A Spirited Trip: Tattersall Distilling

In my ever expanding quest to visit and document new (and old) craft breweries, I occasionally get a chance to visit a distillery. With craft beer booming, one of big new rising trends is in craft distilling.  I usually look at distilled products as being fairly homogeneous these days: an example is Ireland, where nearly all their major Irish whiskeys are distilled at one place.  Much like the sad state beer was in in the 1980's to 1990's, there's now plenty of room for small, local, craft places to find a foothold.

One new-ish Twin Cities distillery is Tattersall Distilling in Northeast Minneapolis (Nordeast to his friends) located in the historic Thorp Building.  The building used to be the production facility for large fire doors, and had a period of use in WWII as a secret military equipment manufactory.  Now the aged building hosts a distillery, several artist studios, and soon Strike Theater!

The distillery is located around the back of the building, somewhat hidden unless you're looking for it.  There is some parking in a dirt lot behind the place, but it may get crowded on a Saturday afternoon.  The place is pretty massive, with a large old-looking wooden bar taking up a good portion of the indoor tasting room.  Large glass panes separate the distilling area and barrel storage from the tasting room, but everything is easily visible from within.  There's plenty of seating inside, but also a large patio area with some umbrella'd tables for shade in the hot sun.  Food trucks are often present to take the edge off!

Arty shot of the view from the patio

The first time we stopped at Tattersall was during Art-A-Whirl, a crazy neighborhood wide "block" party, art show, and festival that is simply amazing to take part in.  At that time Tattersall was teaming with people and was SRO.  Normally Sj and I would have probably just taken off, but very quickly a waitress found us in the crowd and took an order, not forcing me to wade into the press of humanity at the bar.  Bonus points for having an active and large enough staff to properly handle such an event!
More recently we took a couple of cocktail loving friends from Colorado (Heather and Lorelei) to visit on a Saturday afternoon.  Again, the place was very busy, but not as extreme as during the festival.  The back half of the taproom seemed to be set up for a party, but it was winding down by the time we got there.  We did wait a while at the bar for our drinks, but it was worth the wait!



Our server this time was Dan Oskey, co-founder and Twin Cities celebrity bartender.  A little known fact of distillery tasting rooms in Minnesota is the fact that they can't serve any liquor not distilled on site.  Sounds fair right?  Sure, until you realize that a huge proportion of mixed drinks involve accessory mixers like vermouth, flavored liqueurs, etc.  This pretty much limits bartenders to fruit juices, simple syrups, and bitters.  J. Carver Distillery in Waconia (my town) makes up for this a bit by making their own infused simple syrups, but are still unable to make a classic Manhattan!  Tattersall has really taken this to the next level by making their own versions of Creme de Cacao, Triple Sec, and more for mixing.  They also make digestive bitters like Amaro and Fernet that can be sipped on their own or mixed into drinks for an added herbal kick.

I had a bourbon-based cocktail which was quite good and surprisingly refreshing on this warm but overcast day.  We each got something different and shared a bit to get to try them all.  I've only recently begun to experiment with cocktails, so I'm no expert on this field!  I do know that all of these drinks were well balanced, smooth, and complex.  Not rocket-fuel like a few places we've been to!

Overall, we were all very impressed with the service, the vibe, and especially the drinks.  I will highly recommend it as a stop in Nordeast...on your way to the Indeed taproom perhaps?  I also look forward to having a cocktail here before a show at Strike Theater once that gets going.

Get Bent! Bent Brewstillery

While in Roseville for the Minnesota Mashout homebrew competition this past January, I got a chance to visit Bent Brewstillery.  After two straight days clustered around a bunch of beer geeks judging beers in the basement of Grumpy's, where could I find a change of pace?  Yep, just a short walk through melting snow to a nondescript office park to hang out with even more beer geeks!

