Leopold Bros. Straight Bourbon Whiskey "5-Year"

Leopold Bros. Straight Bourbon Whiskey "5-Year"Necessity is the mother of all invention. Brothers Todd and Scott Leopold owned a brewery and brewpub in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Given the states unique liquor laws, a brewery was unable to also sell spirits at their brewpub, unless they produced them on site. This was the start of Leopold Bros Distillers. Todd Leopold got his diploma in Malting & Brewing from the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. He trained in Munich, and got experience working

Necessity is the mother of all invention. Brothers Todd and Scott Leopold owned a brewery and brewpub in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Given the state’s unique liquor laws, a brewery was unable to also sell spirits at their brewpub, unless they produced them on-site. This was the start of Leopold Bros Distillers.

Todd Leopold got his diploma in Malting & Brewing from the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. He trained in Munich, and got experience working in breweries and distilleries in Europe. His brother Scott came from the environmental engineering world.

After their experience in Ann Arbor, they moved to Denver, Colorado in the mid-2000’s. They rented a warehouse space and began distilling. Eventually they purchased property and built a brand new distillery, impressively making it a zero-waste facility, recycling all water, composting and more. This facility opened in 2014, and it allowed them to make exactly the type of spirits they wanted. They became the first distillery in Colorado to have its own malting floor and kiln. They are a total attention to detail distiller, that takes no shortcuts.

Producing a bourbon was a long term goal for the brothers. Finally we get to taste the results. This bourbon is made from a mash bill that includes 64% corn, 17% malted barely and 15% Abruzzi Heritage Rye. Open fermentation in wooden tanks with both house-cultured and indigenous yeast strains. Pot distilled and unfiltered. Aged five years in new American white oak charred barrels on earthen floors in the distillery's unheated dunnage-style bonded warehouse.