DistilleryTour of Deerhammer Distilling Co in Buena Vista, Colorado: Inside the Distillery Tour with Lenny Eckstein
Lenny Eckstein, owner, co-founder, and head distiller at Deerhammer Distilling Co heard me and Dan talking about young whiskey on a recent Practical Still podcast episode and reached out to invite up to his distillery. He felt like he could help us understand distillation and maturation more fully and improve our understanding of what we taste in the glass. He was right.
Lenny takes us on a tour of his distilling operation starting with a silo full of corn grown in Cortez, CO, through the milling process, through distillation into the spirit safe, and finally into 53-gallon new, heavily toasted, lightly charred oak barrels from Independent Stave Company.
It was amazing to hear about his process and see it all up close. I may be too big to fit into the stills and get hired at Deerhammer but I'm just the right size for drinking their whiskey.
Established in 2010 and operational in late 2011, Deerhammer is one of the bright stars in craft whiskey and certainly an important part of craft distilling in Colorado. A deep understanding of fermentation born of years spent in the rabbit hole of brewing beer and a willingness to create bold flavors in and out of the bounds of traditional distillation results in absolutely delicious whiskey.
We'll have additional videos from our time at Deerhammer including a tour of the distillery, tasting room, and more. We came away from this visit with renewed enthusiasm for craft whiskey and we can't thank Lenny and Amy Eckstein enough for so generously sharing their time, knowledge, and whiskey with us. Cheers!
Credit: Opening music by Matthew Still
