first time joining us, we we've had a number of really cool episodes already.
But we interviewed Boulder Spirits 291 right here in Colorado Springs.
Dunloss distillery and Bear Creek and Bear Creek.
And this last week, we had the privilege of launching kind of a bootleg interview with Owlaws.
From Laws distillery, that was cool.
So if you not check that out, go back and do that as well.
But yes, please subscribe.
Follow us on socials. It's really, really, really help us out.
And in fact, this next month, keep your eyes peeled and your fingers ready for a swag announcement.
We're going to encourage you guys to like and subscribe to our show.
And we're going to be we're going to be tossing out some cool T-shirts that you guys.
This is one of them. Yeah.
You'll get your choice whether you want this one or the dark blue one.
But yeah, I'm not wearing a Whiskey Wonderless shirt today
because it's springtime in the Rockies and baseball's in full swing.
Spring training is going on right now.
So I have I have a Giants fan and I couldn't bring myself to wear a Rockies jersey.
So but I figure I keep it Colorado.
I keep it with whiskey. Not me.
I'm going all in Colorado.
So the whiskey, the teams, the Rockies are my second favorite team in the division.
So yeah, that's good.
So it's not the Dodgers.
No, the Dodgers, the Dodgers.
That's where we go with that.
I mean, we could talk baseball for a while.
But anyways, this is also our first episode featuring our new Whiskey
Wonderless wisdom glasses.
These are gifted us gifted to us by the one and only Matt Hondorf.
And in fact, if you guys if you are a distillery or
or just maybe club owner or whatever, and you guys want some customized
wisdom whiskey glasses, hit us up and we'll
refer you over to Matt Hondorf there where he can get those for you as well.
Yeah, they're awesome.
Like I much prefer these over Glen Caron's.
Yeah, they're super cool. Yeah.
And they're they're not they're not going to knock over.
And they're they got a nice heavy base and stuff to them.
And they got kind of a sleek, modern look to them.
I think they're really click.
I think they're really slick. So yeah.
Now, Matt has if you've been paying attention to the show or followed us on socials,
Matt has been instrumental to us getting started, which has been fantastic.
And we owe him a lot already.
But he's got something new in the works. Yeah.
He him and a friend. I can't remember his name. Dang it.
I wish I knew. Sorry.
But Matt, he's got a new podcast out called Stewart's of Stoke.
Stewart's of Stoke. Yeah. Yeah.
And they just they just launched their first episode this last week.
Yeah. So go go over your podcast feed and check them out.
Stewart's of Stoke.
They're talking about just getting outdoors, taking care of the outdoors.
And I think I think they're visiting different breweries across Colorado, too,
as they're as they're recording.
It's everything from like mountain biking to skiing, snowboarding.
You know, and
they're hoping to get some some cool outdoor influencers on the show.
Yeah, I think they've been
just give a shout out to Alex Amel, if he's listening to go ahead and, you know,
hey, and Jimmy Chen, if you're listening to here, please.
We'd love to have you on the show.
I don't know if you like whiskey or not, but we'd love to have you on here anyway.
So yeah, it'd be great.
Circling back to today's episode,
we're interviewing the one and only town, Newa, which is
the name stems from Gaelic for Newland.
And Megan and Patrick Miller up in Arvada
have put together a very unique
spirit offering right here from Colorado, which is it's fantastic.
And we're super excited to share with you. But
before we get too far,
their big anniversary event they have every year,
they celebrate with St.
Patty's day appropriately because their focus is on Irish style
and they're self regulated by the Irish style whiskey standards,
which is just a really cool thing.
So we're releasing this episode a little bit earlier than we may have before,
strictly because their celebration is in
from time this episode launched, be about a week and a half.
So on March 15th is their big annual March 14th and 50.
March 14th and 15th, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
There you go. Go check them out.
Yeah. So if you guys are up in the Arvada area
and you want to check out a really cool party,
they have a special release that they do every year.
It's called Old Saints Keep, which we get into in the episode.
It's super cool.
And this is last year's release, which we got from them.
And it is a fantastic spirit.
And we had a privilege of tasting some of the components of on this.
Yeah. So in this this next one, I mean, this one's good.
This is the twenty twenty four release.
Yes. The twenty twenty five is it was fantastic.
Yes. Like just even just the small component.
And so, yeah, yeah.
And so if you guys if you guys are fans of Irish style whiskey,
I think you guys would be very
I think you guys would take to tell those products very, very easily.
And it's really easy to fall in love with Patrick and Megan.
Right. They're just fantastic.
Just a great couple. They love animals.
They love whiskey.
What's not to love about them, right? Yeah.
We met their dog, Millie.
Millie was running around in the in the.
Oh, my gosh.
Around their room with us. Yeah.
Bound the rack house with us. That's what I was looking for.
Yeah. And anyways, Millie was a great little, great little pup.
And we enjoyed meeting her.
But so what stuck out to you in the episode?
I think, like you mentioned, the that they're sticking to the Irish whiskey.
What's it called? The the technical file.
I think is what Megan described it as and that they're doing it self imposed.
So they're not they're not Irish style American whiskey.
They're American single pot whiskey, but they are holding to the tradition
of the Irish style.
And so that's like really cool that they're they're kind of putting
these limits on themselves.
And I think like for me personally, I like to think that when you impose
limits on yourself, that gives you kind of this really
like area of freedom to be creative within that those limits.
And so they're doing some like really incredible stuff.
So they're right.
And that falls into the single pot still right category.
And how they're doing that comes down to the unmalted grain
that they're using right now.
They're not using Irish grain.
They are using American grain
and they're also using American water and they're distilling it here in Colorado.
So it is very much a unique is as much Irish as it is Colorado
in many ways because of how they're regulating the style and how they produce it.
But they are certainly still using that terroir approach
to producing a very unique Colorado spirit.
So that for us is very, very cool.
And then, I mean, the story how they got into it is fascinating, too, right?
They both start oil and gas, right?
Patrick was a field trained chemist for an oil oil company.
And and then Megan calls herself the landlocked mermaid, right?
She she she was on the regulatory side.
And so kind of a one to punch, right?
Got a chemist and a and a regulations like perfect for whiskey, right?
Because it's both right.
So and their story about how they were inspired at
the Rugby World Cup, right?
Yeah. And in 2011, the September 11th, 2011 anniversary,
which we talked about in the episode.
Yeah. And that was just super cool.
So their origin story is very unique and tells a lot about why they chose Irish,
Irish brand or the Irish style.
So yeah, super cool.
And then the other thing, too, is in the time of recording this episode
in between then and now, they have won the World Whiskey Award
for 2025 for best pot still American pot still, which is single pot still.
Yeah. Which is I mean, there's a lot of a lot of brands
that are winning these awards out of Colorado.
But in particular, it's cool to see ones that we've
we've been talking to and interviewing stuff that they're winning as well.
So yeah.
In that mix this year was laws as well and some other.
So Boulder Spirits was up there. Yeah, it's true. Yep.
So it's very it's very cool to see this stuff coming through.
So Colorado's making some waves in the whiskey world.
So it's pretty really, really cool to see.
Well, and then the thing that was interesting about
we've now gone through several different
distilleries, right.
And we've seen a mix of of fermentation approaches, right?
291 uses the open fermentation, right?
They got the big fermentation casks there and they're there.
You know, they leave it to open germination stuff.
Laws the same thing. Yeah. Right.
Tell no, it doesn't.
And that's partially the regulations that they're working with.
But it was fascinating for us to kind of see that in action
because they were actually fermenting over there and
seeing that process stuff come through.
So we've got some cool shots on the tour for that.
So be looking out for the tour asset as well.
Again, that's exclusively uploaded on YouTube.
Be sure to like and follow us there as well.
You'll have the full video podcast and the tour.
They're available to different assets there.
But yeah, anything else?
No, that's it.
So I say let's get into this discussion.
So cheers, man. Cheers. Welcome to Whiskey Waddle us.
We're here in Arbata at Tal Nua Distillery with Megan and Patrick Miller here.
And we're we're going to have some fun talking about little Irish history
and how they got into the business.
So anyways, welcome, guys. Yeah, thank you guys.
Thank you so much for having us.
And welcome to Tal Nua.
Beautiful space you guys have here. Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah. Well, I mean, we could geek out about branding,
but we'll save that for later.
You guys have done a lot there.
But so you guys have quite a story to tell about your background.
I'll let you guys kind of pick up where you guys want to start.
But Patrick, why don't you tell us how the origins of this place
and your background here?
I mean, I think the best place to start is always at our honeymoon.
And it was nine eleven, twenty eleven, an easy date to remember
because it was the 10 year anniversary of nine eleven.
We were at a pub in Galway called Unpukin.
And you say that Unpukin is the name.
OK, great pub in Ireland was actually kind of caddy
corner from our hotel that we were staying at.
