What does simplicity mean to an award-winning distiller? In this episode of Simplifiers, we meet Colin Spoelman, master distiller at Kings County Distillery—the first and oldest whiskey distillery in New York since Prohibition. Over the course of our interview, Colin tells us how he got into distilling spirits, gives us a breakdown of the “proper” way to drink whiskey, and discusses why—by legal definition—whiskey is a simple spirit. Watch the video and read the full interview below to learn more about what simplicity means to Kings County Distillery.
What’s your name and what do you do?
My name is Colin Spoelman and I’m the master distiller and co-founder here at Kings County Distillery, which is oldest distillery in New York City. I am originally from Harlan, Kentucky, which is more in the moonshine part of Kentucky, than the bourbon part of Kentucky—which is to say the Appalachian part.
What were you doing before you started Kings County?
After college I did a little of everything; I worked in film, in architecture, in fragrance, but I had never found anything I loved until this. I was working at an architecture firm until a year ago, so in a way, I was running this business as a side business. This year things finally balanced out, but it took a while. It’s been a long road to where we are.
That’s an ambitious undertaking—what inspired you to start a distillery?
It was after moving to New York and then going back home to the Bootlegger—the part of Kentucky where there are still bootleggers and you could get moonshine. Ten years ago, people would’ve been afraid of moonshine, but we’ve come around to a moment in culture where people are finally interested in things like the moonshine because it is the model for sustainable distilling. Anyway, I was going back to the bootlegger and bringing it to New York and seeing people’s enthusiasm for the idea of moonshine, and Kentucky moonshine itself. I got a little still off the internet and started distilling in my apartment in Brooklyn and sharing it with people.
I was never interested in starting a distillery. There was no such thing as a craft distillery several years ago, but it was through this intellectual and cultural curiosity I became interested in moonshine. By extension, moonshine is un-aged whiskey, so I got interested in whiskey.
Culturally, what do you think was that shift that suddenly folks got interested in and embracing of homemade alcohol?
I think finally the distance from prohibition is such that the children of people that lived through prohibition and grew up drinking commercial spirits, and the next generation, have no connection to people who lived through that period. So I think more people are open-minded to that concept of homemade or craft liquor.
But I also think there are broader things happening in culture about smaller producers, local producers, and a distaste for marketing—especially in the spirits business. You think of vodka brands as the cartoon version of it. It’s all marketing–there’s no differentiation from one bottle to the next, and I don’t think that interests consumers now. It’s good timing especially for whiskey because it’s a spirit that really reflects the values of its makers. Whiskey’s are named after people—it is a very personal spirit to the person that makes it.
I was never interested in starting a distillery. There was no such thing as a craft distillery several years ago, but it was through this intellectual and cultural curiosity I became interested in moonshine. By extension, moonshine is un-aged whiskey, so I got interested in whiskey.
So a personal question: Is there a right or wrong way to drink bourbon, and why?
No, and in fact, whenever I sit through a tasting and someone says, “Let it sit on your tongue,” I think “it’s just alcohol.” I think it’s a thing we coddle too much in terms of the experience. But that being said, whiskey is a more complex thing to consume, than say, fruit. It has many layers and goes through a number of steps: the fermentation, aging process all contribute to it and give layers to the appreciation of consuming it. As long as you’re paying attention to what you’re doing, that’s the fun of it.
What inspires you when it comes to creating flavors?
I think the advantage of being a smaller distiller is that we won’t compete with the Kentucky whiskeys on age or price. But we can compete on creativity. If there’s one criticism of Kentucky whiskey, it’s that everybody is trying to be like one another, and many of the top shelf bourbons aren’t really that different. We’ve got an oat-based whiskey, a peated bourbon, and and others that are kind of fun. Figuring out how to tweak a spirit and make it personal is something a Kentucky distillery wouldn’t take the chance on.
How many different kinds of whiskey do you make?
We make three different kinds of whiskey for sale and consumption. We make a moonshine, which is an unaged bourbon or what people call “white whiskey,” and then we do an aged version of that, which is a bourbon, and then we have a chocolate bourbon, which has been infused with Mast Bros. chocolate, so it gets this dark, deep, bitter flavor.
And when did you start Kings County?
So we got started in April 2010, so we’ve been legal as a business for 5 years. And as far as we know, we’re the first distillery in the city since Prohibition. Since we’ve opened, there are now 13 other distilleries in Brooklyn, two in the Bronx.
At its essence, what is the secret to producing a high quality spirit?
I can only answer for whiskey because it’s the only spirit I know in great detail. But it’s starting with good ingredients—which in our case is organic ingredients. Also, distilling with pot stills, which is a little bit of an abstraction for someone that is not a distiller, because it gives you a bit more latitude in your distilling and a great deal more control over the quality. Then it’s aging the whiskey well, which doesn’t necessarily mean aging it for a long time, but aging it so it reaches a balance point where there’s a lot of spice and character to it.
It seems like heritage is really important in the category, so being a new distillery, how do you evoke that sense of heritage, and is it important to you?
