Back in 2010 the United States boasted around 200 distilleries, according to the American Distilling Institute. As of last year, there were more than 2,000.
When Branch & Barrel Distilling opened in Centennial at the end of 2015, “I don’t think the whiskey boom had fully caught on just yet,” says Mitch Nester, the bourbon and whiskey distillery’s operations manager. “It was still more of a brewery scene.”
Craft distilleries started popping up around a decade ago, following the turn-of-the-century brewing trend. Craft microbreweries gained national traction around 20 years ago, after all states legalized brew pubs, allowing them to sell beer brewed on the premises.
“Breweries are held as a bit of a reference point to where craft distilling is going,” says Alastair Brogan, chieftain at Boulder’s Vapor Distillery, which sells whisky and gin. It opened in 2007 as Roundhouse Spirits and is Boulder’s oldest distillery. Several Boulder and Denver distilleries have opened since then.
Inspired by his obsession for the spirit, Al Laws founded Laws Whiskey House in Denver in 2011, but he sold the first drop of whiskey in 2014 after three-and-a-half years of aging. Laws says his distillery was one of the first 25 in the state where there are now around 100.
As the popularity of spirits continues to rise, craft distilleries focus on their tasting rooms, where they attract local and national tourism, and highlight the sustainability efforts they’ve practiced since opening.
“The scene is completely different,” Laws says, from when his distillery opened. “I think that most of those entering after us, and during the time of when we started up, were going after that tasting room model, making a whole bunch of different things, trying to be really kitschy and experimental.” While he says that attitude has mellowed, the tasting room thrives.
Tasting rooms
Since opening in Boulder in 2015, DV8 Distillery has prioritized their tasting room and cocktail menu, made with their gins, whiskies and vodkas. Jonathan Tilley, co-founder of DV8 Distillery, says they have a higher gross revenue from the tasting room than from wholesale. Now, other craft distilleries are jumping on the tasting room train.
In September, Laws Whiskey House will open an education center and cocktail bar in the building neighboring the distillery. Over the last 12 years, Laws Whiskey House has gotten most of its revenue from distributing to nearly 20 states and is now adding to that business model.
“We needed to get all the other things right before we invited folks in for the brand experience,” Laws says of waiting more than a decade before opening a tasting room. These included ensuring that the production facility works at capacity and the whiskey is the best it can be.
Though the distillery has a small bottle shop, or a place to meet for a tour and taste pours of whiskey, Laws wanted to expand the space for customers. He says that, over the last decade, tourism at breweries, then distilleries, has increased with the number of customers wanting to see the behind-the-scenes process.
“People don’t just want to buy the bottle from the liquor store, they want to go to see where it’s made. They have an interest in the depth of brands,” Laws says. “It has to do with expanding the brand for tourism.”
Just like at Laws Whiskey House, for several years, Branch & Barrel focused on research and development, perfecting their bourbons. A few years ago, staff members suggested sharing the bourbon and whiskey more extensively with others.
Branch & Barrel opened their tasting room in June 2022. The distillery hired Nester last year as tasting room manager, and also to help make bourbon for bottling. Though the tasting room opened halfway through 2022, “last year, we managed to make more money through the tasting room than we did selling wholesale through our distributor for the year,” Nester says.
Before launching the tasting room, Branch & Barrel would open by request for those who wanted to sample their whiskies or cocktails. Now, they have a set menu, plus seasonal additions, straight pours and build-your-own Old Fashioneds.
Laws’ rye whiskey, for example, “tastes like the ground it’s grown in. Our farmers would say it tastes like the dusty air when they’re harvesting the rye.” —Al Laws
Sustainability
Laws Whiskey House prioritizes sustainability through sourcing grains and the distilling process. Laws sources corn from Whiskey Sisters Supply in Burlington, Colorado and its other grains from Colorado Malting Company in Alamosa. Both family farms prioritize regenerative agriculture practices.
“They have to be [sustainable] because they’re growing grains that aren’t for yield, but for flavor,” Laws says of the farms. Laws’ rye whiskey, for example, “tastes like the ground it’s grown in,” Laws says. “Our farmers would say it tastes like the dusty air when they’re harvesting the rye.”
Laws describes the rye whiskey as having peppery serrano notes with hints of sweet and salty caramel. The four-grain bourbon, on the other hand, starts with the taste of sweet corn. It’s followed by a penny metallic bite from the rye, then a doughy bread flavor from the wheat and a nutty finish from the barley.
Branch & Barrel also buys rye and wheat from a farm in Alamosa, barley from one in Monte Vista, and corn from a dairy farm in Wiggins. These Colorado farms support sustainable growing practices that impact the taste of Branch & Barrel’s spirits.
Branch & Barrel’s flagship bourbon has a crème brulée flavor with notes of toasted caramel, vanilla and brown sugar, plus a hint of apples and cherries. Branch & Barrel’s pea whiskey—made with field peas sourced from a local farmer who planted them to provide nitrogen to the soil—has earthy, smoky and umami characteristics.
Brogan, who’s from Scotland, imports Vapor Distillery’s malted barley from Europe. But he saves the distilling industry from using more energy by processing spirits for other companies with his equipment. Hogback Distillery, which is in the same parking lot as Vapor Distillery, contracts Brogan’s time and space, selling him ingredients and buying back bottles. Vapor also distills whiskey made from an annual 30 tons of surplus malted barley, grown by a farmer in Berthoud, Colorado.
When it comes to using distilling equipment sustainably, Branch & Barrel constructs and upcycles a lot of their own apparatuses. With much of their team having worked previously, or simultaneously, in handyman roles—one owner is a plumber, another owns a construction company and the head distiller is an electrician—the distillery repurposes what’s no longer of use to them or other companies. They turned old beer fermenters into doublers, or vats that distill spirits a second time, and condiment containers into fermenters.
Nester says, “It’s been very much about trying to make sustainable and local whiskey like the way that they know how,” and sharing that with others.
“We’re a tourism state,” Laws says. “So in order for our brand to travel, we want people to come in and have a great experience in our cocktail lounge or our tour.” This allows Laws Whiskey House staff to engage with those who share their passion for spirits, allowing the community to connect in an increasingly impassioned way. The tasting room experience is “more soulful than just making a very soulful product.”