And the Rugby World Cup was on during our during our honeymoon.
And that day, Ireland was playing the United States. Oh, man.
And so we were we were the only ones with Team USA gear on in the pub
because it was like eight or nine a.m.
in Ireland because the game was actually being played in New Zealand.
Oh, and so so we were doing the morning watch and Ireland,
unfortunately, beat our USA Eagles.
Ireland's very good at rugby.
And so, you know, we were just sharing jolts and jams
with everybody at the bar.
Well, you're not legally allowed to serve alcohol in Ireland before like 10 a.m.
So we were kind of drinking whiskey out of coffee mugs.
I mean, it's the rugby.
It's the rugby world cup.
Straight with the rugby world cup.
There's some forgiveness there.
But it was it was just this amazing time.
It was such a fun morning.
Well, in walks and this is a Friday. Right.
So in walks, the first cases of red breast, 12 year old cast
rank that had been rereleased to the market for for ages.
Right. I mean, single pot still whiskey.
We'll talk about it.
Kind of get more into the origin story of the style of whiskey.
But as far as our origin story goes,
we were there on a magical morning in which this style of whiskey,
single pot still was reintroduced to the Irish market.
Right. Not to the world, but just to the Irish.
And it makes sense if you know the whiskey business, right?
September, October, November, December, Sandy.
That's your big selling month.
So red breast hits the shelves and immediately the bartender
rips open a case and is like, you guys have to try this.
This is like a huge deal for us.
Starts pouring it out and is telling us this crazy story about
what the style is, what happened to it, why it's being rereleased.
And if you've ever had red breast, 12 year old,
it's a fantastic whiskey, right?
It's one of those whiskeys that I think you can hand to any whiskey drinker.
Bourbon, scotch, peated whiskey fans, you know, name it.
And and they know it's of high quality and it just is really tasty.
I bet he offered me here's red.
OK, thank you. Absolutely.
I hate some of this.
I mean, it wins international awards every year. Yeah.
Yeah. And in the year after year, I mean, it's not a one trick pony for sure.
And so it has just been this we fell in love with it, right?
And we were we're in Ireland.
It's a beautiful whiskey. And then, of course,
going back year after year, new brands would start coming out.
You had the Powers line, John's Lane, three swallows, Red Breast 15.
And then the older expressions, 21, 27 started coming out.
You had the spot lines, green spot.
Now there's red, yellow, blue, gold and then cross emerging markets.
Yes, absolutely.
And all those that I those are all Middleton, right?
That's all made with Jameson's made, right?
So all those brands were kind of the revival brands
that Middleton was re releasing under this single pot still umbrella.
And then, of course, you had Glendalock come out and Teeling.
And, you know, you start to name a bunch of the craft folks
who started making these.
It was just we were coming back like mules, suitcases full of whiskey.
Did you have to go buy new suitcases because you are surprisingly
only just in May did we buy a bottle.
So our first bottle, because we were going to Ireland
and we were going to Whiskey Live and it was like we're taking 12 bottles over.
Right. So they're built for wine.
But so because wine bottles are much more like uniform in shape.
Typically, whiskey bottles are all kinds of shape.
Whatever. And so this is like a like a foam molded.
It's like a foam mold. That's specifically for kind of.
Yeah. Yep. Yep.
But it's like a little bit like a real.
We'll see. It's a good.
You everyone needs one.
Well, I think I think the Colorado Whiskey on the road.
We should run a contest for the podcast where, you know, we get a bunch of people
flying to Colorado and then they can visit all the facilities on the tour.
Yeah. Get those.
They get a free case to take home whiskey with them.
I love that. It's really. Colorado spirits.
Yeah, for sure.
Colorado spirits. Yeah.
Yeah. So for us, this this origin story,
we became these like de facto ambassadors because you
you have to remember this timeline. Right.
This is 2011. So not ancient history. Right.
You couldn't get some of us.
Yeah. You couldn't get
any of those products that I mentioned before 2014 in the United States.
It didn't land out here until Christmas of 2015.
So we're not even talking 10 years ago that this whiskey was reintroduced
from the most ancient distilling tradition in Ireland.
We're talking about a very modern era here.
And so as we kept coming back home, we were like brand ambassadors.
I mean, check out all these new whiskeys, have tastings for our friends.
And we had always just been in love with with whiskey.
And so we were both in oil and gas.
I was at a company called Newfield Exploration.
Their headquarters is in the Woodlands, Texas, outside of Houston.
And Megan was working for Bayswater Exploration, whose head headquarters is here.
Well, in 2014, oil went from like 110 dollars a barrel to 40 dollars a barrel
in like six months. Right.
And my company decided that they were going to close all their U.S.
land offices and and Denver was their their largest office.
And we were like, you know, one of us is going to be looking for a job.
You know, so they were like, you have a job, but it's now in Houston.
And so it was like, well, one of us is going to be looking for a job.
And Colorado is home.
So we. But you guys are both originally from Houston, right?
Yes, I am. You know, I'm a rare native Houstonian.
OK. Yeah. So all of my family is still there. OK.
So it was it was just one of these we had lived in Colorado for a long time.
And and it was it was this decision where, you know, there was a little bit of us,
I think that was kind of like maybe we should be in different industries.
Right. So especially one is volatile, potentially as as oil and gas.
It was like, you know, this should be this should be something.
It's an opportunity because we had this crazy little idea.
Right. That was like, nobody's making this.
Nobody even knows about it yet. I mean, 2014, 2015, the amount of people
who knew about single Potsdam whiskey is was zero. Right.
I mean, you were you if you knew about it, you were the one telling everybody.
And so there there was this man.
Man, we live in a state of which barley is the heritage grain.
Like out west between Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Dakotas.
80 plus percent of the nation's barley is made in those states.
And so it is a Rocky Mountain grain. Right.
German immigrants brought from the foothills of the Alps
to the foothills of the Rockies here. Right.
And and it was like, I mean, same all this.
The brewing culture, our water is fantastic.
We have this grain.
And and there was this kind of like, I mean, should we do it?
And turns out Megan got an email
a couple of months before the office, my office was closing.
And it was for the Breckenridge Distilling Practical Distillery
startup course that they used to put on.
And it's basically a week long crash course of everything
you need to know to open up a distillery.
The master distiller up there, Jordan Vaya.
Great man. He's gone on to do multiple other projects
like Heaven's Door, even with Bob Dylan.
And so these these this class popped up.
And I was like, I mean, it's kind of like an adult summer camp
to go out to Breckenridge and like make whiskey for a week.
And I'm like emailing out my oil field.
I would call him and be like, hey, how was your day?
And he's like, I got to go.
I'm hanging out with the guys at the club or whatever.
Yeah. Learn how to make whiskey.
Yeah. Yeah.
Very productive home in the office.
Yeah. Yeah.
I was on the computer. How was your day?
OK, all right. I'll see you later.
Very business.
Remember, this was my idea. Yeah.
But it was it was just it was really great.
It was it was truly a crash course.
I mean, it was everything from how you pay your taxes
and how you structure your your
workflows and build out your equipment
and actually run stills and mash in and all that.
The business side of things. And it was both.
It wasn't just yeah, here's some recipes to tinker with.
It was it was a full on course.
And it was it was really great.
And it was like, oh, man, I I love this. Right.
However, there there was a bit of me that was like,
I still think I just love drinking it.
And I really want to make sure that we're not like, you know,
that I really do love it.
I need to work in it before we kind of dedicate.
You want to be, you know, start a business plan
and, you know, just become an advanced hobbyist.
Exactly. Absolutely. Right.
And thank God we knew that now because we there was a we'll talk about it.
There was a heavy level of naivete getting into a business like this.
And just the structure and enormity of running a factory more or less.
Right. It's not a it's not a normal kind of business startup thing.
Right. And so I think that's the thing.
So I actually was able to get a job at Stranding Hands.
They had just had some recent turnover.
I emailed them and on like a Thursday
and I was in for an interview on Monday and they were like, when can you start?
And and so it was great because Stranding Hands is single malt, of course.
So great for us where single pot still is all barley and single malt is is all barley.
We'll talk about how they're different in that nature.
But but it was a great learning experience for those three years that I was there,
almost like going to graduate school a little bit hands on,
learning how to troubleshoot all the things, right?
Mashing fermentation distillation, what happens when your chiller goes down?
How do you operate a boiler?
You know, clean, clean, clean, clean.
That's the name of the game.
And so it was just a really great time
that that really prepared us for the commercial side.
Well, we, of course, are totally legally making whiskey at the house
as we're developing our recipe.
I mean, that's that's we pay plenty of taxes there.
There there will be fine.
But we all in most of it.
Yeah, please. The spirits.
I learned recently that makes about 85 percent of the excise taxes in the state.
Like, I mean, the spirit's role is plenty, plenty, plenty of taxes there.
So, yeah, for sure. For sure.
