Step
right up, folks!
Come see the newest
attraction under the big top:
Backwards
Distilling in Casper, Wyoming!
Definitely not a sideshow act, Wyoming’s first clear spirits distillery
deserves the attention of the center ring.
Two and a half years ago, the Pollock family started its own “circus”
when the four conceived the idea of making spirits in the center of big, wonderful
Wyoming.
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| Backwards Distilling Company--cool logo and even cooler spirits. |
The
name Backwards comes from the four members of the Pollock family:
dad Bill, daughter Amber, son Chad, and mom
Kathy—BACK.
They began looking for words
that had the root of BACK, and when they saw backwards, they knew it was
perfect.
The route the family has taken
to get the spirits produced has been a bit backward.
Instead
of having the background, knowledge, and experience in distilling and
then getting the idea to go commercial,
the Pollocks decided to go commercial
first,
and then get the background, knowledge, and experience in distilling.
 |
| The family that distills together--Chad, Kathy, Amber, and Bill. |
Chad
is the head distiller.
He spent a year
and a half traveling around the United States and Europe getting hands-on
education while sampling vodkas, bourbons, and rums to decide what type he
wanted to make.
Experts such as former Maker’s
Mark’s distiller, Dave Pickerell, were invaluable to Chad’s learning
curve.
Also central to Chad’s spirit
production was his time spent in the EU.
Chad knew he wanted to create a vodka in a similar style to Russian
vodka, but since travel to Russia wasn’t meant to be, he learned much on a trip
to Belgium, where he was able to visit a bar with over 400 vodkas on the menu.
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| Chad enjoying a taste of his Ringleader Vodka. |
Amber is the head of, and
in charge of, the tasting room.
Her most
important job is crafting the cocktail menu, which uses Backwards Distilling
Ringleader Vodka exclusively.
With no
background training, Amber educated herself to make drinks using all house-made
and fresh ingredients.
For instance, the
Backwards Mule uses ginger beer made on-site and fresh lime juice mixed with
the Ringleader Vodka.
This ever-changing
menu will change to include other Backwards spirits once those are ready.
Amber also maintains the website and social
media outlets.
She has even created an
event schedule for the upcoming months that will include everything from
infusion classes to yoga sessions.
 |
| Amber behind the bar crafting one of her signature cocktails. |
Though Chad and Amber may
be the heart of production and tasting, Mom and Dad, Kathy and Bill, are the
head, arms, legs, hands, feet, and veins of the business. Bill is the maintenance head, distiller rat,
cellar worker, compliance agent, and overall right-hand man of the
operation. He cleans the facility, supervises
the still, helps with bottling, labels the product, etc.—and by etc. I mean a
little bit of everything else that happens at Backwards. Bill also works with the TTB on all
government reporting. Kathy could be
considered the efficiency agent; she keeps everything organized and on
schedule, or as Amber claims, “tells everyone what to do” (as moms should!). Kathy also did all the decorating of the
tasting room, which created an ambiance lightly based on the circus theme of
the business but also heavily based on the theme of super, super cool place to
hang out! A small supporting cast helps
the Pollocks with accounting and tasting room hours.
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| Super cool tasting room area designed by Kathy. |
The initial mission of
the family and Backwards Distilling is to make excellent spirits in their home
state. All four—mom, dad, and both kids—graduated
from Natrona County High School in Casper.
Bill and Kathy attended the University of Wyoming at Casper College,
Amber graduated from UW, and Chad graduated from Wyotech. The business plan these Wyomingites created
had the Ringleader Vodka as the first release; this was in early November of
2014. The reason Ringleader was first
so income could be generated as early as possible for the business
since vodka doesn’t require any aging. Also,
vodka is the “king of spirits” and the best-selling spirit in most
markets. Future plans include a Sword
Swallower Rum, a Contortionist Gin, and a Strongman Gin. Another line of spirits called Milk Can
Moonshine is also in the works. The rum
and future bourbons are already aging in barrel and will stay there up to four
years. Chad recently tasted the gins to
evaluate their progress; they aren’t ready just yet. However, this spring a new product will be
launched.
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| Vodka doesn't barrel age, but Backwards has bourbons already in barrel. |
This truly Wyoming
endeavor then expanded that mission to also educate residents of rural areas
like ours about spirits and the cocktail culture. This is no easy feat in the most sparsely-populated
state in the nation, where most drink cheap beer instead of high quality
cocktails. Amber’s events are primarily
to promote the knowledge of this cocktail culture. She wants people to know that worthy
cocktails should taste good and be enjoyed slowly as she helps elevate palates
of Wyoming residents. Her upcoming
infusions class will teach not only to infuse Ringleader Vodka with different
flavors, but also to make balanced cocktails that are delicious. Other future classes will also work to
support this second goal.
