A mid-summer distillery press journey to the western face of Utah’s Wasatch Mountain vary offered a raft of sudden surprises. At 7,000 ft above sea degree, the excessive desert air isn’t cool. It’s bone dry and heated by sunshine that bludgeons SPF 50 sunscreens. Even a modest stroll taxed the lungs of this customer from Louisville, Ky. (altitude 545 ft). Empty chairs dangling from ski elevate cables made plain that Park Metropolis was constructed for Olympic winter sports activities, and on this July afternoon, scenes of a powdery snowpack discovered no buy in my creativeness.
It’s on this uber-pricey neighborhood of 8,400 {that a} husband and spouse dreamed of constructing a distillery. Sure, in a location the place evaporative loss from whiskey barrels is extreme, and air density and weather-related challenges confronted each day by distillers don’t happen in Jap U.S. distilleries.
Because the story goes, on a distillery go to to Kentucky in 2001, biochemist David Perkins acknowledged the parallels between fermentation in his personal work and the distilling course of. That lightbulb second impressed him and spouse, Jane, to construct a small distillery, saloon and restaurant in a century-old constructing in Park Metropolis, proper on the foot of Quittin’ Time ski run. That will make it the world’s solely ski-in, ski-out saloon and distillery.
Opened in 2009, it was fittingly named Excessive West Distillery, and it didn’t take lengthy earlier than excessive demand for its modern spirits outstripped the capability of its 250-gallon pot nonetheless. That led the Perkinses to construct a big manufacturing distillery at a website half-hour away in Wanship, Utah, on Blue Sky Ranch. The placement was distant and rustic, recalled grasp distiller Brendan Coyle, nevertheless it was very best for distilling. Effectively under the land lay fascinating limestone filtered water within the Oyster Ridge aquifer.
“In case you’ve ever visited a Highland Scotch whiskey distillery in Scotland, you get a way of solitude and isolation,” Coyle mentioned a number of years in the past in a YouTube video in regards to the location. Having earned a grasp’s in brewing and distilling sciences in Scotland, he went to Park Metropolis in 2006 and met with the Perkinses. Employed as grasp distiller in 2007, he grew to become Excessive West’s second worker. “We needed that feeling out right here, to be surrounded by the mountains, glorious views, and never have that noise, hustle-bustle that goes with a vacationer city.”
Fearless Innovation
To American distillery tour veterans: Know that this distillery is approach totally different than visiting a conventional Kentucky website. Coyle’s coaching in Scotland foreshadowed his option to make whiskey on a Forsythe pot nonetheless—plus a hybrid column thrown in for refinement. And talking of refinement, the constructing’s many massive and hovering home windows present a view of the encompassing mountains most wherever you stroll. It’s a stunning place to work.
Since house is proscribed right here, solely a portion of the barrels stuffed are aged on this distant campus. Most of them relaxation in warehousing about an hour away close to Salt Lake Metropolis’s most important airport. When these whiskies mature, they’re transported again to Wanship for mixing, bottling and, typically secondary maturation.
In all places you look all through the plant, the model’s bent towards experimentation is on show. Whether or not it’s the seen mashup of Scottish and American whiskey-making mechanicals or barrel heads itemizing the small print of a singular mix, it’s clear that is no distill-it-and-fill-it operation. Experiments are diversified however exact. Concepts for brand new whiskies may start as, “Hey, let’s do that,” however as soon as executed, sensory knowledge is tracked from nonetheless to staves and past.
In advertising and marketing its liquids, the crew creates intelligent and goofy names that, with the assistance of nice whiskey in these bottles, create cult-favorite releases that may disappear in single-day sellouts. Maybe you’ve heard of a few of them: A Midwinter Evening’s Dram; Bourye; Prisoner’s Share; Campfire and plenty of extra.
“Sourcing spirits and used barrels for mixing and ageing has all the time been part of what we do,” mentioned Isaac Winter, director of distilling at Constellation Manufacturers, which owns Excessive West. His work inside different Constellation manufacturers reminiscent of Casa Noble Tequila, Nelson’s Inexperienced Brier Distillery and Copper & Kings American Brandy sees these corporations’ used casks circulating via Excessive West’s stock. “We’re all the time innovating, all the time imagining one thing new. So, it’s nice to have entry to these manufacturers’ belongings and their groups’ information, too.”
Coyle put it this manner.
“It’s all the time been a part of the corporate to innovate, to maintain it shifting, maintain it contemporary,” he mentioned. Constellation purchased Excessive West in 2016. “We love to have a look at the cross-pollination of concepts: to experiment with totally different yeast strains, mashbills and grain varietals. We consider that selection leads us to the subsequent nice product.”
Selection is an understatement. Two partitions of the distillery’s whiskey library and tasting room are lined with many dozens of year-over-year iterations of particular releases. But, it’s uncertain the room has house sufficient to make sure the lineup is exhaustive. An in-depth tasting and Q&A session led by Tara Lindley, Excessive West’s director of sensory and new product growth, left me wishing I’d invested extra treasure, time and tongue in these releases once they got here to market years in the past. Some won’t be launched once more nationally, and a few repeats are nonetheless resting in barrels.
“Way back, we determined to have experience in distilling and experience in mixing,” Coyle mentioned. “We’ve acquired a superb crew: Issac and Tara, clearly, and plenty of others. We do complicated distilling trials, we have now a fancy stock, and we additionally do complicated mixing and recipe formulation. So, to have two people who find themselves centered in their very own proper is basically useful.”
Repast on the Refectory
A part of what led the Perkinses to Blue Sky Ranch was its proprietor’s want that Excessive West’s Saloon crew would create a high-quality food and drinks expertise at his place. Centered extra on distilling growth and the Saloon’s present operation, Jenkins declined to pressure workers sources by outsourcing them by way of consulting. However a compromise was achieved when Jenkins requested Blue Sky’s proprietor to as an alternative construct him a distillery and customer expertise on the property, one which the ranch’s horse boarders and riders may go to simply.
The result’s a two-section constructing whose elegant design unifies the working distillery and its ski-lodge-like customer expertise right into a visually putting complete. The Refectory, its restaurant and tasting room, opened in 2015.
Not solely are whiskey tastings and flights staples right here, so are whiskey and meals pairings. The gastro menu is properly suited to spirits, and nibbles and sips are all the time inspired.
Facet be aware: Throughout the journey, our press group skilled an in depth dinner, whiskey and cocktail pairing at The Nelson Cottage, Excessive West’s elevated farm-to-table restaurant in Park Metropolis. In additional than three a long time of writing about food and drinks, I don’t recall a spirits-centric pairing executed in addition to that one. To any distillery expertise supervisor contemplating creating such an possibility, journey there for an immersive research.
“To have the distillery and Saloon within the coronary heart of Park Metropolis was the unique house owners’ end-all, be-all objective—a spot the place friends may come, have a beautiful meal and whiskey pairing, and see our manufacturing proper in entrance of their faces,” Coyle mentioned. “However we surpassed that objective and realized there was extra alternative on the market. That’s what led to this facility.”
If You Plan to Go to Excessive West Disitllery
The distillery is open all 12 months, however on condition that Park Metropolis is an costly place to go to, it can save you some dough visiting throughout low season. Not solely are room charges decrease, however in keeping with our group’s driver, visitors isn’t absolutely the nightmare it’s throughout ski season. The drive to Park Metropolis is about 45 minutes from Salt Lake Metropolis. Tack on an additional half-hour if you wish to drive to the distillery in Wanship. Study extra about Excessive West’s a number of customer experiences.
