Spirits & Distilling Podcast

• 27: Ashley Barnes of The Blending House Uses Data to Drive Better Blends

  Ashley Barnes, master blender at the Blending House, (https://www.theblendinghouse.com) joins host Molly Troupe for an in-depth discussion of the scientific and sensorial approaches to building characterful blends. A former pharmaceutical quality chemist, Barnes was recruited by Buffalo Trace, later moved on to Four Roses, and has worked with (and learned from) some of the greats in the bourbon world. Now, at the Blending House, she works with nondistilling producers to carefully age and blend fine spirits using a variety of creative and data-driven techniques, while tracking environmental data such as temperature and evaporation to better understand long-term flavor development. Over the course of the episode, they discuss: Learning quality, flavor profiling, and profile maintenance from Four Roses master distiller Brent Elliott The challenge of creating different flavors from the same barrel stock Useful analogies for thinking about cohesive blends Both negative and positive selection for minimizing distractions while maximizing cohesion Controlling variables in rickhouse aging for more favorable flavor development Ongoing research on yeast and other topics The basics of labs for both blending quality and bottling quality Sensory strategies for maintaining consistency through varying personal circumstances Building the right lexicon for sensory description And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

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• 26: Caley Shoemaker of As Above, So Below Explores Character and Texture in Vodka Distillation

  Caley Shoemaker got her start in whiskey at Denver’s Stranahan’s and went on to distill at Hanger One in Southern California before launching her own distillery, As Above, So Below (https://aasbdistillery.com) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2021. Now, from her home base on the edge of the mountains in a state nicknamed “The Land of Enchantment,” she’s summoning strong spirits with their own particular swagger. In this episode, host Sydney Jones and Shoemaker discuss: • Creating vodka, gin, whiskey, and botanical spirits inspired by place, travel, and experience • Making vodka from a mash with darker grains, for creamy texture and flavor • Aging spirits in the high and dry climate of New Mexico • Managing cuts to balance flavor and character given target aging time and high loss from barrels • Balancing botanicals in gin while prizing flavor over locality • The secrets to her ACSA medal-winning absinthe • Learning through consulting with a potato vodka distillery in Rwanda And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

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• 25: Gian Nelson of Jano Spirits and Ruins Distillery is Exploring the Possibilities in California Agave

  Tequila and mezcal are top of mind when you think “agave,” but Gian Nelson is working to change that assumption. For the past few years, working through his brand Jano Spirits (https://www.janospirits.com), he has partnered with growers who cultivate California agave—a much larger cousin of the classic Blue Weber agave used in tequila—to better understand what it takes to cultivate agave plants that translate into fine spirits. In this episode, Nelson and host Molly Troupe discuss: differences in types of agave plants, from Brix to maturation times farming practices that produce better agave wine-like fermentation for California agave with native and commercial yeast managing methanol production in California agave the impact of aeration leaning into inefficiency And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

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• Episode 24: Eli Breitburg-Smith Is Ushering in the Epoch of Rye in Baltimore

  Founded in 2015, Baltimore Spirits is celebrating a decade of distilling in Charm City. Led by cofounder and head distiller Eli Breitburg-Smith, that run has played a notable role in the craft revival of American rye. Their Epoch Reserve has won multiple double golds at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, more recently landing on Fred Minnick’s Top 100 list of American whiskeys in 2024. In this episode, hosted by Sydney Jones, Breitburg-Smith talks about how he got into distilling as a former craft brewer and how Baltimore Spirits was focused from the beginning on bringing pot-distilled rye whiskey back to Maryland. He also discusses: the influence of single-malt on their rye whiskeys making other spirits, including their Shot Tower Gin, unusual apple brandies, and New World amari using Belgian and American ale yeasts to help drive tropical character in the Epoch Rye Baltimore Spirits’ approach to single-malt, and preparing barrels for that spirit what makes Maryland rye whiskey different, including its history the Ja Rule whiskey collaboration, Amber & Opal, featuring honey, smoky tea, and other botanicals making apple brandies aged and blended Solera-style, distilled from smoked apples—and pechuga-inspired, made with smoked ham and seasonal botanicals working with the Maryland Distillers Guild to share technical know-how and push for legislative changes for craft distillers And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

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• 23: Morgan McLachlan of AMASS and De Soi Builds Thoughtful Botanical Bases for Both Gin and Nonalcoholic Spirited Beverages

  Morgan McLachlan, the Los Angeles–based cofounder of Amass Spirits (https://amassgin.com) and Katy Perry’s nonalcoholic De Soi (https://drinkdesoi.com) brand, has a flair for theatrics that’s only fitting for someone who started her career as a camera operator for film and TV. Every nuanced performance is built on layers, some barely noticeable—but understanding the purpose of those creative choices is essential for McLachlan, as she constructs everything from gins and nonalcoholic spirits to fragrances and other botanical-based products. In this episode, host Molly Troupe and McLachlan discuss: McLachlan distilling background, which began in her own bathtub distilling clementine oranges into a citrus spirit using strategies from the fragrance and culinary worlds to produce compelling botanical blends in spirits the varied impacts of house-made and sourced botanical extracts as well as different extraction techniques challenges when working in the nonalcoholic space with water as a solvent how certain terpenes behave through the distillation process for unexpected results managing challenging botanicals such as cardamom creating gin that’s both classically versatile and noteworthy regulatory challenges with specific ingredients And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

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