Smokey Locke + Co bourbon made with burned aspen trees

By David Young

Those who like a “smokey” whiskey will want to check out Denver distiller Locke + Co. new Big Blaze Bourbon. The new exclusive whiskey was aged using aspen trees burned in the East Troublesome Fire of 2020.

Big Blaze Bourbon
New exclusive bourbon Why Grand Fire Protection District No. 1 in Granby
Available now at select bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in Grand County (store locator)
$58.99

The new whiskey, available now, was made in honor of the Grand County firefighters and first responders who helped fight the wildfire. Locke + Co. will donate $3 of every bottle sold to Grand Fire Protection District No. 1 in Granby. The funds will help the district improve its firefighting assessment and prevention measures throughout the county.

Fire & Bourbon

The East Troublesome Fire started in October of 2020, burned more than 193,000 acres and is the second largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. The fire burned near Grand Lake covering both Grand County and Larimer County.

Locke + Co. co-founder Rick Talley has property in Grand Lake and has spent a lot of his life in Grand County. While his family property was not destroyed by the East Troublesome Fire, two people died and others lost homes and other buildings, so he wanted to help the community.

Talley said the concept was born out of the C Lazy U Ranch, a dude ranch in Granby. Aspen trees on the ranch property that were burned in the East Troublesome Fire were used to make an exclusive rye whiskey for ranch guests and homeowners. The whiskey was so popular that business owners and community members reached out to get bottles of the private C Lazy U Ranch release.

“Because of the popularity of ranch guests, C Lazy U was only able to allow us to sell a few cases to stores in the county, which left an opportunity to grow this concept and help raise even more money to help protect the community from future fires,” Talley said. “So we began developing a bourbon to help keep C Lazy U's rye whiskey exclusive to them and to make something that could be sold at a lower price point to create the most benefit for the community.”

Locke + Co. used the locally harvested burned aspen wood from the fire when distilling the new Big Blaze Bourbon. By incorporating the burned wood into the whiskey, it adds a subtle sense of smokiness and depth to each bottle.

“We were introduced to residents in the Grand County area whose property was burned in the fire and who had aspen groves on their land that were affected,” Talley said. “We reached out to a number of them and set up times to evaluate their burned aspen trees before selecting ones that were best for our aging process. We then hand-cut the selected aspen trees using a vegetable-based bar and chain oil on our saws to help ensure no petrol gets on the wood and avoid any harsh flavors being imparted into the whiskey. We loaded the six-foot sections of aspen logs into our trucks, brought them down to Denver, and finished cutting them into our famous discs-cut format before adding to our Big Blaze Bourbon for the final aging step.”

This whiskey is a blend of high rye and high wheat mash builds, which is then aged for more than two years in new 53-gallon oak barrels.

Chief Brad White, firefighter Manny Janisch (with his dog Taz), and firefighter Tyler Campbell (with his dog Gus)

Taste the smoke

At 95 proof, Big Blaze Bourbon is going to “taste like none other,” according to Locke + Co. The tasting notes for the bottle include strong aromas of honey and vanilla, followed by delicate hints of dried berries, maple syrup and walnuts on the nose.

“The naturally burned aspen trees impart a distinct smokiness that rounds out the smoothness in our Big Blaze Bourbon,” Talley said. “To balance the subtle smokiness, we added maple staves to balance Big Blaze Bourbon, creating a slightly chocolatey richness, complemented by smooth maple undertones.”

The whiskey tastes like chocolate with smooth maple undertones, according to the distillery. There is a bit of spice, such as cinnamon and white pepper. As for the finish, it is long with flavors of caramel and black pepper layered with notes of toffee, light brown sugar, and a final hint of cinnamon that remains long after the last sip, according to the distillery’s tasting notes.

Locke + Co. Distilling has been distilling small-batch whiskey in Denver since 2010. Big Blaze Bourbon pays homage to the distillery's roots as co-founders Talley and Owen Locke, high school friends, and Colorado natives, made their first batch of whiskey by accident.

The duo put a piece of charred aspen in a whiskey jar one winter while closing a family cabin. They returned in the spring to find it had enhanced the taste of the whiskey. Thus Locke + Co. began with the pair buying a 23-gallon still, creating the first batches of whiskey aged in small barrels.