Bear Creek Distillery
Imagine yourself sitting around drinking with your friends. Over the course of the night, the topic of discussion probably varies from the weather, to sports, to work, to family, to what you are drinking, etc. Sounds like a pretty normal night hanging out with friends, right?
Then one of those nights of drinking and camaraderie among life-long friends becomes very special. During the conversation that night, the topic of starting a distillery was brought up and Jay Johnson, Jeff Dickinson and Dbo Baker created the idea for Bear Creek Distillery (“BCD”). I had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Dickinson, Head Distiller of Bear Creek, to find out a little more about this Denver-based distillery.
Starting a distillery is not easy, especially when no one in your group has a background in opening or running a distillery. It takes time, patience and perseverance. In June of 2012, the trio found a building and started the permitting process. While navigating through that, Jeff and Jay toured distilleries around Colorado and talked to owners, distillers, and employees to learn the processes of operating a distillery. During this time they also attended classes at the American Distilling Institute. Afterwards, they decided on the most important elements of what they had learned that they could incorporate into their vision for BCD. They also settled on the roles each of them would take in the distillery. Early on they discussed hiring an experienced distiller, but after visiting distilleries and attending workshops, Jeff decided that distilling was something that he wanted to do, so he adopted that all-important role. Jay would be in charge of sales and Dbo took on operations and social media.
After taking six months to work through the permitting process, Bear Creek Distillery became incorporated in December 2012. Even though the original idea was to be a bourbon distillery, they opened to the public in November 2014 selling silver rum and rye vodka. At the time, rum was not something a lot of distilleries were doing and vodka, while not necessarily the easiest to distill, does not require aging. So, they had products they could share with the public early on. In between runs of rum and vodka, they were distilling and barreling bourbon for aging. Today, they produce ten different spirits including various styles of rum, vodka, whiskey and, of course, bourbon: a rye bourbon and a wheater.
Bear Creek has changed over time as they have grown. Initially, BCD was only open on Saturdays selling cocktails made with their spirits. As word spread, additional days were quickly added to accommodate the increased public interest to the point that now they are open six days a week (Tuesday – Sunday). Similarly, in the early days it was just the three partners handling the day-to-day grind. With their growth, they have been able to add employees and, earlier this year, BCD joined forces with Colorado Beverage Team, a spirits distributor based in Denver. Bear Creek’s current distribution is to approximately 450 bars, restaurants, and stores across Colorado. They also have limited distribution in Montana and Wyoming.
BCD prides themselves on “producing exceptional hand crafted premium spirits”. Every spirit is “produced grain to bottle in their facility”. To help support the community, they locally source as many ingredients as possible from Colorado-based companies and farms. Information on products, events or tours can be found at www.bearcreekdistillery.com.
Review
The Bear Creek Distillery product I am reviewing is their flagship Straight Bourbon Whiskey which hit the market December 2017. This particular bottle was from Batch No. 6. It is 90 Proof, aged 3 years and retails for about $63 (750 ml bottle). The picture to the right does not do this bottle justice, it’s a pretty sweet bottle with the Bear Creek Distillery logo embossed into the glass. It’s definitely a bottle worth turning into a lamp or candle once it is empty. Here’s a look at my review:
Color: Aging 3 years in the barrel gave this bourbon a rich amber color.
Nose: The nose on this bourbon is complex. It’s earthy spice with just a hint of sweet along with charred oak, a touch of tobacco and coffee.
Taste: On the palate, it’s spice all the way. I pick up the tobacco that I got on the nose along with oak, a little smoke then carries over to a coffee finish with hint of sweet vanilla.
Finish: It’s very smooth! For me the heat hits right up front and then a nice lingering hug.
Overall: This bottle is fantastic! I can see why it was a gold medal winner at the 2019 American Distilling Institute Spirits Competition. It’s an easy sipper and would be great in a cocktail, too, if that is more your style. I just paired it with a steak dinner fresh off the grill and it was amazing. If you are in Colorado, Montana, or Wyoming and see a bottle, buy it. You can check out www.bearcreekdistillery.com to find where to buy it near you. I will definitely be stocking up the next time I am in Denver and look forward to trying Bear Creek Distillery’s other products.