I mean, the layers of taxation is a whole other podcast we should do.
But yeah, it was it was this this beautiful time.
Wonderful crew. We still love all of our strength and fam, we call them.
And there was this moment where I was at the brewer's desk.
I was actually covering for a buddy who was not able to be there that day.
He's actually now our production manager.
But what's his name? Kevin.
And so I was sitting at the brewer's desk and Katie Sue,
one of the tour guides, came out and was like, hey, there's somebody here
who wants to, you know, ask about selling some equipment or something like that.
Well, turns out that man's name is Robert Segrist.
He's one of the four partners at the distillery.
Me, Megan, Robert and my cousin, Amy, four founders.
And Robert had this distillery
that had gone out of business in the building over that we'll go
go see the original space.
Five thousand square feet.
It had a chiller, a boiler, a forklift, a handmade still old
dairy tanks that they were using for fermenters.
And it was like, well, Strainihands is going to buy any of this is way too small
for that scale for what their operation is.
And I was like, well, I'd love to come see this after after shipped.
So we met up here and we were I was telling them about this.
Everything we're talking about, like, here's the story.
We've been making this at the house.
You know, obviously I'm a distiller at Strainihands.
All of that. Yeah.
And and so it was it was just this beautiful time
that we didn't have money pulled together.
We didn't have a plan at all.
And his family was actually gracious enough to give us a year of free rent.
And we went to business school together to write our business plan.
The two of you guys or all three of us. OK.
Yeah. Amy included Amy is lives in Indy.
She wasn't actually getting paid at the time. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, none of us. It was a hobby.
Get paid. Yeah. It's still mostly a hobby.
Right. Yeah. We know.
Yeah. But it was it was just this
this great moment that we were able to really build a team together.
And we started got the keys to the building in 2017.
Did about six months of build out started making whiskey in 2018,
January of 2018, and we opened to the public on St.
Patrick's Day of 2019.
And then we closed to the public on St.
Patrick's Day of 2020 with the with the covid wave.
Yeah, we always are.
Our podcast. Another podcast.
Yeah. Yeah. COVID era with whiskey distillers.
That would be a big hand sanitizer, too.
We did. We did for this for the city.
One batch that was contracted through the city of Arvada for hospital fire.
So we didn't put your logo on it at all.
We did because you have to.
It still follows all the tax and trade via regulations.
Like you have to have where it's manufactured. You have to. Yeah.
So it's I mean, it's it's controlled just like, you know,
I mean, Purell is controlled just like I guess it makes sense, right?
You just yeah, those are not necessarily things.
There's no normal. Yeah.
And I mean, this stuff is like field hospital grade, right?
I mean, it's like really high.
This isn't the we all know we all had a batch of it at some point on our on our hands.
It's real runny and, you know, very different than the kind of nicer versions
that are the gels commercially available.
I'm just glad that is over. Yeah. Yeah.
I never want to make hand sanitizer. Yeah, absolutely.
Like, I think we're all glad that's totally.
Leave that to the professionals. Yeah, exactly.
But yeah, it was it was a crazy, crazy time.
But yeah, that I mean, that kind of brings us up to,
you know, our our kind of birth into the the whiskey making world
and making this style.
And and really, I think the biggest thing that we're doing here
and why we're so in love with it and why it's so special is it's reviving
an ancient tradition that is our family's heritage and our family's legacy.
Yeah. That bringing this style of whiskey back to the world.
No other American distillery makes this and focuses on on this style.
And so it's a really beautiful thing to have the ability to be a torchbearer of
especially at I mean, we're it's twenty twenty five. Right.
I mean, we've been making whiskey for a thousand years.
And and to be at this point
and be able to be a standard bearer of this ancient tradition
is really special for us.
Well, so we've we talked about regulation.
And as I understand your background was on the regulatory side of oil and gas.
Correct. Yeah.
And then you kind of with your job kind of grew into the chemistry stuff.
Well, the chemistry. Yes.
But you mix chemistry and regulations like perfect.
Yeah. Perfect match.
Yep. So, I mean, he's talked about.
But you were all on board of this the whole time, right?
Yeah. Well, welcome back to your own podcast.
I told you.
No, dude, you got the time.
But it's absolutely not.
Yeah. So I was I'll keep it quick.
No, no, no, we want to hear.
Yeah. Give us the details.
So I have a master's in marine resource management.
So I've been a landlocked mermaid here in Colorado for 13 years, going on 14 years.
And when you first told me that. Yeah.
My initial thought was, wow, marine oil and gas.
Like, how's it? But there is a solid connection there.
Especially with like the offshore drilling stuff. Right. Sure. OK.
That wasn't my really connection.
But I guess it was a part of my connection to the company that we worked through,
who we met through.
I I undergrad ocean and coastal resources.
Freshman year after that, I had an internship at M.I.
Swacco in Houston, which was an old drilling fluids company is now Swamberg.
Biggest one of the biggest companies in the world.
And so that's where we met.
So he was in the chemistry lab.
I was in the greenhouse lab.
And so after my summer of that internship,
they told me that they wanted to hire me.
But I had to graduate in three years.
And I was like, I don't know about that.
And like, I really like being at the beach every day.
You know, I'm thinking like a five year.
Yeah. Yeah.
And but but then so it's like in the movies.
You got the yellow legal pad and my boss broke down.
This thing slid across the.
Literally. I'm not kidding you.
This is and I looked at it and I was like, I can do that.
Sure. I'll see you.
I'm on the beach is going to come after the three years.
So so through that, you know, I was working part time for them
for the next two and a half years,
like 20 hours a week.
And I was also able to cater all of my classes
towards what I knew my job was going to be,
which was environmental science and regulatory
and facility management, like environmental policy kind of stuff.
So that voted really well.
And then they actually paid for part of my graduate school
to get my master's and knowing.
Well, they really wanted me to get my Ph.D.
But that didn't happen because a job opened up for me in Denver
doing US land regulatory.
I'm a CSU grad, so it's like going back to the Rockies.
Yeah, so that's kind of what the connection was.
And, you know, I think I mentioned this, like,
this is just one big chemistry set for him.
And this is just one big regulatory liability for me.
Yeah, so it's we kind of make a good team.
And with Amy being her history in digital design
and an artwork and creative being our creative director is amazing.
I mean, she's websites, bottle labels.
We're asking, like, who does your labels?
It's like, yes, we do everything in house.
So she's all our logo design, all the everything that's been made.
It's been a great job. Yeah.
And then not to forget Robert and bring him back up.
But he's also a general contractor and commercial real estate agent.
And so check, check, check. Yeah.
It's like it's you. It is. It really is a dream team.
I mean, I can't imagine not having those pieces because, you know, I mean,
I think it's safe to say that there's a lot of garbage water out there
with good marketing and and it garbage.
It sells. It sells a ton. Right.
And if that look and feel is so important and then having a having a guy
that can execute build outs and permits and all that.
I mean, because like I said, you know, I don't I don't love to use the word
factory so much, though I've said it twice now.
But it is an industrial facility.
And it comes with all those regulations as well.
And building all that out and having someone who could execute that is huge.
It's manufacturing. Yeah. Yeah.
It's factories. It is. It is.
You had a guy the other day.
Oh, he had these guys.
I remember basically like bottled toilet water was kind of like, yeah, there you go.
It's like it's brought in everything. So, yeah.
Yeah. It's like everything.
Just take a real.
Now I don't even want this.
Add enough alcohol to it.
It kills everything.
Hold it back.
Yeah. So I mean, so now you guys obviously love Colorado, right?
And you kind of give it a little bit of a history
and you kind of touch on the barley stuff. Yeah.
Kind of back us up a little ways to
like, why did bourbon start so far east?
And like, why are we now seeing kind of resurgence of like things like American
single malt and even your Irish style stuff here?
Tell us more about the history of that, how we kind of find ourselves
in this current state of terroir, if you will.
I love I love this question.
And I think there are two important histories.
I got it. OK.
But the Eastern seaboard, you know, because people one of the logical questions
is how are you guys the first Irish Americans
building this type of distillery, making this style of whiskey?
With the millions of Irish and Scotch Irish that are so far away
where they meet them very far away. Right.
And and it's part of just the agricultural history
and landscape of the United States.
When they landed, you know, like our good friends at Leopold Brothers
make a Maryland rye, right?
You get Manongahela rice from Pennsylvania.
That's rye country, right?
So all in that New England area, a lot of rye whiskey culture.
And then, of course, corn has been such a huge part of the the American story,
the American landscape from crops, food availability, the Irish
for the first time when they made a batch of whiskey and had extra grain
or I should say made food, had their own grain that they owned.
The king didn't own it that they were able to make their own batches of of whiskey.
And it became really popular, especially when you're talking
seventeen, eighteen hundreds.
The cash economy was fairly fluid. Right.
Goods and services were traded as much or more than cash exchange and transaction.
