INTRO TO THE BLOCK

Hey there, this is Kraig. I will likely be the one chatting with you on most of the upcoming blog posts. I am one of the 3 co-founders of The Block Distilling Co. along with my wife Michelle and my brother Kameron. This blog is a way for us to tell our stories from where we started to where we are and finally to where we hope to go. Along with these details we will also share cocktail recipes, funny behind-the-scenes moments, spirit breakdowns of other brands we admire, and you know, just general distillery shenanigans. So this first post is going to break down who we are as a brand, what our brand statement says, and where our hashtag, #everydamndrop, came from. Please, please, please always feel free to comment or reach out directly with questions, suggestions, experiences with our spirits, etc. We love to hear from you. Thanks for being here!

BRAND STATEMENT

The Block Distilling Co. does things the hard way. The long way. Taking raw ingredients, using industrial equipment, blending culinary and chemistry methods to create artful, unapologetic spirits. It’s not the only way, but it’s our way. Because a good drink does not discriminate. So here’s to assembling a community of punks & politicians, prostitutes & priests. The ones on top, the ones trying to get there, and those in-between. The weird, the wise, the weathered & worn. The tessellated, the one-off, the business professional & the artist. We made this for you. This is your spirit(ual) awakening. Full stop.

Doing things the hard way. Spirits are shelf stable and starting a distillery is capital intensive; from the equipment required to distill, to the time in barrels, we do a two year minimum, for the whiskey and brandy. The combination of these things means that it is possible to bring in NGS (neutral grain spirit aka bulk vodka) and factory made whiskey and bottle or redistill to sell as our own. We don’t do that. There are a lot of business models out there and we don’t bash on the other models as long as deception is not part of the game. We just want you to know that our business model is to make everything in house from start to finish. That is where our #everydamndrop comes from. So you can be at ease knowing what you’re sipping was made from scratch at the Block Building.

Taking raw ingredients. Great grain makes great spirits and great dirt makes great grain. Understanding the processes behind our ingredients helps us tailor our methods to create the best spirits possible. We have the incredible opportunity to work directly with a farming family in Missouri to pick the varieties, farming style, cover crop, etc. to populate the 55 acres used to grow 70% of the grain that The Block uses. That means we choose which grains to grow, which fertilizers to use, and how it gets harvested. We choose what goes into our spirits from the first seed of grain. The other 30% comes from Colorado farms and malt houses. Those grains and the practices used to grow & harvest them before arriving at the distillery are integral in the flavors of the spirits that fill our bottles. After the distillation process is over, spent grain is collected in large bins and shipped to local farms to feed local cows.

Creating artful, unapologetic spirits. We do this because we love spirits. But we don’t want to just try and create a replica of what is already out there. We want to push boundaries and explore flavor profiles. When we started we knew we wanted to make a family of spirits. Un-aged spirits like vodka, gin, and liqueurs need a vodka base. So we made a three grain, oat, wheat, and malted barley vodka that is only distilled once. The botanical recipe for standard gin only requires juniper (of any amount) leaving the rest of the recipe up to the distiller. How in the world could we decide on just ONE recipe? So we made a family of gins with each having a flavor profile intended to be a representation of the different seasons. Bourbon, rye, and single malt are the most common whiskies on the market. We decided to make a Four Grain Straight Whiskey made from oats, wheat, rye, and malted barley. It has some spice like a rye, some sweetness like a single malt, and softness like a wheat but comes in with a crazy earthy/creamy punch from the oats. It also just received a Silver Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition! Our Bourbon will also venture outside the norm of being yellow corn heavy but then having adjuncts of wheat or rye. It will instead feature red, blue, and yellow corn with an adjunct of millet and malted barley.

So here’s to assembling a community. There’s an amazing bar scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is already imbibing in a glass of Scotch. Scarlett Johansson walks up to take a seat. The server asks what she would like, Murray pitches Scotch, and she orders a vodka tonic. They are two people from completely different backgrounds that happen to end up sitting next to each other and bonding while enjoying their favorite spirits/drinks. That is one of the huge motivations and rewards for us building The Block. Watching others that seemingly have little in common come in, sit down, and bond over a good drink is one of the biggest compliments we could ever receive. We have met so many amazing people, artists, brewers, coffee makers, actual priests!, and look forward to meeting many more and adding them to our Block Community.

I think that is it for now. So thanks for joining me.

Cheers,

Kraig