BAY STATE BOURBON

By Kirsten Amann
Fall is when most New Englanders make the switch to darker spirits, and with National Bourbon Heritage Month finally here, now is the perfect time to transition. Established in 2007, the observance calls for a month-long toast to bourbon as “America’s Native Spirit.” A Kentucky senator was the first to put this bill forth in 2007, and the Bluegrass State is the epicenter of the modern bourbon business. But what many whiskey drinkers don’t seem to realize is, as “a distinctive product of the United States”, bourbon can be made anywhere in the country. In fact, the whiskey business first began up north. We can lay claim to many wonderful bourbons made right here in Massachusetts, according to award-winning retailer Ryan Maloney. His store, Julio’s Liquors in Westborough, MA, is a mecca for whiskey aficionados and serious bourbon drinkers: “We are very thrilled that we are lucky enough to have some really good distillers here in Massachusetts.” So why not crack open a bottle of Bay State bourbon this month? Here are a few local producers to check out as you celebrate.

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS BERKSHIRE MOUNTAIN DISTILLERS

Craft distilling in Massachusetts has been on the rise since the mid-2OOOs, with 27 distilleries in the state today according to DistilleryTrail.com. You cannot talk about craft spirits in the region without a nod to Berkshire Mountain Distillers in Sheffield, MA:

“Chris Weld is fantastic people,” says Maloney. “He’s one of the OGs in Massachusetts.” Established in 2OO7, founder, owner and distiller Chris Weld said the ideas for opening a distillery first started bopping around in his head in 2OO6: “I lived on a great apple farm that, after a lot of work, I had brought back to fruition. I had hundreds of trees worth of apples, a historic spring with some of the finest spring water in the world being bottled and sold to New York City to the tune of 3,OOO gallons a week, and I was ready for a change in life,” he says. Weld was inspired by his apples and wanted to use them to distill, before he “quickly realized that I wouldn’t make a living selling apple brandy.” He had “rum in his heart”, so pivoted and with the help of “Rum Doctor” Michael Delevante, a renowned consultant (formerly of Appleton Estates and Wray & Nephew), began producing rum, gin, and vodka. Whiskey was a natural segue, both for his own craft and in response to the market demands, and Weld began to work on it a few years later. For context, back when Weld started “there were 5O craft distillers in the country; now there are 2,7OO — or more,” he says.

Before producing his own bourbon in Massachusetts, Weld studied whiskey making in the spirit’s heartland, Kentucky. “We have great corn in Massachusetts,” says Weld, but back then, the smaller grains weren’t readily available, something that is different for producers today. “Now I can get organic rye in the Hudson Valley, and some even more locally than that,” says Weld. Whereas “Canadian malt used to be the only one available,” today there are several options in the Pioneer Valley, like Valley Malt in Holyoke, MA, “but none of that existed before,” he says. Today, producers have many more choices if they wish to work with local grains.

Weld loves producing bourbon because, quite simply, “It’s a great whiskey, which is part of what makes it so popular,” he says. “To quote Hollis Bulleit, ‘Bourbon is the only thing that Americans have to wait for,’ which I love. You can’t rush it. You have to respect it, and you have to respect how it ages in how you make it.” Making use of good farming resources and supporting local agriculture are also part of why he loves making bourbon, in addition the process in and of itself, which he enjoys: “It’s complicated enough. Fermentations are harder than rum fermentation, and because there are so many laws regulating how you make it, it’s like everyone’s playing in the same arena with bourbon. There’s plenty of room for nuance, but it’s not like a rum where you can color it and sweeten it and put coconut in it and spice it and all these different things. Whiskeys in the US tend to be somewhat unadulterated,” Weld explains.

Despite the rules that govern bourbon making, which include stipulations for mash bill (which must be minimum 51% corn), oak container (which must be charred, New American oak), proof off the still and going into barrel (16O or less / 125 or less, respectively), there are a myriad of factors that can affect a whiskey. Barrel source, yeast strain, how long / how it is fermented, and of course, how distillation technique are all major variables for distillers to play with. For Weld, the distillation is his favorite part about making his signature bourbon: “We make our whiskeys in a three-distillation pot still: So we do a strip, a double and then a polishing or finishing strip or distillation. For our spirits across the board, I always say that I tend to taste ‘chemically.’ So I taste the compounds in the heads and the tails, and I’m not a huge fan of blending in a lot of the heads or tails” during the distillation process. “So we make more liberal cuts than most people, I think,” he says, “and consequently, we have a very clean spirit that goes in the bottle at the end of the day.”