And so all of our Irish American ancestors, you know, now local is cool.
It was the only option in eighteen forty. Right.
And so everybody was making corn, rye, wheat based whiskey, barley
and the strains available at the time didn't grow east of the Mississippi.
And so you have this agricultural landscape
with this distilling know how that paired to build the bourbon
legacy that has become the the mainstay heritage of American whiskey making.
And so it wasn't until those German immigrants came over
from the foothills of the Alps to the foothills of the Rockies
started planting grassland grains that grow out here,
out here, heartier grains that don't require nearly as much water.
Corn is a pretty water heavy area. Right.
Also grows in a region where there's a lot of rainfall annually.
Different out here.
We get snowfall, not nearly as much rainfall. Right.
And so dry land grass strains grow out here much better.
And so barley became the the crop of the Rocky Mountains.
It's also great cattle feed as well.
Hardy got a nice bit of protein in it as well.
And so, you know, as we're talking about reviving this legacy,
the craft movement is hardly ancient. Right.
I mean, the tradition of whiskey making is but the craft movement
15, 20 years old, really.
I mean, Strandingham's just had their 20th, 20th, 20th anniversary. Yeah.
And and they were one of the O.G. pioneers.
And so, you know, that was really the beginning of this legacy.
So most of the whiskey makers, they're all in Kentucky.
I mean, I we can Google this, look this up for sure.
But I think it's still like 95 percent of all the bourbon is made in Kentucky,
although there's a couple thousand U.S. distillers.
And most of those aren't in the state.
The volume of whiskey that the big folks produce, like we're at Willett
in this past February year ago and in one of their rack houses.
And they have small rack houses that are only 20,000 barrels.
Like there are more barrels and this one rack house
than there are in the entire state of Colorado.
And you walk out to the overlooks Heaven Hill.
And they have 77, 70,000 barrel rack houses, just Heaven Hill. Right.
And it's just like the scale here is a totally different.
Yeah, it's totally different. Right.
And so it's just this really cool thing that, you know, like anything craft,
anything handmade, it's lower.
It's hands on.
Although we are a manufacturing facility, it's it's much more tactile for us.
Barrel to barrel. You know, we make 16 barrels a week.
And and so 20,000 eventually.
Yeah, we're getting there.
Like at this time. So it's what? Just noon.
Buffalo Trace has made more barrels today than Tall New Will this entire year.
Wow. Right. I mean, we're in a very different situation.
That's great. Yeah.
But I think it's something beautiful about about the craft movement.
And so, you know, it answers that question.
It's like, why are you guys the first ones?
It was like, well, this whiskey didn't reappear until 2011.
Strandhansel is already 10 years old almost. Right.
And and so the Irish bringing this back to market
and us having our honeymoon and being on this track of turbulent oil and gas
economy at the time and just our timeliness in the market
has led us to hopefully continue to be the standard bearer
for this style of whiskey.
And I think when craft distillers are making something,
they want to be passionate about it. Right.
And you two are obviously very passionate about, you know, Irish
single pot still whiskey, because, you know, you're bringing suitcases of it back.
Yeah. So just talk about a little bit about like, you know, that passion
and how it's it's going into the barrels.
When we first had our first sips of that cast string, red breast, 12 year old,
we fell in love with it.
And it was like the world needs to know about this.
And we have also watched our brethren
do the American single malt movement over the last 10 to 20 years.
And we saw a vision that perhaps we could do the same thing.
You know, single pot still is not recognized.
American single pot still is not recognized by the TTP as a category.
And so we would love to follow in American single malt footsteps
in order to create a category for.
Hopefully won't take you 50 years either.
I know. And I mean, the way the speed that the government moves
oftentimes, though, you know, and some of it is you got if we ask them to do that,
they're like, we're not going to change regulations for this venture.
Right. It needs to be a movement.
And so and so part of that is
so we follow the Irish whiskey technical file for single pot still.
And you're self regulated on that, right?
Yeah, we self regulate by the Irish whiskey technical file for everything
that we can possibly follow.
You know, we're not going to import Irish water here
and because we want to use our great El Dorado water that we have here.
Elder Outer Springs water that we have here.
And, you know, we can't agent Ireland. Right.
So there are things that we obviously have to separate
that we are American single pot still whiskey.
We're not trying to be Irish
single pot still or anything.
We are specifically trying to be American single pot still whiskey
using our grains here and our water here and then our aging
environment. Yeah.
And you said the you said the word terroir is really that beautiful
French word for a sense of place and the taste of something.
And, you know, we're at about as different climatically as you can get.
There's six to eight inches of snow out here that you guys braved
braved up here to get to get to get here today.
I've all about that.
And this kind of, you know, this beautiful smell,
that smell of burning cash as whiskey leaves your barrels
is is part of that flavor, part of the nature
really giving us a huge angel share seven to 11 percent,
depending on stave thickness of of the casks here.
Ireland and Scotland, two percent a year. Right.
And so you're the exchange of all of the tannins, lignans, acid profiles
that are then a sterifying with the higher volume of air
to catalyze these reactions gives you a very different product.
And so for us, I think people always ask like, oh, is it
does it change the speed? Does it age faster?
And it's faster is not really the word for it.
It is it is different.
But as Golder puts it, it ages differently, differently.
And I think that's a good way to describe it, right?
Because there are some different variables.
You can't say it's faster. Totally. Yeah.
And Ryan Legley would say, you know, there's not different esters
forming at a faster rate here. It's not possible.
Right. Yeah.
And you could probably speak more.
I'm a marketer. I'm not a chemist.
So you got more. Yeah.
Well, I'll never know.
And you're exactly. I mean, the same thing when we started out,
we started out with 15 gallon barrels. Right.
So when we opened on St. Patty's Day, we had 15 month old whiskey
in a 15 gallon barrel. Right.
It doesn't age faster, but you do get more oak in the product faster.
Right. So it's kind of the same thing.
It's it's different. It gives you different compounds.
Like the whiskey tasted different.
Ours was a race to get to 53 gallon plus size cask.
I think there's a beautiful balance there, but it also needs
three, four, five, six years. Right.
Even here at altitude.
I think we have found in something this year that we're really excited about
is that we're hitting our bottled and bond era where all of our product lines
are moving towards bottled and bond, starting with our American white oak
char number two, and then our cask and stave will and then our peated will
and then our sherry will and it'll all be bottled and bond.
And it's fun because we were the very first distillery in the United States
to have a bottled and bond single pot still. Right.
So forever we'll be known as the first single single pot still
that was bottled and bond here.
So it's just part of this heritage building, like bringing this Irish
tradition into the American whiskey making world.
So, I mean, it sounds like you guys are really like Irish missionaries.
Right. So tell me more about like as almost a pioneer back over to this,
even though the early Irish pioneers are long coming on. Right.
Tell us more about like like what that means to you.
I mean, well, he's the one that's Irish.
I'm kind of Welsh Scottish, but, you know, Gaelic, honestly.
There's Viking in there, I'm sure somewhere.
Yeah. Well, yeah. Mentality wise. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
So Colorado is actually home to, you know, Leadville.
Colorado is was one of the largest Irish
populations of immigrants at the time.
They were miners.
And and so there's also a really cool Irish Colorado connection here.
And I think there's some insane
percentage of people who identify as Irish descent in in America.
And fun fact, did you know that corn, beef and cabbage is not a thing in Ireland?
That is an American made thing, just like bourbon was an American made thing
by the gales who came over because they were using
what resources they had at the time, which is corned beef.
And so that became like this Irish American staple.
Interesting. Yeah.
And another cool story in Denver,
there are the San Patricios.
So when the Irish immigrated here to Denver, specifically,
the Mexicans actually brought them in because there were other immigrants
won't name nations that were not as welcoming to the Irish
as other people were specifically the Mexicans.
And so they brought them in.
And so there's the San Patricios that are Mexican Irish people.
And we thought that was a really cool.
Yeah. As Catholics, they they bonded together.
And of course, in the St. Patrick, the San Patricios are.
I was going to say there was a connection there.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it doesn't sound too different from how the Irish retreated
in other areas of the United States, right?
As I understand the Northeast, you know, a lot of them came over
as wanted slaves and stuff like that.
So which is really cool.
I'm Irish.
And we've I've traced my roots to two towns in Ireland, which is super.
I've not been there yet. I'd like to make it.
You get there. Absolutely.
I believe I have a little bit Irish in me because I'm a whole.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Some Irish and then I'm Hispanic.
So maybe I'm San Patricio.
Right here. Right here.
Do you want to do that? Yeah.
You lose it. I love it.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's just this it's a beautiful cultural tie, right?
And I think that's one of the things that when you're talking about
what immigrants have done in the United States is
I think we used to
consider America melting pot.
And I've heard that it's actually better described as a salad bowl
where together it's one.
But immigrant communities have strong ties, strong regionalities
at times and cultural elements that really personify
who they are throughout throughout time and history.