Bent has a bit of a storied past.  The building originally housed the Pour Decisions Brewery headed by brewer and scientist Kristen England.  The beers tended to focus on obscure/extinct/unusual styles that really appealed to the beer geek in me, but maybe made for a tougher sell on the average drinker.  They did some contract brewing for Bent Brewstillery at that time, using the owner of that company's homebrew recipes.  A couple of years into the endeavor, there were apparently some money troubles (I think mainly because one of the partners no longer wanted to have a part in things).  With the need for an infusion of money to keep things going, Pour Decisions merged with Bent Brewstillery in 2013.  England stayed on as head brewer, but the latter name was chosen and the running of the business side went to Bartley and Brenda Blume.  They kept this name because they wanted to create something new in Minnesota--the first brewery/distillery combination facility.  They have a sizeable 20 barrel brew system with 40 barrel fermentors, as well as a 5 barrel "experimental" system that England uses mainly for his continued passion of sour beers!  With the large brew system they also create the wash for distilling in their 500 gallon still.

The building has changed a bit since the early days, but still hides out in a quiet and seemingly deserted office park.  I used to laugh at the tiny little sign in the window of Pour Decisions, but the new brewery isn't marked much better--just a small vinyl banner over the door.  A food truck was parked outside next to the small patio area on the day I visited, providing vittles for hungry drinkers.  Inside the place is fairly dark, with a scattering of high tables and some up-ended barrels around the main floor space.  Thick and imposing spiky metal fencing bars one entry to the brewery and the distillery but you can see the stainless steel in the darkened space beyond.  Frankly I find this feature to distract from the otherwise warm and comfortable feel of the place.  The bathrooms deserve mention--fancy sinks in both, and a European style bidet in the women's room--much swankier than most taprooms!  And no, I did not infiltrate the ladies room...

A fairly small bar sits in the far corner, manned by two servers on this day.  There was often a long line to get beers but these two were quick and friendly, even when having to fill tons of sampler trays.
In the past I've had mixed feelings on the beers at Bent.  One would be amazing (sours for instance) and another would be flawed in some fundamental recipe formulation way.  I've been to the brewery twice previously and decided to hold off on my review until I could give it one last shot.  That time was now, and I was happy to discover that things are much improved from my previous visits.  I ended up getting a sampler of the entire line-up and tasting through them as we played dice games on the larger high-top table in the taproom.  I rate beers on a 0-5 scale, 3 is average for me, 4 I'll search out, and 5 I'll hoard.  I was already being anti social with my friends by taking notes, so these are pretty quick impressions not BJCP scoresheets!

1) Hil Yis!  ExperimentALE #7:  Made with New Zealand hops, this has a light gold color and strong tropical fruit notes of apricot and mango.  A somewhat bitter finish but a good and flavorful beer.  3.75

2) Nordic Blonde:  I still don't get this beer.  Amber blonde?  Oxy-moronic as a jumbo shrimp, this is one of the flagship beers from Bent and is in cans all over the place.  I have actively despised this beer in the past, but this time it wasn't as bad.  Amber in color with some hoppiness in aroma and flavor.  Somewhat bready and crisp which reminds me more of a Vienna lager than a blonde.  Still not a blonde. 3

3) Moar: A light Scottish ale but with American hopping.  Hoppier than any Scottish ale has a right to be, but the malty body of this is pleasant. Citrus hops are bright in aroma and flavor.  Very easy to drink. 3.5

4) Brother Vesper: A Belgian quad.  Complex, woody, dark fruit, caramel.  Dark cherry as it warms.  Warming and boozy.  Very nice beer.  4

5) Fest Hop ExperimentALE #8: Strong tea-like tannins.  Hoppy and fruity.  Mellow but well balanced and different.  3.75

Tyrone hams it up while testing out the hop infuser! 

6) Maroon & Bold: This is a hold-over from Pour Decisions and features all Minnesota grown ingredients including the hops.  Slightly sweet with mellow hopping.  More of a pale ale in flavor than an IPA.  3.75

7) Funked Up Series #6 Berried Gose: A German style gose (light, tart wheat beer with salt and coriander usually added).  Mixed berry aromas and flavors--blueberry, raspberry seem dominant to me.  Pretty pink color with some haziness.  Light saltiness adds complexity and balances the acid bite.  4

8) Malvasia Pyment: This is a honey wine with Malvasia grape juice added before fermentation.  Served in a wine glass.  Excellent clarity, light golden color.  Tons of tangerine, pear and honey flavors.  I like this a lot!  4.25

