120: The Craft of Colorado Whiskey with Distillery 291 - Rugged, Refined, Rebellious

Bourbon Lens

This week’s guest is Michael Myers, Founder of Distillery 291 in Colorado. Michael left his career in fashion photography to start a distillery in Colorado and never looked back. We taste through several of their bourbons and ryes in this week’s episode and experience their unique aspen stave finished whiskey.

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Cheers,Scott, Michael & JakeBourbon Lens

Whiskeys Tasted During Episode

• Small Batch Bourbon - 100 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Small Batch Rye - 101.7 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Barrel Proof Bourbon - 128.9 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Barrel Proof Rye - 130.6 proof, finished with aspen wood staves

About Distillery 291

Distillery 291 is an award winning, small batch whiskey distillery nestled in the stunning foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the distillery sits in the shadow of Pikes Peak where owner and founding distiller, Michael Myers, a former New York City fashion and beauty photographer, with a love of whiskey and passion for the old west, aims to replicate the taste, smell and folklore of that time, to create a one of a kind, bold and beautiful, Colorado Whiskey. Rugged, Refined, Rebellious.

Myers set out to create a flagship whiskey that evoked the Wild West. He grew up on rural family farms in Georgia and Tennessee, across a countryside defined by rolling hills, horses, Jack Daniels and George Dickel. For decades since then, he carried with him an iconic vision of a cowboy walking into a bar, saying give me a whiskey, and the bartender slamming down a bottle — that bottle would be 291 Colorado Whiskey.

Myers built his original still from copper photogravure plates that he had once used to create enduring photographic scenes, from western landscapes to the Chrysler Building. On September 11, 2011 — ten years after 9/11 changed his life and the lives of so many others — Myers pulled his first whiskey off of that still, building his future in whiskey, off his passion for photography.

291 Colorado Whiskey is “Hardmade the Colorado Way”. Today (and since day one), Distillery 291 is distilling, from grain, to barrel, to bottle, by hand, from scratch, ten distinctive Colorado whiskeys. Utilizing grains from the Colorado plains and water collected from Pikes Peak reservoirs, Myers turned his artist’s eye towards whiskey and hasn’t looked back. Everything matters.

291 Colorado Whiskey has earned bushels of national and international awards for its spirits with the unique character and flavor of a bygone era. Named World’s Best Rye-2018 by World Whiskies Awards, 7 Liquid Golds from Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, multiple Double-Gold in San Francisco World Spirits Competition, nods from IWSC and Spirits Business Journal and many other notable awards, 291 Colorado Whiskey embodies traditions of the past married with the boldness of the future.

That said, what will always define Distillery 291 is its spirit, passion permeates every sip. 291 Colorado Whiskey. Hardmade the Colorado way.

Links:

• How A Fashion Photographer Became One of Colorado's Most Innovative Craft Distillers
• From Angelina Jolie to Whiskey, 291 Distiller Is Ready To 'Battle' Kentucky Bourbon
• Craft in Colorado
• 291 Colorado Whiskey - Award Winning Whiskeys and Bourbons
• Distillery 291 Is Making Some of the West's Finest Whiskey – Robb Report
• Colorado's Craft Spirits Scene Is Booming. Drink Straight From The Source At These 10 Distilleries.