And so it's been this amazing thing, I think, for us to carry
this Gaelic tradition here.
You know, we always say that, you know, TALNUA is
the American spirit with an Irish soul.
And so it has this tie to that that Irish heritage.
So as I understand, TALNUA is Gaelic for Newland, correct?
So you guys are really I mean, it's not only in the name.
It's in the name. Yeah.
By the way, I love your branding, too.
And I would love to have a conversation with Amy about her work there.
It's totally fantastic. Yeah.
But one thing I want to circle back on, though.
So being the regulatory expert in house,
you had mentioned that you're like you're you're
you're self regulating to meet these Irish standards.
Is there any sort of effort like there was for the American single malt?
The American single malt commission to is there any sort of commission
or official efforts to? Yeah.
To categorize that. Thanks for bringing that back up,
because I want to what I did want to touch on on that is that
single pot so whiskey is happening all over the world.
So, no, there's no commission per se like American single malt.
And I think we're about 10 years behind them.
But it is happening all over the world.
There are a couple of Australian single pot so whiskies, one Canadian, one
one best whiskey of the world a few years ago,
a Tasmanian one and now a Japanese single pot still whiskey.
So it's happening all over the world.
And we're just like seeing these little pockets of this upbringing.
And we're super excited. And that's also not to say there are there are one
offs and some people who do it like seasonally throughout the United States as well.
I don't know to what extent they are across the world
and across America are following the technical file.
I can't say speak to that.
But that's we we try to be the standard of the quality that Ireland has created
in using those regulations.
So we just hope that other people will follow suit.
And we encourage other people to make a single pot so whiskey in the right way.
And the Irish have also told us is like, well, as long as you're doing it right.
You know, that's the first time we went to Ireland to tell them.
Yeah, exactly.
First time we went to Ireland, we met with Bernard Walsh from Walsh Whiskey,
Writers Tears, Irishman.
And so we met with him.
And for some reason, you know, he's a talker.
You know this already.
And for some reason, for some reason, he wasn't speaking up in this meeting.
And so I ended up saying, well, we want to make an American single pot so whiskey using
American grains and water resources.
And he paused for a minute and I'm like kind of worried about Patrick and looking over
at him like, why aren't you saying anything?
And then Bernard speaks up and he goes, well, and if I had a good Irish action, I would
use it now.
But I don't.
He goes, well, you're going to make a single pot still.
You better make it good because it sticks with you.
And I was like, OK.
And then you could see the sigh of relief with Patrick.
It was I think, you know, for us, it was so important to be accepted, quite frankly.
I mean, not to we don't need to beat around the bush about it.
It was like it would have been heartbreaking if they were like, get out of here.
Don't do that.
You know, we hate this idea.
Right.
And to have that validation from such a powerhouse of an individual.
And like like, you know, Megan mentioned, there is it's it is not an easy style of whiskey
to make any any kind of raw barley mashing, which I'll tell you guys will go in what what
single pot still is and what regulations we we really adhere to.
Right.
But it was just this huge sigh of relief, I think, for us to to get to go into this
new era with with a small blessing, if anything.
Yeah, and an Irish blessing.
Yes, exactly.
Yes.
We joke that like seven years later, we think more people know about us in Ireland than
they do in Colorado.
Yeah.
Seriously.
So have you taken your product back and and share it with people and stuff for there?
What's what's their response been?
Yeah, we have.
And other people have.
We're in bars in Ireland that we have never personally distributed anything to.
So people have brought it back.
And yeah, Irish rules and regulations are very different as far as you can just hand
a bartender a legal bottle of whiskey and they can sell it.
It's very different than a three tier system here and and all the regulatory landscape
that we we deal with.
So yeah, your liabilities, you call it.
So we self distribute through our people.
Oh, OK.
When I'm going to Ireland, I'll bring my new tote.
I'll take a case back with me and we'll share it with.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So you can take 10 percent.
That's a pretty good distribution.
You have to give it to them.
So you just take 10 percent out of the.
Yeah.
10 percent out of the.
Yeah.
Legally, you're right.
Yeah.
Totally.
OK.
Understand that.
Got it.
Fight Club.
We don't talk about.
Yeah.
OK.
So we talked about barley.
We kind of love for you to talk about the regulations, too.
But would we talk to a lot of people here in the state?
Right.
And even Alistair is he's Scottish.
He's coming to and he's kind of the same thing you guys are.
He's kind of with the American single version of that.
Yeah.
And very proud of them.
Yeah.
And a great product.
Right.
And then we've talked to Root Shoot about their projects, their malting and all that
stuff.
You guys are using malts, lots of stuff.
Right.
You guys are using unmalted.
Right.
Both malted and unmalted.
OK.
Unmalted is from Root Shoot, though.
OK.
So but it seems to be a growing movement.
And now with the legalization of American single malt, I think that probably gives some
more creative potential to the single pot still movement as well.
Yeah.
It's a new era.
Right.
But Colorado as a state, right, we grow fry really well, grow barley really well.
There's this new sense of twark coming in.
You guys are doing your best version of Irish style here.
And it's really cool to see that.
But talk to me about what you guys see as a vision of terroir and Colorado whiskey as
a general, not necessarily single pot still.
And what you guys see as the future of that.
And we'll love any insights to the terroir side of that as the movement stuff you're
seeing there to help us understand that.
We are doing a project with the distillery in Ireland called Bowon, where we lay down
the exact same recipe, the same triple distillation, the same ex bourbon barrels.
And then a few more years, we'll do side by side packs where we'll sell.
You guys did it on the same date.
Same date.
You barrel them on the same date.
We were FaceTiming them.
Yeah.
That's fun.
And it was great because it was like, usually distilleries are not attempting to make the
same recipe.
Right.
And so it was really fun to have a recipe, to execute it together, barrel it together.
And then in a few short years, bottle it.
Whose idea was it?
Actually a gentleman named Matt Healy of PotStill.com.
He does an amazing work.
Renaissance man in whiskey.
I was going to say, I was trying to think of like, what do you even call him?
I mean, he's worked for distilleries, for distributors.
He's got a podcast.
He's great.
He actually flew over here and we did an interview in 2019.
And so it just a really great guy.
At the time he was with Bowon and had this idea like, hey, what if we put this together
and really showcase like how different climate regions are when talking about whiskey and
aging whiskey, right?
Because everybody gives voice to it.
I mean, when you're in Kentucky, they talk about the temperature swings and the limestone
water and you know, I mean, it's a real thing and it really does set whiskey apart.
And obviously is huge in wine where you have these grapes and vines that came over from
Cabernet to Southern California and bam, totally different product.
Recognizable but distinguishable in that same way.
I was born in Napa.
So were you really?
Yeah.
So I'm California wine all the way.
Yeah, for sure.
And I was born in Southern New Mexico and so I'm like a hatch green chili.
Yeah.
See, it's sorry.
Sorry, Pablo.
But yeah, totally.
And you know, I just think it's part of that.
I think what Colorado is doing is showing that improving that on multiple different
levels, right?
What's happening in bourbon and rye whiskies and different wheat whiskies and heirloom
grains from the state.
And I think the Colorado whiskey movement is exciting because it's taking all of that.
And if there's a style of whiskey being made, it's being made here and showcasing that terroir.
Yeah.
And I have to say, I'm super proud of all of my Colorado brothers and sisters who are
making whiskey.
I mean, Colorado whiskey has made a name for itself across the United States and around
the world.
Absolutely.
And I've understood that there's been arguments about terroir.
It's not necessarily a thing.
But when you were talking about the history of, well, bourbon comes from Kentucky because
they add corn.
Yeah.
And American single malt and the Irish pot still whiskey that you're making here with
barley is really Colorado specific.
And I was reading, I think you're acquainted with him, Colin Spolman from King's House.
Yeah, absolutely.
He's fantastic.
I love him.
He was like-
Empire rye.
Yeah, Empire rye.
Huge.
And just so I think just that regionality of just using what's there kind of puts that
argument to rest.
Totally.
I agree with you.
Yeah.
Most of the major regions of spirits made Scotland scotch.
Yeah.
Irish whiskey.
They're not going to separate themselves from Scotland, they want to be different.
They want to spell it different.
And here we are in the United States in Kentucky.
So I'd like to claim we're the de facto masters of whiskey in the United States.
And I've heard numerous accounts of people going to Kentucky to the Bourbon Trail and
getting some pitch from some marketing guy on a factory floor saying, our facility floor,
they're saying, oh yeah, you can't make bourbon outside of Kentucky.
Well, that's not true.
And so I think we're starting to kind of see some of that separation that Ireland fell
away from Scotland.
Right.
And I think we're starting to see that in the individual states here in the United States.
I think that's kind of cool.
It is really cool.
Each state start to make a name for themselves in different ways.
I mean, California obviously have rich topography.
Right.
