Dry Land Distillers spirits honor the wild, iconic places of Colorado and the American West. Our goal is to capture the spirit of the land in a bottle. Using common ingredients that thrive in our dry landscapes in an uncommon way. Our ingredients have personality – they are finicky, prickly, hard-to-find, and at times extremely frustrating. But the results are spectacular. The spirits are an authentic representation of the land and the environments that created them – complex, rich, sweet, and earthy.
Our Dry Land Heirloom Wheat Whiskey
has a rich, sweet and clean profile that makes it ideal as a young whiskey, even for casual sipping straight or on the rocks. It is being gently aged in light-to-medium charred new American oak barrels. (In our opinion, the subtle floral flavors of this whiskey do not take kindly to heavy charcoal and spice.) The easy, rich nature of the whiskey belies the challenging environment it thrives in – a perfect representation of the land around us.
Dry Land Prickly Pear – Mescal Style
Our Dry Land Prickly Pear Spirit is a proud accomplishment. We’ve suffered through dehydration, cactus thorns in fingers, the frustration of many failed batches, and the occasional curse word as we’ve tried to draw the spirit out of this amazing plant.
We finally got it! Our Mescal-style Prickly Pear Spirit is smoked at a low temperature for hours over a mesquite fire, shredded, and slowly cooked before fermentation to become the base of a completely unique spirit. It has a smoky, earthy, and complex profile that has quickly become sought after by anyone who tries it. (It makes a spectacular Paloma – you’ve got to try one!)
If you’re a tequila or Mescal fan, this is one to try – it will confound your senses and make you see Prickly Pear Cactus in a whole new light.
Dry Land Gin
Our Dry Land Gin is a labor of love and exploration. Aaron has created a gin that is fermented and distilled with the needles and branches from the Spruce tree and infused with native Colorado botanicals. These botanicals are elusive – many are considered weeds, and others aren’t grown commercially by anyone (until now). It’s a careful balancing act between finding these plants and protecting our wild places. (No foraging outside our urban landscapes!)
The result is a fragrant, light, and food-friendly gin that boasts incredible complexity on the palate. This complexity brings new character to classic gin cocktails, and if you like to pair your foods with your drinks, this is both a foodie and a chef’s dream!