We are catching up with Old Elk’s Master Distiller, Greg Metze, since his last appearance back in Episode 101. Old Elk Distillery is continuing to grow, expand its limited release portfolio , and experiment with blends and finishes. We taste their Master’s Blend Series offerings, Four Grain Bourbon and Double Wheat. Find out what’s going on in Fort Collins Colorado in this week’s episode of Bourbon Lens.
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Bourbon Lens
About Greg Metze
Greg Metze, Master Distiller at Old Elk Distillery, has four decades of distilling experience, starting at the Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Distillery located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in 1978. He is considered one of the spirits industry’s premier master distillers and has had a hand in crafting many of the whiskies on the shelf today.
Greg’s connection to Old Elk traces back to the distillery’s inception. He was master distiller at MGP Ingredients when Old Elk Distillery asked him, in 2013, to create the signature mash bill for Old Elk Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey that would bring to life the vision of Old Elk’s founder, Curt Richardson. With an unrestricted approach, Greg’s direction helped develop a custom mashbill with four times more malted barley than the conventional recipe.
After spending most of his career at Seagram & Sons (which later became LDI and then MGP Ingredients), Greg was offered the Master Distiller position at Old Elk. He joined Old Elk Distillery in 2016, marking the first time he has ever worked exclusively for one brand.
Greg and head distiller Kate Douglas developed Old Elk’s proprietary Slow CutTM proofing process, where the liquid is proofed down over an extended period of time instead of the traditional 24-48 hours. This results in less heat created during the proofing process, and thus a smoother tasting bourbon. All Old Elk whiskies, including this wheat whiskey, go through the Slow Cut™ proofing process.
While Greg quietly earned fame among whiskey enthusiasts as the master distiller behind many popular sourced whiskey brands, he now has a distillery and a legacy brand to call “home.”
