When enjoying a glass of whiskey neat, a gin and tonic, or a vodka martini, do you give a lot of thought to the long and involved process that went into creating that spirit? Probably not because, like me, you’re too busy simply enjoying the drink. After meeting Craig Engelhorn, the man behind Colorado’s own Spirit Hound Distillers, I knew I wanted to have him on the In Good Taste Denver Podcast. Not only does he make the spirits world approachable, he has an amazing story to tell. Click on the graphic below to listen to our special podcast episode.
Presented with a delicious dinner on my plate and perfectly-paired spirits in my glass, I could have chalked up a terrific evening at Panzano restaurant in Denver to those two things alone. But the evening was made more memorable thanks to the good luck of sitting next to Craig Engelhorn and his wife, Amanda. Craig is the co-founder and Head Distiller of Spirit Hound Distillers whose vodka, gin and whiskies we were sampling that night.
Craig was so engaging and his story so interesting, I knew I had to ask him to be a podcast guest. But not just a guest for one of my podcasts, but for both. So, this is a double-whammy podcast episode, running on both the Colorado-centric In Good Taste Denver Podcast but also the Real Food Traveler Podcast which reaches people throughout the United States (where Spirit Hound products can be ordered), and around the world.
In this episode, whichever one you might be listening to, Craig tells the roundabout path he took to being a spirits distiller (hint, it started with another kind of alcohol).
He also talks about his reasoning behind only using barley grown and malted in Colorado and snowmelt water from our Rocky Mountains.
Craig built the still they use at Spirit Hound, from the ground up, to make sure he had a design he really wanted. He tells us why that was important to do.
It’s always interesting to hear which products are a maker’s favorites and how they like to consume them. Craig tells us which ones he enjoys most, although that’s a little like picking a favorite child.
Regular visits to Scotland are a pleasurable way to go to the source and research new methods and to learn from the best in the field. Craig tells us what those journeys are like and how they make him even better at what he does in Colorado.
If you’re in Colorado, or visiting, you can order Spirit Hound in numerous restaurants and enjoy it at their two tasting rooms. And if you’re out of state, most of you are in luck because you can order bottles of it to be delivered.
To learn more about Craig Engelhorn and Spirit Hound Distillers, visit their website here. Follow them on Instagram here and on Facebook here.
-By Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher & Managing Editor of InGoodTasteDenver.com and host of the In Good Taste Denver Podcast.
The In Good Taste Denver Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio and wherever you like to listen.
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