9) White IPA with fruit:  This is a batch that they were experimenting with--each day this week had a different fruit addition to the base beer.  Today's version was spruce.  I've had lots of sahti beers, as well as other spruce beers, but this was outrageously like drinking Pine Sol cleanser.  No thank you.  Would be interested to try the base beer or other versions. 1

This brewery still seems to have a little multiple personality disorder to me.  I get some beers that seem out of style just to make a point (Dark Fatha, Nordic Blonde) while others are aiming to be true to classic and rare styles like gose, Belgian quad, and pyment.  I love the fact that the place usually has a mead of some type on tap since they are so hard to find anywhere.  They also have cold press coffee available on tap if you need a pick-me-up after a hard day's drinking.

While I was wrapping up my tasting, a small group of brewers and distillers was getting a short tour of the distilling side of things with Bartley Blume himself and I was invited along for the ride. Bartley is a somewhat intense guy that really seems to be passionate about his distillery projects.  He pointed out the large still and a tiny little experimental one they use for small batch trials.  We got to sample the Gunner Ghost navy strength (114 proof!) gin--fairly bursting with flowery botanical aromas like lavender, rose, and coriander.  They actually use Cascade hops in the mixture which is a nice nod to the fact they are also a brewery.  This was a strong one, but very flavorful!  We also tried the Bent Anchor Poitin--an Irish style moonshine made mainly from the cast-off potato peels from Minneapolis hipster haven Anchor Fish & Chips.  This was surprisingly smooth and reminded me a lot of vodka but with a bit more character and body to it.  I was sporting my J. Carver Distillery shirt this particular day and mentioned their experiments with grappa, and within seconds Bartley had given me a taste of their test batch--not bad for a first effort!

I would say that based on this recent visit, I would recommend Bent as a taproom to visit, especially if you live on the St. Paul side of things.  I respect Kristen England's beer and brewing knowledge to the utmost, and now having met Bartley Blume I feel that he has a lot of passion for the distilling side of things.  I think that with these two each focusing on their areas of expertise Bent Brewstillery is finally becoming what what it was destined to be.

Since I've recently widened my boozy pursuits to include cocktails, I went ahead and bought a 375 ML bottle of the Gunner Ghost to try out at home.  I made a fairly classic martini with it to showcase the gin.

2 oz Gunner Ghost Navy Strength Gin
1 oz Ransom Dry Vermouth
3 dashes Dashfire Number 1 Orange Bitters
Shake with ice
Garnish with lemon twist

This turned out pretty tasty, but very strong and very dry!  The vermouth I used actually had botanicals in it already and in retrospect I'd choose something more mellow to pair with this beast of a gin.  The Dashfire bourbon barrel bitters (another local company by the way) adds a bit of fruity complexity and accentuates the citrus hops in the gin.  It took me a while to drink all of this due to it's powerful flavors and alcohol.

J. Carver Distillery Review

Way back in August of 2014 I wrote up a short piece in this blog about J. Carver Distillery that you can check out HERE.  At the time I got a short tour from Bill Miller and Gina Holman, and was very excited about what they had planned.  They had just put in the dark wood bar, and had received their fermenters, but still had a lot of work to do on the place.

Fast forward to now and they've been up and running for some time, with spirits for sale around the Twin Cities.  There was some delay in having taproom hours due to some complicated old national and local laws about samples of spirits and I had wondered if they would ever get to open it!  Happily though, they just recently opened up the tasting room to the public and it was finally time for my wife (Sj) and I to get out there to check it out.  The distillery building is in an old auto dealership just a short mile from my house, making this an easy commute!

The industrial front of the building certainly hearkens back to its previous life, but now you can see the coppery glow of the stills through the large glass windows, beckoning one in to see what wonders lurk within.  The new taproom is well-lit but still intimate.  The long bar is immaculate with rows of shiny beautiful bottles and mirrors on the walls behind.  Gina was at the bar when we arrived and greeted us warmly as always, making us feel immediately at home.  The feel of the place is very different from the other local bars and watering holes, with the upscale and classy look of a cocktail bar.  We had signed up online for one of the tours, which costs $10 per person and takes about 35-40 minutes.  Part of the tour price includes either a taster of three spirits or a cocktail.  Gina quickly built some fancy cocktails for us to have in hand during our tour around the building, crafting them with speed, grace, and skill.  I ended up with a tasty Gin Old Fashioned (made with their barrel aged gin, rosemary scented honey, and vanilla cherry bark bitters.)