Regarding what’s on the horizon, Weld says “that’s one of the problems about being craft, everyone asks ‘what do you have new this week’?” In the last decade, Berkshire Bourbon Whiskey has received a Gold medal from Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible, which Weld was “pretty psyched about way back when,” and more recently they released 12 whiskies in 12 months as part of their Craft Brewers Project: “I don’t know if anyone’s ever done that.” Weld is honest about the pressure to always be innovating in the craft space, but this also seems to be where this trailblazing craft distillery founder thrives: “One of the great things about the craft distilling world is that there are a lot of wonderful, interesting whiskies and spirits out there that push the envelope of distillation and experimentation. A lot of them are really good — and some of them are not so good. We’ve certainly made a couple that are not so good, and like to learn from our mistakes, and make the next one better. But when you’re making the same whiskey for 1OO years, that’s kind of like watching paint dry. I’m a big fan of evolution and mutation and creating new things.”

A HOT NEW BOURBON FROM BULLY BOY DISTILLERS

When they opened in 2O1O, Bully Boy Distillers became the first distillery in Boston since Prohibition. Founded by brothers Dave and Will Willis, Bully Boy began as a two-man show that was, incidentally, also inspired by the apples. The brothers experimented with the seasonal bounty that grew on their family farm, first making cider, then hard cider, and eventually brandy on a one-gallon still. In 2O1O their hobby turned into a commercial operation, with Dave helming spirits production and Will running sales and operations. In the 14 years since, Bully Boy Distillers have grown to become a major player on the New England craft spirits scene.

Today Bully Boy produces a variety of spirits and liqueurs, including vodka, gin, amaro, bottled classic cocktails, and straight whiskey. On the path to perfecting their flagship bourbon, they developed an Experimental Bourbon series which offers limited release expressions that are like a snapshot of their progress along the way. “We started laying down Bourbon in 2O16, but we’ve been making whiskey since 2O1O,” says Dave Willis. The perfected Bully Boy Straight Bourbon hit shelves this winter with a buzzy launch in Boston and beyond.

Dave Willis has been at the helm of distillery production since the brothers shared a desk so small, their knees touched. Today he is Head of Whiskey Production. As for why they decided to start making bourbon, the simple answer is “Because we love Bourbon, which is the motivating force behind most of our products.” In Willis’ experience, “If you don’t love the category, you won’t immerse yourself in the category, and to do something well in the spirits world you need to be obsessive about it.”
Willis expresses deep appreciation for the entire production process of whiskey making, from his distilling mornings, which begin early, to years-later moments when the barrels are dumped. “Our Bourbon distillations start at 6:3Oam. When I arrive in the morning and pull a sample off the run, the smell is intoxicating. It never gets old.” And after time has worked its magic, Willis finds it “really gratifying emptying barrels, knowing that the fresh distillate I barreled years earlier has evolved over time, morphing into something entirely new and different.”

Since Bully Boy Straight Bourbon Whiskey hit the market, fans have flocked: “It’s been received really well,” says Dave. “We’ve exceeded all sales expectations, which is very gratifying. I think it’s exciting for bourbon lovers to know there is a well-executed Bourbon being made in their backyard. But as with all our products, we want our Bourbon to succeed not because it’s local, but because it’s really good.” There are facets of each step that differentiate this bourbon: Willis works with malted grains in the mash bills to offer more flavor, utilizes a single malt yeast strain, and slow ferments to allow flavors to develop. The whiskey is then distilled “on grain” incorporating hearts and tails throughout the process, and the barrels age in two different aging environments in the rickhouse (non-temperature controlled at the beginning and with heat cycled to finish.) Willis, like Weld, says that being small is a benefit for innovation in craft: “Because of their size, craft producers can take more risks. We’ve become a testing ground for new and exciting flavor profiles,” says Willis.

On the horizon for this year, Bully Boy will release a new offering from the Experimental Bourbon Series in November, and a Private Cask American Straight Whiskey offering. Further ahead in 2O25 we’ll see the much anticipated release of their Bottled in Bond Bourbon, featuring Malted Rye and aged at least five years. “Bully Boy is really great,” says Maloney. “We’ve been buying barrels and doing barrels with them for over 15 years, almost 2O actually. Their bourbon is pretty new on the market, and it’s going really, really well.” In addition to being a go-to for the best whiskies available in the state, Maloney is known for his creative collaborations with renowned supplier partners from around the world. Over the years, both Bully Boy and Berkshire Mountain Distillers have been frequent partners. “Right now we have a really cool project with Bully Boy that involves using their bourbon and rebarreling it into one of our barrels,” says Maloney. “The next project we will work on with them is with their American Whiskey, which is fabulous. If you haven’t had a chance to try it, you should. We don’t just work with anybody here, and both Chris Weld and the Willis brothers are great.”

