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Whiskey is a mash from grain,

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which is you cook grain and you get the
sugar out

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of it.

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You let yeast eat it, and then you cook
that off, and

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then it's stored in oak cask or
container.

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Howdy. I'm Jeff Graber.

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I'm the founder of Stranahan's Colorado
Whiskey.

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First legal distillery in Colorado since
prohibition, and now we're kind of

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Colorado's favorite song, and I'm glad
we are, and we still love Colorado.

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Come on, buddy. Come on.

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The women in my life, my wife and my
daughters, have a different philosophy

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I do about horses.

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They like to pamper them a little bit
more than I do.

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And that's okay if that's what they want
to do, but I don't always pamper them

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when I do that. So I go out and...

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chores that have to be done.

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They've got to be fed and they've got to
be cleaned.

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You take care of them and they're nice
to have around and get rid every once in

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a while.

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Not too much anymore but I'm just not a
goat farmer.

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I moved to Colorado from the Midwest
because I wanted to be a mountain man

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now I'm

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living my dream.

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I moved down to Woody Creek from Aspen
in 1990, so that was 35 years ago.

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Good morning. It was the only place I
could afford, and my wife had a horse,

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I had a horse, and that horse shed also
had room for, in the summer, that you

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could set up a still and run a batch or
two. So I was a hobby distiller.

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which is better than saying a
moonshiner.

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I didn't charge anybody for it, but it
was fun, and it became kind of a

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Christmas present that I would give out.

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Rather than giving out a plate of
cookies at Christmas, you bring a little

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of this and go, oh, oh, wow.

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As I practiced and I read about it and I
learned, I got better at it. I mean,

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you ought to get better at it after 30
years.

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I learned about aging and learned about
getting an oak chip and getting some

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color into it and softening up the bite
of the alcohol and learning how to test

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for proof.

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And people were going, well, I want to
get on your Christmas list again.

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And I said, well, there may be a
commercial application. And I started

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around and I go, well, nobody's had a
distillery in Colorado before.

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And nobody's made whiskey.

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specifically whiskey. It had to be
whiskey because you think John Wayne

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walked into a bar in Colorado and said,
hey pilgrim, how about a mango infused

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vodka and make it a double?

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Cavalier. He's pretty cavalier.

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You know, there's an element of being a
cowboy, a little bit of recklessness you

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have to have, fearlessness, unafraid to
be a trailblazer and a pioneer.

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The way Colorado is as a state, it
needed to have its own whiskey, and it

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be unique and it had to be different.

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It took me a while to figure out how to
do that.

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I had a family to feed and buildings to
construct, and, you know, I just

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couldn't up and do it, and I didn't have
the money either, so it took a little

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while.

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We make American single malt, so
obviously it's made in America, but

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means it's made out of 100 % malted
barley.

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Traditional American whiskey is made
from corn, and so that becomes a

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It has to be at least 51 % corn.

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There's straight rye whiskey, that's 51
% rye, and all sorts of places on the

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planet can create those same recipes,
but they're going to have their own

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influences and takes and spin on it.

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Here in Colorado, at higher altitudes,
barley was available, and I thought that

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that would be unique, and it would be a
unique flavor to Colorado. So we used

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barley like a single malt, like
Scotland, but we treated it like an

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bourbon. So we used a total American
bourbon process.

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The state is an epicenter of American
brewing and malting know -how, and then

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usually that gets turned into beer.

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What if we took it one step further and
made a whiskey out of it?

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So it's got the combination of both, and
people seem to enjoy that.

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I certainly do.

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We are at the start of production, so
first we're going to start by making a

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beer -like substance called a wash.
We're going to do 100 % malted barley.

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basically going to cook that grain,
break it down, and we're going to have a

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liquid called a wort.

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That wort's going to go over into the
boil kettle.

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And then the whirlpool, we're going to
clarify that wort. And it's going to be

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nice brown sugary liquid.

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We add a brewed yeast.

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We're going to let that do its
fermentation, do its thing. It's going

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those sugars we made from that grain and
turn that into alcohol, where we now

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have a substance after seven days called
a wash.

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These are going to be custom copper
stills from Vendome.

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We're going to fill them with the wash
that we just made out of fermentation.

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We're going to boil them using steam
coils on the inside.

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And the alcohol is going to start to
separate out from the water.

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Once it's in the column, it's going to
hit something called a bubble plate. And

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it's going to hit that, condense back
down, boil again, condense back down,

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again, and then go down that long copper
condenser. That condenser is going to

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cool that vapor back down, turn it into
a distillate form, where we now have a

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40 % alcohol mixture.

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And this is where we're going to refine
that alcohol.

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We're going to go through the same
process as the first one.

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By the time it comes out of the still
here, it's going to be 70 % alcohol, 140

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proof. We're going to cut that down to
110 proof and then go into our new oak

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barrels from there.

