Our guest this week is David DeFazio, co-founder of Wyoming Whiskey. We discuss building a distillery on a ranch and making whiskey in Wyoming. David is a former lawyer turned whiskey maker and has a wealth of experience in working hard, solving problems, and crafting whiskey. We also want to give a huge shoutout to Bob Cutler of Novio’s Bistro in Bangor Maine for connecting us with Wyoming Whiskey. He’s a long-time supporter of the show and of Wyoming Whiskey and we are so excited that we were able to collaborate for an episode. We hope you enjoy this week’s episode and if you have a chance to try Wyoming Whiskey, let us know what you think!
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Scott, Jake, & Michael
Bourbon Lens
About Wyoming Whiskey
Based in Kirby, Wyoming, Wyoming Whiskey has a simple goal: to create America’s next great bourbon. The company and product is a collaboration between its partners and 97,818 square miles of Wyoming. The Mead family first came to Wyoming as ranchers in 1890 and the state defines them, and their whiskey. They use the finest corn, wheat, barley, and water from the Big Horn Basin and promote Wyoming’s natural and human resources. Every drop of this bourbon is 100% Wyoming.
When was WW founded? 2006
Who are it’s founders? Brad & Kate Mead, 4th generation Wyoming cattle ranchers, and David DeFazio. All of the founders currently reside in Jackson, but the distillery is at the Mead Ranch in Kirby, WY.
How many styles does Wyoming have? 6 in the main lineup
- Small Batch (flagship, highest quantity produced and sold)
- Outryder (Straight American Whiskey – WW’s take on a rye)
- Single Barrel (top 1% of their liquid)
- Double Cask
- Barrel Strength
- National Parks Limited Edition
Other limited release offerings they’ve done: Wide Open Spaces collection and some Wyoming-only releases in limited batches such as Stargazer, Thunder Basin and Wilderness.
What are some unique factors that set Wyoming Whiskey apart in the industry?
#1: WW uses non-GMO grains, including corn, wheat, barley, and rye, all sourced from a local WY farmer named Brent Rageth. Part of WW’s culture is to draw upon the natural environment in making their product. Genetically modified grains are, to an extent, unnatural. And for that reason, they will only use natural seed when raising their crops in Byron, Wyoming. An experienced farmer easily works around the challenges presented by non-genetically modified crops.
#2: Wyoming Whiskey does not source any alcohol. Every drop in our bottle comes from grains grown in Wyoming, which are cooked, fermented, distilled, barreled and bottled in Kirby, Wyoming. All of our grains come from Rageth Farms in Byron, Wyoming. WW’s water comes from a mile-deep limestone aquifer 40 miles to the north of our distillery. This makes their product 100% Wyoming. In an age where a vast number of brands are taking the easier, cheaper and faster route of sourcing bulk whiskey, WW prefers to put in the extra time and effort to do things the right way.
#3: Our environment: Wyoming is a special place. And as mentioned previously, our maturation environment is the most unique in the industry. On the hottest of days in the summer, the top of our warehouse can reach 132 degrees and in the depth of winter it will hit 0 degrees. Where else is a whiskey exposed to such extreme temperatures without moving an inch? WW Barrels experience the extreme temperature variations of the high basin between the Absaroka and Bighorn Mountains. Temperatures reach 135° at the height of the warehouse during the summer and fall precipitously to 5° degrees in the depths of Winter. In the summertime, warehouse temperatures can swing 20 – 30 degrees and facilitate greater whiskey and wood interaction.
How does the unique terroir of Kirby, WY and its temperature fluctuations impact the development of WW?
WW does not use temperature controlled warehouses. As a result, they are at the mercy of the environment. Their maturation environment is arguably the most unique in the whiskey industry because of it’s violent temperature swings. Diurnal temperature swings can be over 50 degrees in a day, which results in a more dynamic maturation environment in every barrel. Given the thermal mass in each warehouse, barrel temperatures will not change to this profound of a degree, however, even a 1 degree change in a barrel will cause the alcohol to push into the oak and later withdraw to a greater extent than maturation environments that do not share this cycle. The result is a more meaningful and effective maturation period during the summer months. To the contrary, our barrels go into hibernation during Wyoming’s harsh winters. At about 40 degrees, alcohol activity in the barrel ceases and maturation stops. Whatever magic happens in the winter months is a mystery to us, but what we do know is that our maturation process produces an outstanding line of whiskies. Years ago, we used to rotate barrels in an attempt to balance the warehouses’ effect on each barrel, however Nancy taught us that it was unnecessary given the complexity of her batching protocol and the precision with which each barrel is selected. In short, we batch around this issue.
To learn more, visit http://www.wyomingwhiskey.com and sign up to become a Whiskey Baron to receive the latest news and special offers from Wyoming Whiskey. For daily updates, follow Wyoming Whiskey on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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