We are exploring American Single Malt again this week and tasting a lineup from Colkegan from Santa Fe Spirits in New Mexico. We’re joined by Colin Keegan, one of the pillars in the American Single Malt Whiskey community. Colin talks about his path to making spirits in the Southwestern United States, the difficulties in growing a craft brand, and his commitment to crafting the best single malt whiskey in America.
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Cheers,
Scott and Jake
Bourbon Lens
About Santa Fe Spirits:
Santa Fe Spirits was founded by Colin Keegan in 2010 with the goal of becoming the Southwest’s pre-eminent artisan distillery. With products ranging from silver whisky to barrel-aged apple brandy to Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey, Santa Fe Spirits is a relatively small distillery proud to be producing exceptional spirits designed to capture and accentuate the essence of the Southwest.
About Colin Keegan:
Colin started Santa Fe Spirits in 2010 with the goal of making the highest quality handcrafted spirits. As he and his wife Suzette live in an apple orchard in Tesuque he had ‘experimented’ with making brandy from the fall crop since 2002. On putting together a business plan he realized that apple brandy alone would not be a sustainable business model, so he formulated a plan of a range of spirits, and sold to multiple markets, with a major focus on American whiskies. The business began with whiskey, apple brandy, and one assistant in the distillery.
Over the last twelve years the company has been through many changes. It has been through many expansions and is now on the 4th which will double the facility size. SFS continually adds more products to our portfolio. We have grown from just Colin to eight fulltime and four part-time team members. We now distribute to 11 states across the US and export to Germany, Australia and Japan.
We have received national awards for all our spirits, but are always looking to improve on all we do. Our next few years will be focused on extending our whiskey market.
Colin really believes in the craft distilling industry and is a strong advocate for craft distilleries. He was a founding member and has been a board member of the American Craft Distillers Association (ACSA) for 5 years. He also served a 2-year position as their treasurer. Colin was the founder of the New Mexico Distillers Guild (NMDG) in 2015 and served as its president for three years. He grew the organization from three founders to 20 members. As a founding member of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission (ASMWC), Colin truly believes American Single Malt Whiskies are really coming into being and will see great growth over the next few years. As a board member of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, Colin is a big contributor to the local community and small business. He served as Board President in 2016.
