A direct-to-consumer, cask-finished bourbon series built like a vinyl record, from the man behind Colorado’s first craft whiskey wave
Jake Norris, founding head distiller of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and later of Laws Whiskey House, sat down with Jake Lewellen on The Bourbon Lens to discuss his newest venture, the Curated Barrel Project, and the Colorado distillery he is bringing online.
Norris began distilling at Stranahan’s in 2004 and created its Snowflake program. He later spent five years at Laws Whiskey House before consulting for distilleries across the U.S. and as far as Japan. He says his new Colorado distillery will begin pilot batches within weeks. It pairs a continuous column stripper with a 1,000-gallon, four-plate pot column, so a small craft distillery can scale up without costly rebuilds.
The Curated Barrel Project is a series of eight quarterly releases. It uses 7-year-old high-rye bourbon distilled at Southern Distilling Company in Statesville, N.C. Each release is a different cask finish, with batches of roughly 400 to 700 bottles. The first is an unfinished “control.” The second, an oloroso sherry cask finish, is on sale now. A port finish comes next quarter. Future finishes include cognac, Armagnac, American rum, Tokaji, and Mizunara.
Each bottle ships direct to customers with a handwritten zine and a QR code to a Spotify playlist made for that release. Members receive all eight releases plus a bonus mystery bottle. They also get early access to 50-person, chef-driven warehouse dinners at the distillery.
“I wanted to curate that moment in your home,” said Norris.
He also pushed back on whiskey snobbery. “I’m just a regular guy. I grew up in rural Arizona, punk kid, barely graduated high school, went to art school, have no business making whiskey. I just love to do it.”
On the state of the category, Lewellen said, “A lot of people say whiskey is dying. I would say whiskey is just repositioning itself.” Norris added, “There’s always room on the shelf for another good whiskey.”
Bottles and memberships are available at thecuratedbarrelproject.com. The full conversation is available now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
About The Bourbon Lens
The Bourbon Lens is a weekly bourbon and whiskey podcast and community hosted by Jake Lewellen, featuring distiller interviews, tastings, and industry insights. Visit www.bourbonlens.com.
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