Talnua Distillery

 Arvada, CO

The tasting room at Talnua in Arvada, CO.

Learning a thing or two

Today we went on a distillery tour at Talnua thanks to Brandon.  Brandon is our whiskey collecting friend mentioned here .  He has his finger on the pulse and follows what is going on in Colorado in regards to whiskey making.  Talnua is a 3 year old distillery in Arvada, CO.  Their name is born of the Irish-Gaelic words ‘Talamh’, meaning ‘Land’, and ‘Nua’, meaning ‘New’.  They are the first Single Pot Still distillery outside of Ireland (this didn't really mean anything to me until I took the tour and learned a few things).  Pot Still Distilling is a traditional way of distilling spirits. Once the continuous column still was invented pot stills almost disappeared.  The Irish people kept the Pot Still alive because they liked the oily finish that was created by using it.  So much so that they created a legal definition for Pot Stilled Whiskey (much like we created a legal definition for Bourbon Whiskey). In Ireland, to be called  Pot Stilled Whiskey, it must legally meet these requirements:

• Distilled from a mash of a combination of malted barley, unmalted barley, and other unmalted cereals
• Distilled in a pot still so that the distillate has the aroma and taste of the materials used
• Made with a minimum of 30% malted barley and 30% unmalted barley
• Up to 5% of cereals other than malted and unmalted barley, such as oats and rye, may be used
• Either double or triple distillation may be used, although traditionally most Irish pot still whiskey is triple distilled
• Aged for 3 years or more in wooden casks
• The term "single" can be added if the Irish pot still whiskey is distilled on the site of a single distillery

It also must be made in Ireland and made with Irish grown grains and Irish water. Since Talnua isn't in Ireland, they can call their whiskey Pot Stilled while only following most of the rules because there is no legal definition here in the USA.  They are trying to get Pot Stilled Whiskey legally recognized in the US.

I have been on many brewery tours, including the Coors Tour you can read about here, and a handful of distillery tours, but I learned more on this tour than all of those other tours.  If you are in Arvada and like whiskey or just learning about the craft of making whiskey I highly recommend this tour. Oh and we weren't shushed one time on this tour (read about the Coors tour if you are curious about this comment).

Donna looks like she is in school again.

A classic tasting room with very good Happy Hour deals

The Wheel of Flavors!  Can you find Band-aid on this wheel?

Our Tour Guide (the GM of the whole operation) walked us through some tasting

And then walked us through the process of making it

This is where they ferment the mash (a soup made from boiled grains).

The beautiful copper pot stills

The beautiful barrel aging room

Is she going to strangle Brandon?  No, she is just gesturing with open hands.

This little guy holds their yeast

The barrels on the left are empty used bourbon barrels waiting to be filled

This is an oak finished foeder barrel used for their solara process.  This process is used to fractionally blend aged whiskey.  They pour 16 month or more whiskey in the top and take the same amount out of the bottom when they bottle.  Over years, there are still trace amounts of the oldest whiskey in the barrel.

This is their used Sherry Cask that they also use for their Solara process.  It imparts trace amounts of old Sherry.

The new looking barrels are new barrels (opposed to used bourbon barrels) waiting to be filled.

Their current lineup of bottles you can taste and buy.  You get a 10% discount on bottles if you went on the tour.

Our tour crew!  From left to right, me, Donna, Gene, Brandon, Matt, and Jonathan.

If you are in the Denver area you should go on the tour even if you don't get to hang out with our crew.  It will still be fun and educational.  

Check out yesterday's adventure here.