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It's new American white oak every time
from the independent stave company.

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Each individual piece of wood is going
to be called a stave.

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They're going to burn them for about 35
seconds.

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So that's going to open up the pores of
the wood and allow the whiskey to soak

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in. And that comes out as the barrel
breathes throughout the big temperature

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swings we have here in Colorado.

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And that's where we're going to get all
of our color and a lot of our flavor.

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What is whiskey?

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Man, it's a lot of good things.

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You know, from the molecular level, the
simple answer is it's a mixture of ethyl

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alcohol water and all sorts of other
compounds and molecules that provide

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flavor, that provide aroma, that provide
color. But essentially, it's a pretty

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simple thing, right? And it's actually
pretty easy to make, but extraordinarily

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hard to make well.

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My name is Justin Aiden. My title is
head blender of Stranahan's American

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Mall here in Denver, Colorado.

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That means I have the privilege of
quality control and liquid creation of

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everything that goes into a bottle or
into a barrel here at the distillery.

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I always like to write down my very
first impression on the nose.

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In this case, that was a citrus bomb.

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They only have to make sense to me. They
don't need to make sense to anyone

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else. I know what that means.

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My degree was in microbiology and
molecular genetics with a specialization

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ethanol fermentation science.

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You could go into beer with that or
winemaking, but I kind of had a laser

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on making whiskey since I was 21 years
old.

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Taste, I always try to cover four
different attributes.

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Opening, ideal, mouthfeel.

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finish and kind of that overall there's
a lot of times whiskey has a really

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beautiful opening really beautiful aroma
but it doesn't last right it kind of

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falls down i think whiskey exists at the
intersection of science and art

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you'll

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put a ceiling on how good you'll ever be
if you don't understand the science

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right because so much of this is
happening at a molecular level

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And so much of this is mother nature and
things that are happening you can't

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control. And then, of course, father
time. And I don't know what's more

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and romantic than that. But I can take
this info later on, start looking for

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barrels that were really high in aroma,
for example.

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This one got a three.

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I'll revisit that one if that's a
component of a blend I'm looking for.

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You know, having an opportunity to be
expressive, choosing flavors, keying on

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certain elements in a whiskey drinking
experience that you prefer.

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For me, mouthfeel is a big one.

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And I think it's kind of the one that's
talked the least about in whiskey.

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Everybody talks about flavor, of course,
and aroma and color and maybe the burn.

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If I can add that fourth sense, how it
feels on your palate, that's where you

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can start to transport people.

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When you taste a lot of whiskeys in
series like this, I usually use one

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In the rickhouse, you do something
called giving it back. So when you're

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with your sample, you throw it right
back onto a barrel, you rinse your glass

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out, and you start over.

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It used to be, if you didn't have a
little methodism in Kentucky or

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you just weren't.

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breaking into the whiskey game, you
know, and Strain of Hands really changed

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everything and deserves to be recognized
for what it did for this movement in

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this country.

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Whiskey production is a pretty labor
-intensive process.

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Barrels can be up to a 500 -liter
barrel, so you're talking 300, 400, 500

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easy.

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I go home with...

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Steam burns and dirt under my
fingernails.

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Jeff started out saying, we're going to
make basically a Colorado whiskey that

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cowboys can be proud of.

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A lot of our packaging has throwbacks to
the cowboy culture.

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Miners and cowboys used to use these
caps as cups, and also if they heated

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up over fire, plastered on top of the
bottle, it would seal down to the glass

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it cooled.

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We're finally on batch 289 of original.

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We've been doing this for a long time
since the flagship.

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It's come a long way.

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21 years later, we're at a point where
we've gotten so good at this that the

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real mission is to compete
internationally.

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I want to go toe -to -toe with the best
single mall makers in the world.

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And it's just funny how we're both
getting at the same thing.

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That happens every 35 minutes.

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I don't mind it.

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I think those little micro vibrations
are probably pretty good for the

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My name is Devin Urschel. I'm the head
mixologist

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for Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.

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Can't think about whiskey cocktails
without thinking about the old

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It's one of the oldest cocktails that
there is. In fact, the word cocktail was

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first printed in 1806. It was basically
a spirit, sugar, water, and bitters.

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whiskey, sugar, bitters, water, tequila,
sugar, bitters, water, rum, et cetera,

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gin, et cetera. But around 1870,
somebody came around and they invented

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they called the improved.

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whiskey cocktail.

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They added a little bit of absinthe, a
little bit of Luxardo Maraschino

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But around the turn of the century,
people started missing the old whiskey

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cocktail. So when they would go into
bars, they would ask for the whiskey

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cocktail made the old -fashioned way.

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And that name sort of stuck, and that is
how we get the old -fashioned that we

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know and love today.

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All right, so let's make it. The most
important thing, two ounces of your

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favorite whiskey.

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Of course, we're going to be using
Stranahan's original.

