Welcome to the second half of Scotchology’s interview with Andy Morrison, co-owner of Minglewood Distilling Company in Wooster, OH. Catch up on Part 1 or dive right into Part 2 below.
Kate: What really speaks to me about this distillery and both Scotchology as a group, they’re committed to sourcing locally, within the county. It speaks to what good spirits did in the past, it was your only option. I think their white spirits wowed me more than their whiskies, on my first tasting. Their gin is really well thought out. Their vodka has a balance of flavors. Sometimes vodka can belike drinking a cleaning chemical, whereas theirs is smooth and flavorful.
How does working with your white spirits (like vodka and gin) influence how you approach your whiskey?
Working with white spirits is interesting because you have to really pay attention to the grains and botanicals you are using, as well as being very careful during distilling to make good cuts so you have a smooth, pleasant spirit. Unlike whisky, there’s no barrel aging to help cover the flavors of the base spirit, so you have to be on your game from the start; and we take that same approach to distilling whisky. Even though the barrel is going to add so much to the liquor, we still want to make sure the base is something to be proud of.
What makes whiskey special for you? What’s the magic in it?
What makes whisky special for me is being able to watch it grow up in a sense. It’s fun to see corn being grown in a field one summer, and then being able to see each change that grain goes through until its years older and I’m drinking it out of a glass. Just knowing the entire process from Field to Glass makes whiskey really interesting to me.
What led you to explore flavored whiskies?
Honestly, it was just looking at the market trends. Flavored Whisky has become such a big market in the past decade and it was something that we could not afford to ignore. We decided that if we wanted to get into flavored whiskies, we would still approach it the same way we do the rest of our spirits. Being careful and making sure each step and each ingredient will lead to a quality spirit that doesn’t cut corners.
If you were able to walk up to the mythical bar and order some whiskey, what do you ask for and why?
I think I would ask for a flight of Bourbon, maybe Minglewood, but I want all the glasses to be from the same barrel, just at different ages. Starting with the white bourbon all the way to 30 years old. Even with only having 4 year old whisky, I love seeing how much the spirit changes over time in the barrel. Being able to see how much Minglewood’s Bourbon changes over the course of 30 years would be really special. I suppose I could do that in real life, but it’s gonna take a pretty long time and more patience than I’m capable of.
What do you think are some of the specific challenges of being a young craft distillery?
I think the most obvious challenge is that we have to build our inventory in a way that allows us to have whisky to sell today, while making sure we will also have older whisky to sell down the line. The logistics of that is tough when you consider Minglewood’s current size and barrel storage capacity. As we continue to renovate the rest of our facility, we will be able to expand our storage and mitigate that problem. Another challenge is trying to compete with larger distilleries; its tough to convince someone to switch away from Tito’s or Jack Daniels, but building a reputation for quality spirits and having customers that carry us via word-of-mouth has really helped.
What would you like to see Minglewood five or ten years down the road?
I would like to see Minglewood continue to grow to where we become a go-to craft spirits brand in Ohio. To be able to continue our reputation for making quality spirits, despite our increase in size and distilling capacity over the coming years.
Kate: Another thing I like is that they have different giveaways. I really like this aspect, that their outreach is especially impactful in a small community, maybe more so when you are part of it and know its impact personally. Minglewood is also catering to their market. The flavored whiskey is sort of like the wine slushy for a part of Wayne County. He makes you want to be curious about the next barrel when it comes out, because they are so invested in experimentation. I’ve been able to go truly behind the scenes there, and I really love it. What I don’t think Minglewood realizes about their distilling is that they are bringing the rest of us into that creative process by involving the community. It brings back that Cheers vibe. I am so there when things reopen – heck, I’d be happy to lead a tasting!