Cocktails in hand, we met up with Dan Niesen (one of the distillers) who took us all over the distillery to explore the nooks and crannies.  It was fun to see the whole process from local grains to the glass in my hand.  They do truly try to source most of their ingredients as local as possible--Dan seemed needlessly apologetic that some of their rye came from a little farther away (but still in Minnesota!)  They're also making good contacts with suppliers of local produce for some of their other products like grappa in collaboration with Waconia's Sovereign Estate Winery.  I'll admit I didn't love the grappa, but I'm more of a bourbon or Scotch kind of guy.

J. Carver's pot still

During the tour we got to ogle the three stills that they have for different projects.  I especially like the tiny experimental still that they use to do smaller batches without risking a much larger batch not turning out.  This can also come in handy if they get access to a smaller amount of a local fruit or other fermentable.  Dan took us through the whole process and really gave us a great tour!

We also got to check out the growing barrel room where whiskeys and gins are aging in climate controlled hibernation, becoming much more than the base spirits they began life as.  I'm excited about when those whiskeys come to fruition!  Already, the barrel aged J. Carver Gin is a treat--mixing the herbal spicing of a gin with the tannin, structure, and complexity of time in a barrel.

Tour over and drinks empty, we returned to the tasting room.  The place had filled in a lot since we left, now bustling with other folks dropping in for a drink or tour.  We found a high-top table in a corner where we would sample the other spirits.  Each of us had three coming, so by sharing we got to try most of the available products.  It was cool getting to test these, but other than bourbons, I'm not used to sipping hard liquor straight, so this was a little challenging.  Our favorites were the Barrel Gin and Grimm's Farm Gin.  The vodkas were OK, but like I said, I'm not used to straight up vodka, so this was difficult to judge.

One can buy a 375 ML bottle at the distillery, or they can send you with a one-day-only coupon for a discount at one of our local liquor stores.  Sj and I ended up taking our coupon to Legacy Wine & Spirits in Waconia to buy bottles of the Barrel Gin and the Grimm Farm Ultra-Premium Gin.  Time to get working on some cocktails at home!

I'm excited about what these guys are doing right in my own backyard.  With the addition of three wineries, two breweries (Waconia and Schram), and now a distillery, Waconia is really starting to become a destination for craft alcoholic beverages.  No longer do I need to drive to Northeast Minneapolis to try out something unique and local!

J. Carver Distillery: A Teaser

One of the biggest questions I've been getting from my readers and friends over the past 4 months is "What do you know about the new distillery they are building in Waconia?"  Since I live within walking distance from the site and am usually on top of this type of thing, I decided that I should look into this mysterious project more closely!  Founder and partner Bill Miller and Gina Holman, founding partner and manager were kind enough to invite me out to the J. Carver Distillery for a tour and interview.

The site itself is somewhat unusual, taking up the old car dealership just off Highway 5.  When I visited, the place was bustling with activity and construction.  Tradesmen of various types came and went constantly, flitting about like busy worker bees.  Bill and Gina frequently took calls, met people, and made sure things were running smoothly.  Amongst this controlled chaos I received some cool background on this bold project!

Given free reign to talk about his dream, Bill really had a lot to say.  From his passionate and affable discussion I could tell that he was not just financially invested in this concept, but fully emotionally invested as well.  Conceptually he has really taken on the mantle of pioneer and explorer from the distillery's (and our county's) namesake Jonathan Carver.  He admits that opening a craft distillery in our state and our town is covering new ground and requires a lot of exploration and learning.  Not put off by this, he is embracing the challenge and making it part of their mandate!  Bill, a big fan of hospitality and the social aspect of drinking, remembers having cocktail parties for friends and teaching everyone about different drinks like Mojitos.  He enjoys watching people learn about something new and plans to make this aspect a large part of their distillery plans.