There’s sort of a threshold when you’re trying to be creative within a tradition, and the law gives you pretty strict guidelines with which you have to be within to call yourself bourbon. I think the fact that I grew up in Kentucky, is how heritage in some way permeates the decisions we make around the whiskey.
What do you think differentiates you from other distilleries?
I think in terms of commercial distillers, our process has a lot of integrity and reflects a slightly older era in distilling history. By focusing on ingredients, which you don’t really hear much about when it comes to commercial whiskies, or the distillation itself, which is passed over in favor of the aging process—that makes us different. In terms of craft distilleries, I think we’ve been really focused on whiskey. It’s allowed us to establish an ethos or a character around our distillery that in a way reflects my personality, and the personalities of the people that work here. When you get to deeper level, you hope you have a group of people that love whiskey and a distillery that represents their character.
So what are the implications of distilling something like this in New York City?
I think there is a skepticism of things that are made in New York because the culture is very singular and not like the culture of the rest of the country—but that’s an opportunity. I got interested in whiskey because I got homesick, and they want to bring a little piece of that culture they came from to the city. And in doing so, all these great cultural traditions get refracted, and changed the city. Brooklyn has always been made of people coming from other places and finding little bits of that culture, and that’s what makes it a great heterogeneous place.
I think simplicity is an approach that leads to something I’m interested in, which is clarity. The idea that your product reflects the values that went into making it.
Bourbon is a pretty crowded category—why did you decide to enter this category?
There’s a lot of re-bottling, re-labeling, and not a whole lot of true differentiation on the shelf. So even though there’s 100 bottles on the shelf, there’s only 12 commercial distilleries in the country. To make something that people can actually realize and appreciate as different tasting and identifiable—that is my goal. And by being really simple and understated, we have an opportunity to be different than what’s out there, which is all sort of trying to be like one another.
There are a lot of spirit brands coming out of New York right now—Widow Jane, Hudson Distilling—what do you think that means for the category?
Well, I think it’s exciting because people are starting to get a sense that some of the liquor store brands are not really real distilleries. So it’s created a more educated consumer, a savvier consumer, a consumer with an open mind. We’re out in service of the same thing: reorienting what people are interested in and tear down some of the marketing mythology about bourbon created over the years. So to be able to be there with something that can refute the myth is great for the company and the product.
How does simplicity play out in the process of actually making bourbon?
It’s sort of remarkable, because bourbon has to be made from grain—so that limits the ingredients. It has to be 51% corn, so there’s another limitation. It has to be distilled a certain way, it has to be aged in a new charred oak barrel—there’s so many limitations on what bourbon can be, by legal fiat it’s a very simple spirit in the way it’s produced. You can’t add juniper, you can’t add strawberries, so you’re very limited in how you can interpret this spirit. But that’s actually the advantage. You can create variety within these heavy constraints. That’s why craft distillers focus on whiskey—because it’s such a simple thing, but so hard to get right.
How does simplicity play out in what you produce?
I think simplicity is an approach that leads to something I’m interested in, which is clarity. The idea that your product reflects the values that went into making it. In our case, we don’t spend a lot of money on packaging. A lot of liquor store owners will say, “Nobody will pay for that!” or “It doesn’t have wax on it!” But we think that people want to know that they’re paying for what’s in the bottle not what’s on the bottle.
The packaging originally came to be from when I did this in my apartment—and I was using with mason jars, and I would type up these labels and cut them into strips and wrap them on the jar. And then, I just stuck with it. There was never a reason to deviate from that simplicity. It came from a desire to not involve the computer, which adds so many variables—working with fewer variables and more constraints makes designing, in that sense, or creating in a broader sense, that much easier.
It’s sort of remarkable, because bourbon has to be made from grain—so that limits the ingredients. It has to be 51% corn, so there’s another limitation. It has to be distilled a certain way, it has to be aged in a new charred oak barrel—there’s so many limitations on what bourbon can be, by legal fiat it’s a very simple spirit in the way it’s produced.
Do you think simplicity resonates with your customers?
I guess so, I mean, things are going good. I think people are burned out by so much spirits marketing and they really don’t feel connected to brands in the same way. I think people want to know more about what’s behind the bottle, rather than just the repetition of that logo or label. The great thing about being in New York, everybody can come visit, and I think that coming to this building and seeing this place, is a great way for people to connect to process, which by extension, is a connection to the product.
What does simplicity mean to you?
Clarity of an idea. It’s such a minor thing, but at the same time a momentous thing, to actually choose to buy something. It’s kind of a vote for something, a vote for a way of doing business. In terms of visual communication—the bottle, the website, even the distillery tour—somebody will walk away from that experience with a better, clearer understanding of our process and values.
To learn more about Kings County Distillery, visit their website and follow them on Twitter: @KingsCoWhiskey
Simplifiers is a series produced by Siegel+Gale exploring how simplicity drives creativity and entrepreneurs. To watch more Simplifiers episodes, visit our YouTube Channel. For more insights on branding and simplicity, follow Siegel+Gale on Twitter: @SiegelGale
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