1. Small producers blaze new
trails across the country
with whiskey and more
By Lew Bryson
hena 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 IndianCreek 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 debateover 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