Small producers blaze new
trails across the country
with whiskey and more
By Lew Bryson
hen a whiskey-making business restarts
on a family farm after a hiatus extend
ing back to Prohibition, using nearly
200-year-old stills and a recipe from
the same era, it deserves notice. Amid
a flood of new distillers across North America,
the proprietors of places like Indian Creek Dis
tillery, near Dayton, Ohio, stand out for their
faith in historic equipment as well as their ad
herence to traditional techniques and even
vintage farming methods.
With the number of small distilleries in the
United States growing rapidly-it recently
topped 750, according to the American Dis
tilling Institute-there's been debate over what
to call them.
The term "small distillery," like "microdis
tillery," is descriptive but potentially limiting,
so "craft" is becoming the nomenclature of
choice. But a few distilleries are setting them
selves apart even further and deserve to be
called "artisanal." It's a term that has been
overused in a number of categories, from axes
to pickles. But in the word's strictest sense
something produced in limited quantities, us
ing traditional methods-some small distillers
squarely fit the bill. What follows are profiles
of some of the most distinctive and exciting
artisanal producers in the country today.
NOV. 15, 2015 • WINE SPECTATOR 105
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