They can almost do any type you want.
Washington's very different, New York's very different.
Right.
Totally.
Texas even.
And here we are in Colorado, high country, good water.
But even to the barrels, we talked about it earlier, they age differently.
So we can make a very distinct flavor and brand of whiskey here.
Totally.
Totally different.
I think Sir Warthing is going to be here today.
I think it's going to be all the suit of wine.
And it's fun to be the ones figuring it out.
Like what barrels work best, what different char levels is in a new cask, is it finished,
is it, you know, all of those act differently.
And so it's fun to be on the pioneering side of like, what is the state's kind of method?
Is there one?
Right.
I mean, you know, it goes back to some types of whiskey have regulations that bourbon has
to be in a charred new American oak barrel.
Right.
Single Pots to whiskey just has to be in a wood container.
It doesn't have to be in any type of oak.
It can be chestnut or cherry or very different wood species.
Right.
So it's going to be fun to really get to explore that here at Elstree.
So for the record, for the regulatory side, we fall under just the regular American whiskey
category based off of everything that we do.
So it's not regulated as a single Pots to whiskey, but it is regulated as the American
whiskey category.
And so everything we do falls under that.
I was going to say an Irish whiskey, it's much more strict.
And so it falls nice and tidily into the American landscape.
And so, you know, you got margin to play with in there.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Would you guys want to talk about those regulations?
Because it is about the style of whiskey, right?
I mean, it kind of defines it much like bourbon.
The biggest ones are you have to use a minimum of 30% malted barley and a minimum of 30%
raw barley.
You can use up to 5% oats, wheat or rye.
If you want.
But you were 50-50 malted on malted barley.
So you can make up that ratio anyway that you want, as long as you don't drop below
30%.
That's interesting though, all the 5%.
Yes.
That's interesting.
It is a heritage thing.
We depending on how long you want to talk about this, it is-
I get the sense you could talk about it for a long time.
It is.
But let me just say-
Let me just say that there is a man named Fnano Connor who has just gotten his, well,
recently-
What was his name again?
Fnano Connor.
He has a PhD in the history of Irish whiskey.
He's the first person ever to get his PhD in history of Irish whiskey.
And so he has spent many years of his life studying exactly what Patrick is trying to
get down to, a little bit of information.
But it's amazing because through this research, they really- single pot still whiskey, Irish
single pot still whiskey has a GI protection like champagne.
And so now again, we are American single pot still, so you can't put the word Irish on
there.
But much like single malt can be made in any other nation, right?
However, part of the GI is that it has to have historical precedence.
You can't just be like, hey, we want to do this.
No one else can do it.
It's protected, right?
And it's like, it has to have a serious basis of history.
Well, as they were uncovering Fnano and others, this historical basis for the style of whiskey,
by the time the regulation had gone through, they allowed up to 5%.
Now they are going to allow 30% oats, wheat or rye.
It's not official yet.
It's not official yet, but it's on the government's desk to put through, not this and another
eight years.
But that 30% has that historic precedence to it, right?
We think now, and we talk so much about whiskey as mash bills, and it's part of the regulatory
landscape.
When you're talking Irish whiskey, they were inventing it.
They were trying all kinds of stuff, right?
Taxes came in.
Using what they had.
Changed the use of malted barley because the Irish started throwing large portions of raw
barley in as a means of tax evasion.
Interesting.
But they were using...
Crazy history behind that as well.
They were using oats at time.
They were using...
Because it was an agrarian society and that product just followed the seasons.
And so when you had a bottle of Jameson, it isn't like it is now where every single bottle
is the same.
Different people made it.
Different people stored it and aged it.
Different people bottled it.
And so it's just a very different landscape than we think of today.
Well, and if anybody has an Irish history, they also know potatoes have a particular
history there.
Did they ever use potatoes in their history during those different times?
There's not a lot of history of potatoes being used and anything outside of what we know
as puchin today.
Puchin is like moonshine.
And so...
New May.
So to follow up, just the first rule that he was saying that we follow is the 3035.
The second rule is a grain off fermentation and distillation.
So we basically act exactly like a brewery up until the stills.
Well, yeah, up until the stills.
So we separate our wort from our grain.
Our grain goes to either farmers or to compost.
And then the third requirement is a copper distillation in a...
Sorry.
Distillation.
Thank you.
In copper pot stills.
It's in the names.
It's in the names of the most destructive copper pot stills.
You have to use that.
You cannot use column stills.
Ennis Coffee invented the column still in 1831.
It was patented.
And he was an Irishman.
Before that, it didn't have the name pot still because that was the only apparatus that was...
Just a still is exactly it.
So the name came really from the big Dublin distillers that a lot of this, these organizations
were large urban facilities.
We think a lot about quaint Irish rule-ness and the small stills.
Poochene means little pot.
Every farm had a still.
I thought you were making your basement a little bit.
Yes.
A lot of illicit distilling going on still in Ireland.
However, really the big players were the big Dublin guys.
This is before electricity.
These guys were making millions of gallons of whiskey a year.
And so it was just this really...
It was a shock.
I mean, a new piece of equipment came in.
It's much more efficient.
The Dublin distillers called it silent spirit because of its neutrality.
At the time, column stills today are very different than the very first apparatuses
that came out.
And so the Dublin distiller said, no, it has to be made in a pot still.
This style of whiskey to maintain its Irishness and its heritage has to be made in a pot still.
And that's how then it became referred to.
Malted unmalted barley, traditionally triple distilled because when only double distilled,
raw barley is very oily, very textural.
And so a third distillation lightens that kind of underbelly to the whiskey, but also
rounds off the sharp edges of new make.
So you get this really beautifully balanced nuance.
Is that a Viking drum I just heard?
It was a bucket.
It was just a drop of bucket.
Yeah.
It was like they're coming for us.
Didn't know anybody was still here.
But yeah.
Yeah.
It's really kind of part of that historical weave.
And for us and for the Irish in general, it's not the best name because you get people like,
we'll bring up Willett again.
Perfect example.
Pot still bourbon, right?
It absolutely all they're telling you is that it's made in a pot still.
And that's really different than most of it's made in the column still, right?
Balconies has a pot still, but it's a bourbon, right?
Woodford is a great example.
Their stills that they use pot stills and their bourbon.
So it doesn't preclude you from using that in other styles of whiskey, right?
But the name is a misnomer.
Our reference is to the mash bill.
So in the single term in there, it's still similar to like single malt scotch, right?
Exactly.
One distillate.
Grained to glass.
Exactly.
That's exactly it.
Some of the words they use commonly, but then there's different meanings to some of them.
I mean, I wish it was more like wine where it was like a state produced or something
that like led you to understand because there's so many singles, single barrels, you know,
single batch, single malt, single, you know, whatever.
And they can mean different things, right?
And so when people hear single pot still, a lot of people think, oh, it's made in one
single pot still, right?
You have three pots stills.
It's like, yep.
Yeah, this is one still.
Yeah.
And then I have to give them a two hour history lesson about why it's not that.
You choose to go to it.
Welcome to the TED Talk.
That's what we say.
Ten minutes.
Would you make it?
Yeah.
So you guys had described and obviously, I guess I mean, we might cut this part out,
so as a big part of our efforts here, right?
Because our purpose driven background stuff and how we met, stuff like that in the fostering
world, we want to give an opportunity for you guys to highlight opportunities that you
guys have had to give back to the community as well.
And so we've done some really cool stuff and we had an interview with Root Shoot, which
took a little bit of a different twist, right?
Because they were the recipients of that, which was kind of cool.
I understand you guys had a little bit of something to do with that, which is cool.
But tell us about some of your philanthropic background stuff and then segue that into
the Acorn Project and what you guys are doing there.
Because that's super fascinating to us.
So I should kick that off.
Yeah, so sure.
I think maybe the biggest portions of our donations started with Colorado Parks and
Wildlife.
It was their 125th anniversary and their logo is not dissimilar to our logo, which is the
ram, state animal of Colorado.
And so they approached us and well, actually, I think we had to apply to be considered to
even be...
Yeah, they had their craft collaborations that they were doing.
Yeah, their craft collaborations.
And so we were like, well, we got to do this.
So we did that and we raised $12,500 for them for 125th anniversary doing a...
Oh shoot.
Single barrel release.
But what was the finish on it?
It was the port finish from Balestrieri.
There we go.
Yeah, Balestrieri winery, local winery here.
Yeah, so another local...
What's the name of that?
No, it's actually a local winery just east of here.
Yeah, they're 70th and 25th or 70 and 25th.
And so then that started that.
And then the following year we had some unfortunate cancer on our dog and we were at Wheat Ridge
Animal Hospital and loved them so much.
And they helped us out with their Lenny fund, which is their support for cancer patients
for their animals.
And June was fortunate enough to be a candidate of that.
And June was the name of your puppy?
Our puppy, yeah.