Probably the biggest thing J. Carver is going to have to educate people on is just what exactly a distillery is!  Coming from the craft beer and homebrewing world as I do, this seems like an easy one to me, but many people do not have that background and would like to know more.  Now that the craft beer movement has finally taken off in Minnesota, many people assume that J. Carver is a brewery.  Nope!  Beers will usually only get up to about 15% alcohol by volume by natural fermentation by yeast.  Taking a base fermented mash (made from barley, wheat, potato, corn, etc.) the distiller will then run this through a still.  These are cool looking contraptions with coils and columns, usually made of copper.  Alcohol has a lower evaporation point than water and turns to steam first, then condenses as it cools in the coils, collecting again as a more concentrated liquid as it runs through the still.  The result is a much stronger (feel the burn!) alcohol product called a distilled spirit.  While homebrewing beer has been legal since the 1970's (thanks Jimmy Carter!), the distilling process has been highly regulated by the government since the repeal of Prohibition.  Though people do still make bootleg hooch like Moonshine even in this day and age...  As a result of this tougher regulation, J. Carver has had to wade through some very old and often conflicting laws in their quest to open their new small distillery.  Luckily they have had a lot of support from our local state and city government and seem on track to open soon!

What types of spirits are they planning to make?  They have three different stills, each using a different method of distillation to create a different product.  They plan on doing a good mix of vodka, bourbon, rye whiskey, gin, and some liqueurs.  Their third still is much smaller than the other two and they plan to do many small and experimental batches with that one--embracing the pioneering aspect of "craft" to try new and interesting things.  They have already been tossing around ideas for this last still and I am certainly intrigued to see what they decide to make!  They may end up trying flavor infused spirits over time, but want to get their basic process down before they step too far outside their comfort zone.  Bill also remarked that he enjoys the process of mixing a drink and having the flavors already in there takes out some of the fun and potentially the freshness of flavor. 

Why start a distillery in the small Western Suburb of Waconia?  The basic answer is because most of the people involved live out here and didn't want to move or commute.  I understand that!  In addition to that, it sounds like our local town government has really embraced the idea and worked hard to keep this new small business in our town instead of moving to Minneapolis or St. Paul. 

When asked who would actually be doing the distilling, Bill told me that his brother Matt has had several years of experience working at the Catskill Distilling Company in upstate New York and will be the head distiller for J. Carver.  They have also hired on another local Waconia fellow, Dan Niesen to help out with the process.  Bill also told me that the whole group will work together to come up with ideas for spirits. 

The owners of J. Carver seem ready to embrace the nearby Waconia wineries and breweries as fellow travelers and hope that in time our town will be a destination for fermented and distilled beverage tourists.  I'm already cracking my knuckles and laughing evilly thinking about the potential for wonderful collaborations between these local alcohol producers.  There is still some question about how the distillery will be handling on site sales and tastings.  They do hope to have some local visitor options to try the spirits they produce, but this process is somewhat of a Wild West situation and final decisions are still up in the air.  I did get to see a beautiful dark wood bar under construction during my visit and have high hopes that they are able to use it to full effect! 

Based on this tour and interview with Bill and Gina I have a lot of respect for what they have planned for the J. Carver Distillery.  I think they are coming from a place of true respect for the product and a desire to make a successful new business in the town of Waconia.  I will try to get back in touch with them as things continue along and update my readers with new pictures and information as it becomes available.  Thanks again to Bill and Gina for taking time out of their very busy day for me!

A Visit With Gentleman Jack

After leaving Nashville we headed for an adventure that I have been eagerly awaiting for many years: a tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Having gone to college at Emory (Atlanta, GA) and made the trek there and back many times; then the many trips to Alabama to visit Sj's side of the family--I had always been intrigued by the signs for the distillery.  While only recently being trained in the tasting of distilled spirits, I have always been interested in the history and process of making them.  This time we set aside plenty of time on our trip for a tour.

Taking rural "scenic route" highways and roads to get to the small town that Jack built, we passed decaying and decrepit farms, rolling farmland just hitting the fall harvest, old oak forests, and plenty of other classic and timeless heartland scenes.  The distillery itself sprawls over a large parcel of land in a valley (or holler if you are from the South) with a humid mist clinging to everything--giving it a land-that-time-forgot feel.  We arrived around 20 minutes before the next free tour, but the new pay tasting tour was sold out and we would have to wait another hour to get into the next one.  With the tour taking over an hour, this would have slowed us down too much to make it into Huntsville before dark.  With bowed head and a tear in my eye, I acquiesced to take the regular free tour.

