Heads and Tails

Many of you are familiar with Heretic Brewing Company, owned by our good friend and host of Brew Strong, Jamil Zanisheff. But did you know he has started a distillery? To learn more about that, we had Malcom Leiben, head distiller at Heretic Distillery, in the studio to talk about how a brewery handles an undertaking like launching a distillery, how to pack fresh aromatics into a vodka, and much more!

Today’s show was different than our others – it was our first show without a proper guest! However, we made the best of it by chatting with Erik (again) from ADI about all sorts of topics, plus we did our first round of spirits news. We also received our latest box from Shaker and Spoon, so Warren made us a nice cocktail with a locally-made Rye Whiskey. All in all it was a good time!

Brothers Robert and Jonathan Likarish are the driving force behind Ironroot Republic Distilling. Located in northern Texas, Ironroot Republic is kicking out some fantastic spirits, thanks to the Texas heat and a healthy approach to using various strains of heirloom corn. We taste 5 different spirits from Ironroot Republic, and learn what makes each one unique in the spirits game!

We are all about enjoying spirits on this show, but today we are delving into the world of judging spirits for competitions! Erik Owens and Eric Zandona from the American Distilling Institute were on-hand to walk us through how the folks at ADI judge the entries for their huge competition. Having only judged in beer competitions before, we were very much out of our element here. Find out how we did!

Earl Brown, co-founder of Oakland’s very own Wright & Brown Distilling Company paid us a visit to chat about his distillery, and how he’s working hard to bring a well-crafted collection of spirits to his local market. Earl is playing around with different heirloom malts and corn, and he brought some of those raw ingredients into the studio for us to actually try along with his great spirits. We also chat about Shaker & Spoon, which is a great service that provides you with a subscription box to make amazing cocktails at home. They provide you with everything, you just add the spirit! Use our link and you can save $20 off of your subscription – www.shakerandspoon.com/bnarmy

Colton Weinstein, head distiller at Nashville’s own Corsair Distillery, joins us on this episode of Heads + Tails. Corsair has been producing spirits since 2008, and has been making a name for themselves ever since. Colton gets to do a lot of experimentation at Corsair, and that drive to know more and to get all he can out of a spirit is reflected in the ten different samples they sent for this show.

New Orleans has a lot to offer, most of it in liquid form. Today we chat with Erik Morningstar, head distiller over at Seven Three Distilling, in the heart of New Orleans. Erik hard at work in the Treme making spirits that not only reflect his love of the craft, but the history and creativity of his new home city.

Portland, Oregon is known mainly for the large numbers of breweries it boasts, but you should really be paying more attention to the growing list of distilleries up there instead. Lee Medoff, head distiller and founder of Bull Run distillery joined us for this show to chat about the Portland distilling scene, and how he’s trying to be creative in this growing market. Plus we get to taste some of his whiskey!

The story behind Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery is one that if it was told to you in passing, you wouldn’t believe it. Brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson are on the show to take us through the amazing history, death, and rebirth of their family business, as well as share some really solid spirits with us. If you are a fan of stories involving chasing the American Dream, discovering your roots, and even lost family treasure … you’re gonna love this show!  

The folks from Seven Stills Brewery and Distillery came by the studio to school us on what it takes to be both a full-fledged brewery as well as a distillery. These guys are turning out some really amazing whiskeys that are distilled from the beer they make! So if you’ve never had a spirit made from a double IPA, an Imperial Stout, or even a raspberry sour beer, then you truly are missing out.

If you are like us, the world of rum seems very one-dimensional and only good for mixing with your favorite brand of cola. We knew we had to jump into this unknown-to-us category at some point, so we reached out to rum expert Martin Cate for a crash course on this complex spirit. Martin is the owner of Smugglers Cove in San Francisco, where he has over 700 different Rums to taste in addition to being a rum judge. Bottom line: Martin is the man when it comes to rum, and he was nice enough to bring in 6 very different examples of this style for us to wet our beaks on.      

Marko Karkasevic, from Charbay Spirits, is a 13th generation Master Distiller, who is putting out some amazing stuff. Today on the show, Marko takes us through his family history, how they got into making spirits, and what the future holds for Charbay Spirits. We also taste six of his spirits, including a Black Walnut liquor, which was new for us!

Today on the show we are joined by Jake Holshue from Rogue Spirits, out of Newport, Oregon. Jake is at the helm of one of the most dynamic distillery around, and takes some time to clue us in on how he approaches not only manufacturing his spirits, but how he ages them. Jake is fortunate to have a cooperage as well as an award-winning brewery on-site, something that makes them truly unique!

Lost Spirits Distillery has what is perhaps one of the most interesting stories in craft distilling today. Bryan Davis has been tinkering with funky ways to age spirits since 2010, when he started Lost Spirits in the middle of an artichoke field out here in California. Four years and a heck of a lot of innovation later, Lost Spirits has a one-of-a-kind distillery/tasting room in the heart of Los Angeles, and Bryan is still tinkering, making waves with his various aging experiments.

St. George Spirits has been leading the craft spirits movement since their start way back in 1982. Once Lance came on board, things got real weird: loads of craft experiments, and boundary-pushing Gin’s that put St. George on the spirits map. 35 years of producing award-winning spirits will do that to a company, and Lance shares some of his secrets and insight with us on the show.