You never know how an idea is going to manifest. For P.T. Wood, it happened in the 1990s while river rafting through Arizona’s Grand Canyon. During the trip he and his fellow boaters were enjoying the scenery, solitude and varieties of whiskey brought along by the owner of a local bar.
“By the end of that trip I decided it would really be cool to actually make whiskey,” Wood said. “That idea bounced around (in my head) for a little bit, I brought it up with my brother, Lee, and since we appreciated whiskey, we agreed it was a natural fit.”
In 2001, their first attempt to start a distillery was mired in red tape surrounding licensing, an indirect result of the 9/11 attacks. At that time the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was responsible for giving out federal licenses for producing distilled spirits, and the agency wasn’t moving very quickly in issuing them.
“It was really hard then,” P.T. said. “I’d been selling kayaks, my kids were two and three years old, so I was looking for a different gig. I gave up on the distillery for a bit and bought a pizza place.”
The Salida resident, then a kayak rep and whitewater guide on the Arkansas River, operated Moonlight Pizza, a popular local eatery. But his thoughts were never very far from creating a distillery. He and his brother couldn’t have been happier when, in 2003, the regulation of distilling licenses shifted from the ATF to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. In hopes of joining Colorado’s blossoming craft distillery movement, Wood sold the pizzeria and began focusing on the new enterprise. When the brothers received their license in 2012, they put their business degrees to work, finalizing their operating plan, finding a suitable location, arranging financing and getting equipment for production.
As luck would have it, P.T. had already acquired a still. “My buddy Scott tells me he knows a super interesting German guy named Rudy who has a Ph.D. in distillation,” said the co-owner. “He’d bought a still in Germany in 1960 and brought it to America, but it just sat in his living room essentially as a decoration. I worked out a deal with him and brought the still to Salida. That was in 2009.”
Wood estimates that the 150-liter pot still was built in the 1880s, underscoring that little has changed over the centuries regarding the fundamentals of distillation. Nicknamed “Ashley,” it is one of three stills employed in the distillation of spirits at Wood’s High Mountain Distillery, which has a tasting room and offers tours of the facility. The modern stills, constructed of stainless steel and copper, hold 2,400 liters, something that allowed the company to significantly increase its production. Deciding what spirits to distill came down to personal preferences.
“I pretty much make things I want to drink,” P.T. said. “The three different whiskeys came out of ideas based on flavor profiles I had in mind. And when I have a cocktail, I prefer gin.”
Accordingly, the distillery produces Sawatch American Malt Whiskey, Tenderfoot Malt Whiskey and Alpine Rye Whiskey. The first is matured over four years in charred, new American oak barrels, using two-row barley, cherry wood smoked barley malt, dark chocolate barley malt, malted rye and malted wheat. The second is an American malt whiskey with a bold nose, hints of tobacco, smoky and spicy notes and dark chocolate bitterness to balance it out. Aged for two years in new oak barrels, the third whiskey relies on rye malt and specialty barley malts to make an assertive rye whiskey with a flavor profile of cinnamon, caramel, smoky rye spice, orange peel and coffee.
Inspired by London’s dry style gins, the company’s Treeline Gin is distilled from grain spirits with Colorado-grown juniper. The result is a crisp, bright gin with floral and citrus undertones, and hints of licorice and pepper. Using the same distillation process and botanical recipe as the aforementioned gin, Treeline Barrel Rested Gin employs the extra step of aging in new American white oak barrels, which adds caramel, oak and vanilla notes to the flavor profile. A marriage of Rocky Mountain juniper, Colorado-grown cascade hops, elderflowers and other exotic spices, the Mountain Hopped Gin has an earthy, floral spirit with a h
int of sweetness.
Made with Colorado-grown elderflower and finished with local honey, the Fleur de Sureau is Wood’s signature liqueur. A Colorado wine-based spirit, it has hints of raspberry and strong floral notes, making it enjoyable neat or for adding complexity to champagne and cocktails. San Luis Valley Vodka, a recent addition to the lineup, is a potato-based spirit that relies on multiple distillations to give it a smooth, crisp finish.
As one of Colorado’s estimated 100 artisanal distilleries—and the hundreds worldwide—Wood’s High Mountain Distillery recognizes the importance of standing out. That’s why consumers see Ashley and P.T.’s signature moustache on the hand-numbered labels. Then there are the ingredients, most of which are sourced in Colorado, the aging durations and the recipes that create the flavor profiles.
“I think one thing we do really, really well is we’re not trying to copy anybody else’s style,” P.T. said. “We like to put a unique stamp on everything.”
Sample their products and you’ll taste proof of that.
Pre-Prohibition Rye Old Fashioned
2 oz Woods Alpine Rye Whiskey
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 dashes Orange bitters
1/8 oz simple syrup, recipe below (a bar spoon or two to taste)
Add all ingredients to an ice-filled glass and stir to chill. Remove ice with a strainer to keep the drink at a good water ratio or pour over fresh ice. A large ice cube or whiskey stone will have the least service area, so minimal hydration will occur.
Simple syrup is made by heating equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan and stirring until sugar dissolves.
Malt Whiskey Manhattan
2 oz Woods Tenderfoot Whiskey
1 oz Vino Vermouth di Salida - Rosso
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Add all ingredients to an ice-filled glass and stir to chill. Remove ice with a strainer to keep the drink at an adequate water ratio or pour over fresh ice. A large ice cube or whiskey stone will have the least surface area so minimal hydration will occur.
Treeline Gin Southside
1 ½ oz Wood’s Treeline Gin
½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
3 sprigs fresh mint
Add two mint springs to shaker with lemon juice and muddle lightly. Add the rest of the ingredients to the shaker and shake 10-12 times. Double strain over fresh ice in a lowball glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel and mint sprig.
Barrel Rested Gin Negroni
1 oz Wood’s Barrel Rested Treeline Gin
1 oz Vino Vermouth di Salida - Rosso
1 oz Campari liqueur
The perfect twist on a classic. Add all ingredients to a proper stirring glass and stir with ice until chilled. Serve neat or on the rocks. Garnish with half a moon orange slice or orange ribbon twist.
Elderflower Liqueur – Mountain Collins
1 ½ oz Woods Mountain Hopped Gin
½ oz elderflower liqueur
½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup*
Soda water
Add ice and first four ingredients to a shaker and give it a few quick shakes. Pour over fresh ice into a collins glass and top with soda water.
Elderflower Liqueur – Elderflower Spritz
½ oz elderflower liqueur
¾ oz Campari
¼ oz grapefruit juice
Prosecco sparkling wine to taste
Soda water to taste
Mint
Add elderflower liqueur, Campari, grapefruit juice and ice to shaker. Strain into a wine glass full of ice, then add half Prosecco, half soda water, top with mint sprig.
Kim McHugh, a Lowell Thomas award-winning writer, has written about golf, travel, resort hotels, cuisine and architecture since 1986. Being of English and Irish descent, he has an appreciation for small batch, artisanal whiskey and gin, though he wouldn’t turn his nose up at an icy cold vodka.
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