A water tower for dousing the burning coals

After waiting a while in the well decorated and wood floored visitor center, our tour guide arrived waving a JD fan with our tour number on it and we followed him into a small theater to watch a short promotional movie.  After that we headed out of the building and onto an old wooden porch at the back of the building to get our picture taken, then onto a bus and a short ride across the property.  Our first stop was up a hill to the Rickyard where they make the charcoal to filter the the whiskey--a key step in differentiating Tennessee whiskey from bourbon.    The immense hoods used for this process were an impressive sight and I would have loved to see the fires going for this process.

We finished the rest of the tour on foot from here.  We next traveled to visit the two old fire trucks (including an REO Speedwagon) that were in charge of firefighting on the grounds and the city before being retired for parade use only.  These were pretty cool and apparently do still run.

The Fire Brigade

Time for me to fly...

Our next stop was the spring from which JD gets its water.  The stream exits from a deep cave in the limestone rock with a sheltered overhang above, making this an ideal place for Jack Daniel to start his initially small scale distilling.  A slightly larger than life sized bronze statue of him (he was apparently about 5'2" tall) stands in front of the spring.

Where all the JD in the world begins

A trip to the old office building and then we were off to visit the distillery and the aging tanks.  The size of this operation is massive and much of the equipment including the boil kettle is very old.  We could not take pictures or use electronics in most of the buildings due to risk of igniting the vaporized spirits in the air, so I have only outside pics for this part of the post!  Walking into the barrel aging building and seeing the stories of stacked and aging oak barrels was something that can only be experienced first hand.  At one point the aroma of whiskey in the air was so powerful that you could actually taste it!  We were offered the chance to come to the distillery and choose your own single barrel to be bottled up for you--only 8-9 grand!  Though it is tempting....

This was a spectacular tour taking over an hour, and our drawling tour-guide really loved his job!  I would recommend it highly for anyone interested in the process of distilling as well as the history of the place.  After the tour you are directed into a tavern that serves free lemonade but no booze, and has access to the bottle shop.  Since Jack Daniel's is located in a county that went dry before prohibition, and still boasts of that dubious honor, you are not technically able to buy liquor there.  I guess there is a technicality that allows them to sell you a highly priced commemorative bottle while the resulting liquor inside is a gift from the distillery!  I bought a bottle of the Single Barrel, going on faith that it would be good.

By the time we were finished with our noon tour, we headed into the small town of Lynchburg (walkable from the distillery) for a quick look.  The central square is dominated by the painted red brick City Hall, surrounded by several small curio shops.  The largest of these is Lynchburg Hardware & General Store--a multi-level place that sells every possible JD branded item you could think of.  I finally picked up a cocktail shaker for my bar and replaced my decrepit Guinness wallet with a fresh Jack Daniel's one.  They even throw in a free shot-glass for purchases more than $10 if you went on the tour.  I am a sucker for merchandising!

Despite my lack of tasting at the tour, I eventually had a chance to sit down and taste some Jack Daniel's.  The first I tried was the Old No. 7 (the quintessential Jack Daniel's Tennessee Sipping Whiskey) in the form of an airplane bottle given away at my cousin Susan's wonderful wedding in Nashville.  This was actually the first time I've ever tried this American classic, unless maybe I've had it in a mixed drink somewhere along the way.  I found it a bit hot and harsh compared to some of the nicer bourbons I've tried recently, but not terrible.  I think I'd leave this for mixed drinks in the future, since it didn't have quite the barrel complexity I like in whiskey.  I might soak some oak cubes in the rest and use it for a JD aged Imperial stout or barleywine.  Next I tried the Single Barrel that I received at the bottle shop.  The color was several shades darker than the Old No. 7 and the aroma much more complex.  The flavors were mellow and included plenty of vanilla and Rainier cherry.  I'm pretty pleased with my purchase on this one!  I could buy a whole barrel of this?  Go to the distillery; sample and pick between three different barrels; get all my bottles and also the sanded down and branded barrel to take home?  My 40th birthday is coming up my friends!  I'll share!