Sorry, I just hit my microphone.
And so we wanted to give back in a way.
So we actually bottled a Cas Strength Continuum Cask Whiskey, which people are clamoring for
to come back.
And we're able to raise $5,000 for them.
And then I'll let you continue with the Acorn Project.
Yeah, the Acorn Project, we've always had this desire and philanthropic heart that we
can make an impact beyond the glass.
And the Acorn Project was born out of having a singular focus on what we wanted to do with
our philanthropic efforts.
And so it's recent, I just turned 40 in October.
And so as part of my birthday, we did a release.
And that release was really focusing on natural resources.
And things that allow us to make whiskey.
Right, all the things that affect it, right?
I mean, there's so many water quality things.
Again, we've just started this.
Our first recipient was Root Shoot, because they had hundreds of acres of hail damage
that completely destroyed-
Like 600 acres of hail.
Yeah.
And that's a lot of small amount, right?
And they do a lot of regenerative farming practices for the state, which is very rare.
And they are part of that Colorado family legacy that is so important to the business
here.
I think, and I don't want to digress too far, but farmers like Root Shoot play a pivotal
role in that terroir movement, right?
Absolutely.
Because they're growing that grain here.
And as I understand, the quality of the grain has improved over the years because it's less
focused on feed and beer.
And they're putting more of an emphasis on the quality that they need to put into distilled
spirits.
So that's a huge-
Totally.
It is.
They're quite a big linchpin in that.
Yeah.
And it's one of those things, especially when you talk about agro business versus family
businesses and family farms, that is something important.
And it's a huge part of the climate, the region, the end product.
And so for us, it was a special partnership because we've been working with them since
we started.
Their barley has been in our whiskey.
And so the Acorn project moving forward will really focus on those different objectives.
And some of it is timely, right?
That happened a couple months before we released the special bottle release and announced to
the world, this is our new philanthropic wing, the Acorn project.
So it's really a special thing, I think, for us to continue and really have a singular
voice to...
You're asked a lot as a business to donate things and give back.
And we very much want to, but I want it to be high impact.
So when we're more focused with it, it allows us to be higher impact on a single thing rather
than a more of a smattering.
But I know Colorado spirits, you see them at every auction, right?
There's a very generous heart in the industry.
The beautiful thing about it is that it's an ongoing project.
It's a standalone foundation, essentially, that you're continuing.
And so it's not just a write in the check and maybe a couple of years from now, you
guys are going to do something else.
Yeah.
And so it's just...
And we're even having, as the year progresses, and of course, as it grows and develops, we're
going to host educational classes so that people can come in and learn about water quality
things.
Of course, we live in the most beautiful state.
And so having this kind of wildlife woodland focus as well, I think is really great and
interesting for people to come in.
And like Megan said, having the RAM was very deliberate.
We wanted to have the beautiful thing, again, a lot of Irish and Scottish brands is there's
a sense of place on the logo, Glen Fittick, Valley of the Deer, right?
Glen Livid, Bridge Over the River, right?
I mean, all of these things that really tie to that sense of place, like Tollamore Dew
with the Irish Wolfhound on it, right?
There's these things that we wanted to give a regionality to and let people know that
it's Colorado and the bighorn ram being a symbol of the broader Rockies, but the state
animal of Colorado.
And with Acorn Project, I think really ties in this natural sense to the product.
It's funny, I mean, the elk is kind of, I think in folklore, it's kind of the Colorado
animal, but the ram is really like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool.
And so tell me about the name.
Like, where did the name Acorn Project come from?
You know, our tagline for it is planting seeds of change, right?
And so the Acorn being the birth of an oak and having this thought that we can influence
through little acts and projects a much bigger creature, a much bigger dream.
I really did try to come up with an acronym that it could be, but that was very...
Yeah.
But it's, I mean, and the way that oak affects the whiskey, it's the same.
Exactly.
And actually on our tubes, we do have Acorn seal.
One of the seals is an acorn to represent the oak.
So it kind of fit.
Yeah.
Colorado is not known for their oak trees, right?
Sure.
Yeah.
We have a lot of oak around here though.
No, we do.
Yeah.
It just grows.
I mean, they're sprouting up everywhere.
Well, that's super cool.
Well, guys, thank you for indulging us on that piece for our Angel Share.
That's a big part of what we're doing out.
Obviously, you can look at spirits a number of ways, right?
But the one thing we want to focus on is how, it didn't take us long to figure out a lot
of you guys are doing good things to the community.
And that makes us feel good.
And it makes us want to support you guys even more and get your name out there.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I appreciate that.
I think most of us in this industry, very much most of us are in this for the camaraderie.
And the community.
I mean, this is like the community binder, right?
Is, yeah, together around...
This is a vessel for communication and openness and connection.
Yeah.
Totally agree.
Well, thank you, guys.
Welcome to the Tasting Segment here at Talnoa.
And Patrick here is going to be guiding us through a tasting of their Heritage Selection
here at Saints.
Tell us more about that.
Yeah.
So Heritage Selection, I love this whiskey because it is a blend, like many of the famous
whiskeys that Ireland became known for, especially in the modern era.
60 to 65% of this whiskey is grain whiskey that we import from Ireland.
The other 35 to 40% is our house-made pot still triple distilled, right?
So pot still plus grain whiskey is what Jameson is.
And so we thought it would be a really fun project and a fun product to have this real
Irish American whiskey.
So we've been making this since day one, this beautiful blend that, especially when people
say, hey, I want an Irish whiskey.
Well, most people mean as a blend because that's usually what people have had experience-wise.
So it's a fun thing to have like a recognizable product in our product line that really hits
that notion of an Irish whiskey outside of these more rich, robust pot still whiskeys
that we'll work with here in a second.
But yeah, lots of those bright, delicate notes that I think are just a perfect example of
Irish style whiskeys.
And also the slantcha.
Slantcha.
So what's your favorite part about this one?
It's just super light and easy drinking and it goes well in any cocktail you want it to.
I like an citrus forward cocktail.
It's like a good whiskey sour.
Love a good whiskey sour.
And this is the go-to for me for a whiskey sour.
Well, definitely on the nose.
It's got a lot more fruit notes than I think your other products I've nosed and tasted,
right?
Totally.
Especially compared to the old Saints Keep.
Sure.
It's very sweet on the nose.
It is.
Yeah.
And I love one thing that I think, and it's exciting when we talk about this year's Old
Saints and how it registers, is when Megan and I fell in love with these Irish and Scottish
whiskeys outside of the heavily peated versions is that there's just this beautiful balanced
delicacy to the European brands.
And we really love that.
And a lot of American whiskey, it's very rough, rugged, bold, broad-shouldered, and I think
that there's something very oaky.
I think there's something really special to showcase about the distillate side and a very
well oak balance to a spirit.
And I think we hit that with this.
It's nice and bright and just an easy sipper.
If we were to talk about this whiskey seasonally, it would be spring summer, right?
This is very much a spring summer style.
This is a good wedding whiskey.
Totally.
Yeah.
So spring's coming in summertime.
Yeah, for sure.
Big time.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, like the nose and even on the palate a little bit.
Almost like a wine, like a grape.
Very much.
This is what I get.
Yeah.
With this podcast, we're going to change the tradition of weddings.
Instead of champagne, they're serving champagne.
And they can reach out to you to do it.
It has made an appearance at many, many family weddings.
It really is a nice, easy drinker.
And one of the on St. Patrick's Day, our big celebration and anniversary party, this is
a huge seller in ginger ale squeeze a lime.
Right?
It's just a perfect, nice, easy cocktail for that kind of spring feel.
Because for those days, for all of us, really, for our own mental space, we need easy cocktails
to just get through.
Absolutely.
That was very good.
I don't recall tasting this when I was here at your last at the Old Saints Keep last year.
I don't let the release party out.
Yeah.
It's one of those core product lines that it's always been a staple for us.
And so it's easy, especially when people are coming for an event where we have a special
release or something like that.
It kind of plays the fiddle in the background a little bit at times.
And this is 86 proof as well.
Okay.
And I think I've tried this.
It was an older expression, but I think it was quarter cask peated finish.
Is this the same that went into that one?
That was straight single pot still.
Actually what ended up that became continuum cask.
So when we first started, it was just those little barrels that I mentioned our quarter
cask program.
Well, eventually I think we really listened to that whiskey because as it started to get
too much oak or more oak than we wanted from this balanced spirit profile that we strive
for here at Tallanua, we ended up getting our Solera vat called our Continuum casks.
So originally the quarter cask was the staple.
And then it was like, ooh, okay, now we're hitting 18 months or so getting closer to
two years.
This needs another home.
We want it out of these little barrels.
And so the Solera vat and that Continuum cask allowed us to put space into it.
So that is actually forever.
What made up the base of this plus Irish whiskey was that quarter cask.
And then same thing that was finished in peat, right?