FROM GRAIN TO GLASS WITH GLENPHARMER

GlenPharmer Distillery co-founder Patrick Downing calls the distillery project he founded with his wife Beth “a labor of love.” Both Patrick and Beth are pharmacists who met in school and have had successful careers, and now devote a lot of their time to a different type of chemistry: the art of distilling. What began as a dream turned into a reality for the couple in 2O18 when they purchased an 1883 mill building in Franklin, complete with a covered bridge. Today it has been entirely converted into a distillery which boasts a lively tasting room that is also a full-service restaurant, and a gorgeous 7,OOO-foot event space which is proving very popular for weddings this season. The space exudes a type of New England charm that only a distillery restaurant located in an historic mill with its own covered bridge could. “We love the building and we love operating the distillery,” says Pat Downing. The restaurant itself is a local hotspot with great food and cocktails, and yes, you can grab a table in the covered bridge.

The name “GlenPharmer” is a nod to the historic location of the mill building in Mine Brook Glen and the unique Farmer Distillery License that is required to produce distilled spirits in Massachusetts, spelled with “ph” as a nod to their pharmacy background. Doors opened in 2O2O, and today GlenPharmer sells a variety of spirits, including vodka, gin, rum, and rye in addition to bourbon. “We’ve been making bourbon for about four years,” says Downing, and it has been available in the tasting room for two. “When you start distilling, you have a decision to make: are you going to buy your whiskey (also called sourcing) or are you going to make your whiskey from grain?” While sourced whiskey has its benefits, distilling from grain was the route that best suited the Downings’ vision. While 2-year-old bourbon is available now, and the rest is aging: “It’s a slow process to try to get what we call ‘the library’ to age longer,” says Downing, “but that’s ultimately our goal, to have all of our bourbon released at a minimum of four years.”

Much like Weld and Willis, making his a unique interpretation of America’s Native Spirit is what drew Downing to making GlenPharmer bourbon: “There’s a great opportunity for us to put our own stamp on it because we can use a unique mash bill. Other than the legal requirement of it being 51% corn, we have tremendous flexibility in the other 49%. So, working with the mash bill, our proprietary distilling technique, and barrel aging process, we can create something that’s truly unique to us,” Downing says.

Producing grain to glass, Downing feels, allows the company more opportunity to be creative: “The risk is, you could create something that nobody likes,” he jokes. “But I think if you get into this, you’re doing it to create special things.” One technique his team, which is helmed by head distiller Marco Forziati, is experimenting with now is a process called slow proofing. “The chemistry concept behind slow proofing is that you’re trying to alter the exothermic reaction that occurs when you add water to high proof alcohol,” he says. The process adds water slowly over time to the whiskey to proof it down, versus adding water all at once shortly before bottling; advocates believe it allows for more integration and harmony of flavor. “It’s still early, but I’ll say that the results so far have been promising for us,” Downing says.

Locally, GlenPharmer American Small Batch Bourbon is a hit: “Thankfully our whiskey has been received very well,” Downing says. “The flavors are great, the structure and the composition we feel very proud of, but you can’t replace aging.” In just one more year they’ll have a four year old product ready to go. “We opened at the beginning of the pandemic, so we were very fortunate to have the support of the local and regional community,” Downing says. “We don’t take that lightly, so we work very hard to try to make our supporters proud of us.”

As for what Downing loves most about making bourbon, much of it comes back to delighting his customers: “It’s why my wife and I even started down this path,” says Downing. “I would say the thing I love most is the smile and the surprise that appears on someone’s face when they try it and realize that something that tastes this good could have been distilled, aged, and bottled right here at GlenPharmer Distillery,” Downing says. Many customers are unaware that you can make bourbon anywhere in the United States: “Most people assume we can’t make whiskey here, and will ask, ‘Did you get it from Kentucky?’ Or say ‘you can’t really, call it bourbon, can you?’” Downing says. (Both Weld and Willis also say they are constantly debunking the belief that bourbon must be made in Kentucky.) “I don’t think people necessarily expect that you can produce something like this here, but that look of surprise or that smile, it’s worth all of it,” Downing says.

GlenPharmer just released their third batch of bourbon, and while we wait patiently for the library to mature, Downing is excited to have just released “DOLI”, a vodka infused with real pineapple: “It took 21 batches for us to finalize the recipe,” he says, “I don’t know how to describe it except to say it’s delicious.”

“Bourbon is on fire” is a phrase we in the spirits industry have been hearing for at least a decade, and despite recent hand-wringing about market resets and destocking, the category remains resilient. In Massachusetts at least, with craft distilleries like Berkshire Mountain Distillers, Bully Boy Distillers, and GlenPharmer Distillery driving innovation, the future looks bright, and full of great bourbon.