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| At the tasting bar, ready to promote cocktail culture. |
Yet a third goal is to construct
a place for people to hang out and enjoy these great spirits created into wonderful
cocktails, to build a source of entertainment for the Casper area. The tasting room is open Wednesday through
Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Saturday from noon to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday
from noon to 5:00 p.m. In-depth tours of
the production and barrel area are given free on Saturday and Sunday. Bottling parties are also available so
consumers can get even closer to the process—to see, smell, and touch the
products.
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| Tour the barrel and production area. |
The Pollocks have
definitely met their first goal of creating quality spirits in their home
state. The Ringleader Vodka just
recently won silver at the American Craft Spirits Association 2015
meeting. A part of Chad feels as if he is
“not happy unless it’s gold.” He plans
to keep working on the quality of his product, but the tasting notes from
American Craft Spirits claimed Ringleader wasn’t “neutral enough,” and Chad wants
a product that has some character. Even
though vodka is supposed to be colorless and flavorless, when one compares four
vodkas in a side-by-side blind tasting, differences are obvious. Chad wants his vodka to be a blank canvas for
drinks but also have a flavor all its own.
He sees Ringleader as part of the renaissance of high-quality vodkas
that have some character, a step up from the “cheap” and mass produced clear
spirits out there.
Ringleader is a great
vodka! Even people like myself—who once
had a bad experience with vodka and tend to shy away from it—can enjoy
this. Though it isn’t how this spirit is
meant to be enjoyed, a straight tasting of the vodka (in an adorable tasting
glass) shows it has a very-slight sweetness followed by a warm, not hot, finish
as it goes down. In a cocktail, the Ringleader is even better. We tried the Backwards Mule, a wonderfully
refreshing take on the Moscow Mule made with Ringleader, fresh lime juice, and
house-made ginger beer on ice, served in the cutest Backwards Distilling copper
mug. Backwards’ entire cocktail list is
very impressive. The Punch of the Week is
another option, served in an actual punch bowl with crystal mugs. Still more choices include the coffee-based
24 Hour Man and the spicy Three Man High drink, Backwards’ take on the Bloody
Mary.
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| Backwards Mule--made with all fresh ingredients, including house-made ginger beer. |
Not only does the product
taste great and make great cocktails, the bottle is the coolest—and I mean the coolest—bottle
I have ever seen! Designed by Ignite Advertising in Portland,
the embossed writing on the front label has the Backward Distilling logo (which
is also super trendy in and of itself).
Turn the bottle to the back, and there he is—the ringleader peeking
through the curtains with his whip. Seriously
awesome!
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| The ringleader peeking out of the back of the Ringleader Vodka bottle. |
To buy Backwards Distilling
Ringleader Vodka, the best choice would be to stop at the tasting room and
production facility in Casper—actually in Mills—Wyoming at 158 Progress
Circle. The ability to see the stylish
tasting room is unmatched. However, also
plan to go on a weekend tour to see the gin pot still made by Vin Dome from
Kentucky, the gorgeous still made by Kothe all the way in Germany, and the
barrels for aging made by Kelvin, also of Kentucky. If a trip to the actual tasting room isn’t
feasible, the spirit is available already in up to twenty liquor stores in
Wyoming. If your local store in Wyoming doesn’t
carry Ringleader yet, it can be requested from the state liquor division and
arrive quickly. Plans for distribution
outside of the state are in the making but are still quite far in the
future.
Being the first clear
spirits producer in Wyoming might seem like a circus side show act, but the
Pollocks have turned their plan into a performance worthy of center-ring
billing. The ringleaders of a craft
spirit and cocktail movement in their home state, Bill, Amber, Chad, and Kathy turned
a family dinner conversation into a high-quality product made in a facility all
should visit. Though they may have gone
about their business venture in a backward way, they are definitely on a
forward trajectory to build cocktail culture in big, wonderful Wyoming!
Vodka for Dummies
I asked Chad to give me the "how to make vodka for dummies" lesson. This is a truly over-simplified description of the production process; however, I’m the dummy who needed an easy lesson.
1. Water is brought to a boil in the mash tank. Grain is added. The boiling water breaks down the starches in the grain.
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| Grain and boiling water in the mash tank. |
2. Enzyme or barley is added; this turns the broken-down starches into simple sugars.
3. Mash tank is cooled to ready for fermentation.
4. Yeasts are added to start fermentation.
5. Fermentation takes place for up to seven days in the fermentation tanks.
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| Fermentation tanks. |
6. The first pass through the columns of the still takes place; this boils off the liquid to concentrate the alcohol. First pass usually gets the alcohol to about 85%. This can take about eight hours.
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| Column still distills the spirit. |
7. The low run drips spirit out of still.
8. Back to the still for the second run to concentrate alcohol. This second run takes substantially longer than the first—up to fifty hours!
9. After second run spirit should be 190 proof to be a legal vodka.
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| Vodka dripping from still. |
10. Light carbon filter to take out impurities.
11. Cool to proof slowly.
12. A second and different filter process takes place from the chill filtration—takes out more impurities and makes vodka clear.
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| Cold filtration tank. |
13. Once down to 80 proof, goes straight to bottle.
14. Now is ready for consumption and sale.
