Hone your spirits knowledge at Golden distillery
By Kyle Kirves
Maybe it’s not true of everything (see sausage making) but oftentimes the more you know about a particular subject, the more joy you glean from experiencing it. Sure, you can enjoy a glass of wine without knowing its country of origin or vintage. Great pleasure can come from a violin concerto even if you don’t know who wrote it or how long ago. You can, as Shakespeare might say, enjoy the bouquet’s smell without knowing the names of the flowers. But doesn’t knowing even a little something about these pleasures make them more … pleasurable?
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys a glass of spirits and has always wanted to learn a little more about what goes into its making before it arrives in your glass, school is in session with Don Hammond from Golden-based State 38 Distilling.
State 38 Distilling is located at 400 Corporate Circle, Suite B, in Golden, and is open 4-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 4-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.. Tours are available upon request, education is free of charge.
“When people come to a small craft distiller,” Hammond says, “more often than not they want to go a little deeper into conversation than just what’s in their cocktail. They want to know what is unique about us and what our processes are and how we do it. What makes us a little different.”
If you’re game, Hammond will cater to your curiosity by the penny or the pound. “My wife will give me a hard time,” he says, “because I’m a talker and when we do tours I tell people, we can go for 20 minutes or an hour. It really all depends on what people want to learn.”
A good portion of that tutelage is spent decoupling people from their notions and histories with spirits. “One thing people learn by coming to State 38 is that we make 100-percent agave spirits right here in Golden,” Hammond says. “What would be called tequila if it originated in Mexico. We’ve been doing that from the beginning (with original owner and distiller Sean Smiley) and we wanted to continue that as one of our foundations,” Hammond says.
Hammond explains that State 38 imports their raw agave from Mexico, but that the distillation process occurs right there on site. Keeping it in the product catalog was paramount for Hammond when he acquired the business in 2019 because, he says, “it’s just the coolest thing to showcase what 100-percent agave spirits are to people – and their look of surprise to find out it was made here – is so worth it.”
“I hear sometimes, ‘I don’t like tequila.’ And that’s always a hint to me to ask for a moment’s indulgence to explain to them that what they maybe had in college – especially when it comes to tequila-style spirits – is not what we’re making here.”
Jesse Crock, who is something of an artist-in-residence at State 38 (if only they’d let him move in. Right, Jesse?), rode shotgun for this conversation with Hammond and relates his own story of “beginner’s mind” during early visits to State 38.
“Back when my wife and I were dating,” Crock relates, “I said I was taking her to State 38 to taste some tequila and she said she wasn’t that into it. I told her that everything she was going to taste was going to be like a fine wine or a fine whiskey. It was an eye-opening experience for her.”
These days, Crock says, when there’s a new offering available at State 38, he brings her along because her spirit-tasting palate is much more sophisticated than his own. “She really picks up the subtle tastes and she’s really become quite informed. So to hear Hammond talk about education and changing people’s perceptions about spirits, that’s a real phenomenon at State 38.”
That deprogramming extends to whiskey as well. “There are some great rye whiskeys crafted locally by other distillers,” Hammond says, “but their ryes are much spicier and rye-forward than ours – up around 85 to 90 percent of their grain choice is rye. With us, we top out at about 65 percent. You can still tell it's a rye, for sure. But it’s much more mellow and approachable flavor.”
The purity and the flavor profiles are more sophisticated and refined. Hammond says that, yes, some of it can be a little on the high-alcohol content side – or “hot” to use the trade vernacular – but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be smooth and an experience that you don’t wake up regretting the next day.
Hammond makes a point of talking about sourcing as part of his spirited syllabus. “A good portion of what goes in our bottles is from right here in Colorado. With a name like State 38, we try to be as Colorado as possible.” He cites State 38’s close partnership with a Root Shoot Malting in Loveland as an example. “It’s a fifth-generation family farm in Colorado that now has an on-site malting house.”
Education is part of the experience, and when you walk out of State 38, you’re a little wiser in terms of your spirits. And, selecting, tasting, and learning about spirits at the distillery is an economical way to sample a broad spectrum of flavor profiles without necessarily investing in sometimes expensive bottles only to find out when you get home that it's not to your liking.
A good teacher enables trust in his or her students, and Hammond is no exception, inviting the kinds of experimentation and open-mindedness that really make the tasting adventure come alive. “Palates evolve over time, too. Based on your experience or exposure, you might find that you don’t gravitate to one particular whiskey, only to try it maybe two or three years later and it lands differently with you,” he says. “That’s part of the journey.”
Here’s hoping that journey is full of these kinds of lifelong lessons.