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I always say the old -fashioned is an
incredibly easy cocktail to make. It's

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also a really easy cocktail to mess up.
Now, we're going to also be using a rich

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Demerara syrup.

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Demerara is an unrefined sugar. That
means it hasn't been processed, so it

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hasn't had the molasses stripped off of
the sugar crystals.

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It gives this sugar sort of a toffee,
almost woodsy character to it, which

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beautifully with whiskey. We are going
to use only a quarter ounce of this.

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That rich syrup is going to make this a
little bit thicker, which is going to

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add a beautiful texture and mouthfeel to
this cocktail, while not over

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-sweetening the cocktail.

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We're going to add about three dashes of
Angostura bitters. I like Angostura

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quite a bit, so I'm going to go ahead
and throw that fourth dash in there,

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Very important to my style of old
-fashioned. I'm going to throw one dash

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orange bitters in there as well.

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We are going to be expressing some
orange oil over the top of this

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I want to connect the aromatics of this
cocktail to the flavor of the cocktail.

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Now it is going to be time to stir.

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When you're stirring a cocktail, you
want to have about at least double the

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height of your ice to the liquid that's
in that glass.

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It's very important to the process.

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You want to look for a couple visual
cues when you're stirring a cocktail.

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want to see that the outside of the
glass is starting to form a bit of a

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You also want to see that that ice has
sort of fallen into the cocktail.

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That is how you know that you've reached
the perfect amount of dilution.

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We use clear ice made by Colorado Ice
Works here at Strand Hands. Now we're

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going to take a strainer and just strain
that right over the top.

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of this beautiful clear ice cube.

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There we go. Get a nice orange swath
there.

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We're just going to pinch it right over
the top.

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Wipe that right around the edge of our
drink. Stick it right there. And a

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Luxardo maraschino liqueur cherry right
there in that little curl.

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The perfect old -fashioned made with
Stranahan's original American single

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whiskey.

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Cheers.

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You have some younger brothers? Yes, I
am. Jesse and the buddies are old

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from the valley, of course. They started
out as young bucks in this valley. They

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were volunteer firemen.

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When the call would come out, when
somebody needed help, and we were able

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respond, and we were able to help
people.

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And that's really rewarding.

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How's that fire down valley?

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It's out.

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Did that rain last night?

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Yeah.

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The rain did it. Yeah.

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That's an accomplishment.

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And then my family and being able to
survive here in this family and survive

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Colorado and grow up and go, hey, I'm
there.

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I finally made it.

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Now it's a little late in the game, but
at least I made it there, you know,

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across the finish line.

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Maybe we don't fully comprehend the work
ethic that brought them to that bar

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stool. You must be part of the action.

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And the things that they did to get
here.

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The American dream is the ability to
improve yourself.

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Take a chance and go for an idea and go
for a dream. If you do

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that, you've got a chance.

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The opportunity is there. Sometimes it's
clouded and it's difficult.

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Now they just look like a museum piece
and where they have a whole narrative, a

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whole story.

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to tell that can inform all of us,
there's a lot of different ways to live

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get to the end.

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It's become as the whole valley has.

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It's changed, and change is inevitable.

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I'm not against it, but it's become a
little more gentrified.

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They'd like to see old guys like me move
out of the neighborhood and have

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somebody else come in and spruce it up,
but I'm going to stay there for a while

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longer.

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00:18:32,300 --> 00:18:35,200
My name is Ryan. I'm one of our
mixologists here. We're doing something

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special today. We do a regular volunteer
bottling program.

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They are not being paid to be here. They
came in on their own free will.

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There's about 25 ,000 people on this
list, so we have 20 of them behind me

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today. This is the last step.

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Make sure every bottle of Stranahan
looks absolutely perfect.

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We're the first distillery in Colorado
since Prohibition.

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Here we are, the most awarded, number
one selling American single malt of all

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time.

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the category leader, but also one of the
pioneers in American whiskey

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craftsmanship. Everything is hand
-bottled here at Stranahan.

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Thank you.

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I had that right to you, my man. I
believe that what Stranahan's is

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a reflection of our sense of place, our
farmers that are excellent at what they

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do and grow, our molesters, our
fermentation, and our brewers.

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and our climate, and I believe that what
that all comes together as is a little

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bit of bottled joy.

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This elixir that's been around since as
far back as human beings have been

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getting together that has this funny
ability to make you hold on to a hug an

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extra second or laugh a little harder,
dance a little goofier, and gives you

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some of those most cherished moments and
evenings in your lifetime.

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That's what I love about whiskey. That's
why I fell in love with whiskey. And

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that's what I set out to make every day
is something that rises to that

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occasion, something you want to share
with total strangers that become friends

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or friends that become best friends.

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It's an incredibly romantic thing to get
to make whiskey that people bring into

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their lives and share with each other in
special or sad moments.