COLUMNSThe width and
height, in feet,
of St. Louis’s
Gateway Arch,
monument
to America’s
westward
expansion and
the tallest arch
in the world.
To m e , i t r e p -
resents the
indomitable
spirit of the
pioneers.The serial
number on our
first steam-
punk-looking
pot still.The day
the distillery
was founded
in 2011.38 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com↓SPIRITS
I was an English major, so I was familiar with
drinking. Then I was a white-water rafting
guide, and a futures trader in Chicago. But I
wanted to make something with my hands.
I decided I would become a 21st-century
liquor baron.
We were living in Chicago but knew one
day we’d raise a family and want luxuries—
like a yard. So we opened in St. Louis. Not
only is my wife from there, but Missouri is
famous for its white oak. There’s an ideal
growth environment that makes for the per-
fect cellulose structure. So we are able to buy
the best barrels available in our own back-
yard from McGinnis Wood Products and
Independent Stave Company, both longtime
family-owned cooperages.
The more heritage-style industrial and
architecturally interesting the space, the
more work and money required. So we found
an old Hardee’s, and while there was certainly
a lot of lipstick and duct tape involved—and
maybe I shouldn’t have cut the soda-foun-
tain syrup lines in the ceiling—we were able
to repurpose it into our distillery.
It took a few years and some growth of
my skills before I made a gin, and it was not
what I had pigeonholed it to be—easy. Once
I understood the spectrum of its flavor pos-
sibilities, gin became art to me, the array of
botanicals like different colors of paint.
I value research, so I created my ownlibrary: a collection of experiments, in
three sections. I call it the Library of Indom-
itable Spirits.
Our Botanical Library has over 200 distilled
samples of flavors: layered, complex, and even
curious compositions from herbs, leaves,
seeds, roots, fruits, berries, nuts, and flowers.
We macerate each botanical in a high-proof
neutral spirit base, and the f lavor-packed
liquid is distilled again. (I have a one-liter elec-
tric still just for this purpose.) That gives us a
portfolio of possibilities to work with. I can
create the exact flavor of gin I want to drink.
The Evolutionary Library has samples from
our brown spirits—whiskey, rum, brandy—
“thieved” (or siphoned) from their aging
barrels at different stages. Using our Davey
Decimal System of organization—yes, I’m a
nerd—we can compare the same spirit side
by side and taste each through its evolution.
The Experimental Spirits Program is where
we catalog each spirit we’ve released in our
public search for awesome new recipes. For
example, let’s say we want to make a wheat
whiskey. I distill a whole bunch of individual
ingredients (like grains) and blend them in
different proportions: 100 percent wheat? 80
percent wheat, 20 percent corn? What about
some rye in there? Should it have a smoked
component?
We release the Experimental Spirits at a
free public event on the first Friday of every
month—one per month for five years: 60 dif-
ferent spirits. People are invited to come try it
and tell us what they think. We’re literally ask-
ing everyone who shows up what they want the
future of craft spirits to taste like. Our program
began July 7, 2017. We have 39 spirits to go.The Distiller Who
Tries Everything
A St. Louis booze-maker is in a constant,
thrilling state of experimentation.
/ A S T O L D T O F R A N C I N E M A R O U K I A N /DISTILLERY
StilL 630,
St. Louis
FOUNDER
David