That was kind of the quarter cask was the workhorse in our first two years.
Also now you have, it's currently January, right?
In less than 60 days, you guys have your next sit.
We're ready.
There's just a lot of work to do.
When this comes out, I believe it's going to be a week.
Yeah.
So let me back up.
In just a week.
Yeah.
Call Capture Out.
Are you ready?
You are going to be releasing the 2024 Old Saints Keep, correct?
And I understand you've got a little bit of a taster for us on that.
So we use our thief here that our business partner made.
This is one of the three, which I think the handle broke off of, but we use our thief
here to grab a barrel sample of our, what will be our Old Saints Keep.
So we'll pour a little bit of that for everybody here.
As I understand, you guys blend multiple barrels for this particular release.
So we're only tasting a component of the fun release, correct?
Exactly, right?
So this is a single barrel pull of what will be at least four barrels that we will marry
together.
And it's also cast strength.
And I didn't take a proof on it, but I would guesstimate we're somewhere between 114, 116.
That's kind of the window, the sweet spot for our aging and our finishing.
The special thing about this is our Nashville 5050 malted unmalted barley, triple distilled.
It was aged in just like our bourbon cask and stave.
So in ex-bourbon barrels with French and American oak staves for a minimum of three years, it
was then transferred into casks that have a very special heritage.
They were built as sherry barrels.
They aged sherry for 13 years.
After the 13 years, a brandy was put in that was distilled in 1948 and finished for 20
years in these casks.
So they started out as sherry barrels that then had brandy in them.
Brandy took in a lot of that sherry, but left a lot of this beautiful, delicate fruity notes.
And speaking of, not this similar from our heritage selection, most of our previous old
saints were our kind of richest, our boldest expression.
I think the beautiful thing about this is the soft fruit palate that it falls on.
This grape brandy that aged in this sherry just has this wonderful balance, plus being
aged in an ex-bourbon barrel first before it finished for two years in these brandy
barrels really gives us delicate gem of a whiskey.
I hope you guys find it.
Well, having acquired a bottle year, Old Saints Keep last year at the St. Patrick's Day event,
and I went back and revisited that spirit just last week to make sure I was there with
it.
It certainly has a little bit more of a briny mineral consistency to it that it's not off
putting at all.
It's quite good.
But this on the nose, I mean, I'm already smelling a lot more fruit and stuff.
Big time.
Yeah.
It's almost like, and I don't want to lead the tasting notes specifically, but I very
much get like a cinnamon dusted, pears, plums to it so that spice from the pot still whiskey,
rich oiliness and that texture really pops and I think gives a nice kind of cinnamon
all spice note on a nice fruit layer.
I think under that too, I'm smelling like almost like a cherry and like cherry almond
almost.
Very much almondy nature for sure, I definitely, you know, it's funny we were joking about
the wedding, but I mean, my first taste on that was like bam, like right into like a
very whiny flavor.
Yeah, and huge legs on it.
And that was, I mean, that took me back to California right there.
That was totally.
I don't know, last year we tried to convince Patrick to release this as our old saints
keep and he said, no, it needed another year.
And this is me on record.
You hear it right here.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm nervous about what's going to happen later.
No this is, I'm very happy with this.
It's just really, we wanted to honor those casks as well.
Like it's very rare that you get X barrels that have held any spirit that was distilled
in the forties, right?
And so it's just such a cool thing that we had access to these casks.
And I think that we did the right thing by putting that X bourbon barrel in so that there
wasn't a punchy oak to compete with those fruit notes, because I wanted those fruit
notes to really dance.
And I mean, the smell of those brandy barrels, I mean, it smelled like Sherry brandy, right?
It had that bright sweet note to it.
And I wanted that to be the show.
And unlike a lot of other Sherry cask finish that I've tasted, it doesn't have that really
earthy organic like musty flavor.
It's got a lot of bright fruit notes on it with like, I'm equating it to like a nice
bright white wine.
It's really nice.
And I mean, I've had now numerous years, and I think this is my, I mean, again, I know
this is not going to be the finished product.
This is really, really good.
I'm excited about this.
And I pulled it.
I took a sip of it because we pulled this.
We're very patient here.
I will say that one of the fun parts of the job is always pulling casks, right?
But we really let things go.
Like we're not pulling barrels before two years ever.
And so I realized that, you know, oh, we wanted to do a sample here today.
And I was like, I haven't tasted this.
I don't know what we're going to try.
I was like, okay, I'm pretty excited now to share this with you guys.
This is really our first real close to the finish line.
We'll dump this barrel right at the end of February.
We slow cut here.
So we take two weeks to cut down from barrel to bottle.
It's part of the finishing refining process to prevent what is known as saponification,
where it can cause us soaping by shocking it with water, shocking spirit with water.
And so you very slowly add water.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
Especially with our gin that we make here, because there's that oiliness from the citrus
and the juniper.
If you add water too fast, you get soaping in and it's very present.
So we'll dump this just a couple of weeks before St. Patrick's Day and bottle it the
Friday before.
So we'll be ready for that.
And what do you proof it down to?
100 proof.
Yeah.
And how many barrels will be blending this one?
This will be four.
Okay.
This will be four.
We have four of those brand new bottles.
How many bottles will you make out of that?
So we filled those things up.
It's been two years.
Likely it'll be between a thousand and 1200 bottles, which will be our largest batch.
They are hogshead size casks.
So not 200 liter American standard barrels, a little bit bigger.
So even with in the thickness of the stays, I'm looking at them right here.
Beautiful black painted casks.
What you can't see on camera right now are some beautiful and you should get some B roll.
Yeah.
It's beautiful black casks over there.
Super cool.
Yeah.
And the staves are a lot thicker.
Like these that are in shot right now.
The American standard stave is much thinner than the wine based casks made out of Europe.
And so it's fun for us.
We haven't had this type of cask in before.
Obviously these are very rare, very unique casks.
And so right now I don't know what type, but I think comfortably a thousand bottles for
sure, which is always kind of our goal just from any special release.
Is this a distillery only release so you can only get a bottle here?
It is.
So you hear it here.
If you want a bottle of this, you got to come in and taste it and buy a bottle here.
So please come down.
March 14th and 15th is our sixth anniversary party.
And so we will be releasing this year's Old Saints Keep.
And are you going to have music again like you did last year?
Live music.
We have a mobile cigar truck that comes out.
And so there'll be cigars, live music, food, a bunch of different cocktails.
It's always a really good time.
So St. Patrick's Day this year, 14th, 15th, excuse me.
2025.
We'll get there because that's the 17th, right?
But we were here last year and it was fantastic.
And hopefully this year it doesn't snow on you guys because I understand there's a little
history with that.
Every year.
Every other year it seems like.
Well, maybe, I don't know, maybe every time you break it out it snows.
Maybe you guys are doing something.
Yeah, it's snowing right now.
The crazy thing is 2020 was absolutely gorgeous.
It's either a bluebird day or two feet of snow.
And COVID.
It's Colorado time of year, that's for sure.
Well, I mean, last year it was cold and it snowed previously, but last year it was cold.
But there was still a lively bunch here.
It was.
It will meet your twin, right?
Shout out to Ali.
I think there's a case of, what's that movie?
Free Friday.
Yeah, yeah.
The parent trap, right?
Free Friday is like, yeah, that's told different.
For those of you who don't know, Megan has a doppelganger who she's best friends with.
She could pitch to me or anybody else that are twins and you would be a fool to not believe
her.
Like that's crazy.
And anyway, so that was fun.
So one thing that we didn't talk about in our main interview, you guys recently received
some recognition at the San Francisco whiskey.
Yeah, last year was a big deal for us.
We won a world whiskey award actually for this old saints for 2024 old saints.
Which is a good expression.
Thank you.
And then same at double gold at San Francisco and we're in the top five craft whiskies in
the United States.
So yeah, it was a huge deal for us.
It was really exciting.
Those things just putting us on the map little by little.
And that was actually for our bourbon caskets, Dave.
So the base of this whiskey is what won at San Francisco.
So yeah, cool.
Huge.
Yeah.
Thanks for bringing that up.
I really appreciate it.
Yeah.
It's, I guess, on us that we didn't talk about that in the interview.
We're still rolling.
Well, guys, this has been a great tasting and I am very much looking forward to this
latest release of the old saints keep and if you're in Denver, March 14th and 15th,
please come down to Talnua in Arvada.
You know, Colorado, unless you're in the Springs, right?
That's different, right?
Anyways, come down and check out their party.
They'll have it going.
They'll have going and buy yourself a bottle.
This is going to be very good.
So I look forward to it very much.
Thank you.
Well, slancho to all of you.
Thank you so much for being here.
Slancho to all of you.
Thank you.
That's very good.
I am very real happy with this.
Yeah.
I'm really happy with this.
I'm very happy with this.
Thank you for joining us on Whiskey Wanderlust.
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