The Killing Frost

Posted: 10/21/09

Fall has fallen and winter is peeking around the corner.  The mornings are crisp and the evenings a deep  clear mountain cold.  Leaves are falling and I can smell the brats and peppers on the grill and hear the roar of the football game.  Fall in Colorado is wonderful, a drive through the mountains makes you wonder how any one made it past the beauty of the Rocky Mountains on their way west.  Seas of brilliant golden shimmering aspens, the scattered red burst of a scrub oak and endless green spans of Colorado pine as far as the eye can see.  The vista is beautiful patchwork of raging color broken only by the granite mountain sides and the heart wrenching brown of the beetle kill pine.  Down the hill in Denver, (after a surprise weekend of 80 degree weather), the killing frost has taken even the most hardy leaf in the garden.  The canned tomatoes and spicy dill pickles are on the shelf, and the hard squash are hiding in a cool dark place downstairs.  Here at the distillery the dust is settling from the move.  The wash fermenters are bubbling away, the stills never go cold, production is increasing and the barrels are stacking up.  We are making about 10 barrels a week right now, but I have my sights set on 18 a week.  We are bottling a lot gearing up for the end of year rush.  Tours have been busy, so we have established a regular tour schedule of Monday, Wed, Fri, and Saturday at 11, 1, 3, 5.  (If you are interested in going on a tour it is best to make an appointment by emailing tours @ Stranahans .com).  The Rackhouse restaurant next door should be open by the end of the week, and not a moment too soon, I dont think the lads cant stomach another fast food burger.  So as I plunge in to another beautiful Colorado winter, I invite you to stoak the fireplace with another piece of aspen, pour yourself a glass of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and read a good book.  I am reading “Spice- The History of Temptation” by Jack Turner.