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In The Spirit

Modern-day Colorado distilleries brew spirits by adding local love to ancient distillation techniques

By Suzy Loeffler

Found in: | Inside | Art | Beer |

The practice of ancient Alchemy is most often associated with the transmutation of lead into gold. A lesser-known aspect of alchemy, which is defined at "the art of transformation," is the preparation of elixirs, extracts, and spirits refered to as aqua vitae, or "water of life." These processes and techniques were the harbinger of modern-day distillation.
A growing number of artisanal distilleries throughout Colorado are reviving the ancient arts of distillation and mixology. The modern-day alchemists at Montanya distillery in Silverton are artistically transforming raw sugar into gold and silver rums. Farther north, Peach Street distillers out of Palisade use locally grown peaches, corn, grain, and juniper berries to create spirits.
Peach Street paved the way for the artisan distillery movement on the Western Slope of Colorado. It began distilling in Palisade more than four years ago. Today, of the several distilleries in Colorado, five share the Western Slope. The three others are Peak Spirits in Hotchkiss, Colorado Gold in Cedaredge and Mancos Distilling Company in Mancos. Each distillery embraces the spirit of community. "We are not in competition; we are making a conscious effort to work together," says Rory Donovan, part owner of Peach Street.
The ancient Alchemists worked closely with the four classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The distillers of western Colorado depend on the same elements to transform raw materials into spirit. The original product is of the earth, whether it is in the form of cane sugar, corn, grains, or fruit. The still then uses fire to heat fresh water and the earthly essence of the grains or fruit to vapor before returning it to a liquid product.
Distillation is a complicated, multi-faceted process. Visit any one of Colorado's artisan distilleries and chances are there will be someone on hand to explain the distillation process, while you sip a cocktail. Each distillery has its own side to the story.
Peak Spirits, located on Jack Rabbit Hill Biodynamic Farm, grows grain and fruit for its spirits. It focuses on growing produce as much as distilling it, holding to the belief that authentic flavor begins in the ground. Its products are certified organic.
The creators of Peach Street Distillery chose the location of Palisade based on its proximity to an abundance of locally grown fruits and vegetables. "We wouldn't be able to make it work if we had to ship in all of the raw material for our mash," explains Donovan. "We have access to all the fruit we need at its peak of ripeness and flavor."
In Silverton, a town residing at 9,305 feet elevation, the local food movement depends on trade with lower areas for fresh goods. But two local resources are abundant. One is fresh, clean alpine water. Clean water is essential in the distillation process. The second is elevation. Drastic daily temperature variation, which occurs almost predictably at high elevations, is key to the aging process.
"We thought about starting a distillery for years," says Brice Hoskin who, along with his wife, Karen, created Montanya distillery. He explained that the vision of creating a rum distillery in Silverton came to them on a beach in Belize where they sipped rum cocktails. They learned that rum, distilled on the coasts of Central America, is often carried in oak barrels to higher elevations, where daily changes in temperature allow the alcohol to shrink and expand into the pores of the oak, a fluctuation that creates the flavors produced in the aging process. Silverton has drastic temperature shifts from day to night.
Montanya's still, Bella, is a hand-crafted copper Alambic artisan still the Hoskins ordered from Portugal. It is one of few modern-day stills that utilizes an open flame for it heat source. Bella stands proud to one side of the modest tasting room, which includes a small bar and several tables. In the summer, there are benches and tables outside where locals and visitors gather below Kendall Mountain to enjoy a favorite drink or to sample a weekly special. The drinks are the artsy creations of Delena Aseere and Karen Hoskin, who are all about reviving mixology as an artistic pursuit.
At Peach Tree, the art is literally in the bottle. Donovan pulls a bottle of specialty pear brandy from a box. There it is: a pear "in" the bottle. At the beginning of the fruiting season, when the pear is just a nubbin, the bottle was placed over the fruit on the tree. It is an example of the artistry that elevates Peach Street Distillery above the mass-marketed commercially produced products of the big distilleries. The purchase of one of these artisan products not only supports the local economy but also shows the love and puts a little of Colorado in every bottle.
The success of the Colorado distilleries is part innovation and part a growing appreciation of locally grown and crafted goods. All of the distilleries are open to the public, and have retail spaces where you can purchase their products. Montanya and Peach Street have tasting rooms where visitors can enjoy artistic cocktails inspired by top-notch spirits.
Each distillery has come a long way in a short history.
Peach Street first experimented with a still that was a beer keg-fitted with an Internet-ordered distilling apparatus lined with copper and heated over a fire. Copper is key to the process. It interacts with and absorbs the sulfur components to create a superior flavor and product. The still used at Peach Street today is far more advanced than the original beer keg still. And bigger. It produces large batches of vodka, gin, brandy, and most recently, bourbon.
"Our still will be manned around the clock during harvest season as we produce all the fruit brandies we will need for the next year, while the fruit is ripe," explains Donovan, looking a little exhausted at the prospect of the work ahead. The distilling process is labor intensive - a person has to be present at all times through the process to assure the highest quality.
All of the stills used in the Colorado distilleries, regardless of size, work on the same elemental level. Raw material, corn, fruit, or Hawaiian cane sugar, called the mash, are fermented - with the addition of yeast - for a certain number of days, and are then added to the still where the heating process turns liquid to vapor and back to liquid, repeated several times to create the product that is referred to as the "heart."
"The first liquid that comes through the still is called �?�?head.' It is so potent you can run cars off of it. The idea is to turn head to heart. Heart is what we want, but it takes several runs through the still before that is achieved," explains Aseere as she dips a finger into a sample jar to taste how close this batch is to completion. "Perfect!"
The ancient alchemist was a pursuit of perfection on all levels. It is no different today.

Suzy Loeffler resides and imbibes in Southwest Colorado.