Making liquor in the coldest town in the Lower 48 creates both opportunities and challenges for family business

By Jay McKinney

The process of distilling is as much of an art as it is a science. It requires a meticulous knack for chemistry and an expansive imagination for creating a product that will stand out from others. Thankfully, the minds behind family-run Fraser Valley Distilling have both, and they’ve built a reputation for producing high-quality spirits at a high altitude.

So how did a single family get into the distilling business and settle in Fraser? Credit can be given to Jenna Young. She graduated from Michigan State University with a doctorate in microbiology but decided the lab life wasn’t for her. With a heap of knowledge in different types of fermentation, Jenna contacted her parents and asked if they’d be willing to help her start a distillery as an alternative career path that would still put her education to good use.

After finishing careers in Georgia, her parents, Barry and Debbie Young, had retired to Fraser in 2012. But they were willing to come out of retirement to help their daughter launch her business venture with the opening of Fraser Valley Distilling in 2018.

Jenna moved to the area from Georgia, and thought Fraser would be a good location for the distillery because of the frequent flow of tourists that visit the area adjacent to Winter Park.

The next step was to recruit Jenna’s siblings, Michael and Rebecca, as the group set out to start a family-run business in an industry they knew very little about.

Despite the lack of experience, the family was determined to learn, and assigned different areas of expertise to different family members as they constructed their business. Jenna had her advanced degree in microbiology but decided to enhance her knowledge in mixology when she took a job as a bartender at a restaurant in Georgia.

She now manages Fraser Valley Distilling, and the experience she gained helped her in creating the bar program and gin recipes. Michael has a culinary background and accepted the role of managing the kitchen and restaurant side of the distillery. He now helps out with the distilling side of operations, too. Rebecca handles administrative duties and runs the marketing and social media. Barry and Debbie took on the daunting task of learning how to distill spirits.

“We were fortunate enough to befriend distillers both in Georgia and in Colorado that would let us spend a lot of time at their operation, and they taught us. In addition to that, we went to a number of one-week distillery schools,” Barry says. “It’s not uncommon for small distilleries to mentor upcoming distilleries, we view each other as friends, not competitors.”

While it was fortunate to have the mentorship from established distilleries, bringing that process to a high, frigid altitude can be a whole different game. Even though the altitude affects the boiling temperature of water, Barry says the most noticeable impact that their location has on the distilling process comes in the fermentation and aging because the temperature never gets very warm in Fraser.

“The biggest issue is in the aging because it never gets hot here,” Barry says. “If I were to make one barrel of whiskey and age one up here in Fraser, one in Denver and one in Kentucky, they would all taste very different.”

The temperature drops below freezing about 300 days each year and Fraser lays claim to being the coldest town in the lower 48 states.

There is less expansion and contraction of the spirit in and out of the surface of the barrel and it creates a softer spirit with less bite than those aged in warmer climates such as Kentucky. The lack of bite allows the underlying grain flavors to be more prominent as a result.

Another benefit of distilling in the Fraser Valley lies nearly 200 feet underground in an aquifer that provides mineral-rich water. It may be a nuisance for faucets and shower grout, but Barry worships the water quality as a distiller, and says it gives spirits a stunning character.

“We have customers who drink our vodka neat and it’s just beautiful,” Barry says. “I joke with them (that) the beauty of our product is 95 percent the water and only 5 percent the distiller.” While the high-mineral water affects every spirit they make, Barry says it is most noticeable with the vodka.

“Being a very small distiller, we try to come up with spirits that are outside the box,” Barry says. “For example, we have a citrus vodka. Most citrus vodkas you see in the store are distilled either with lemon or lime or orange or grapefruit, we actually distill our citrus vodka with all four.”

As for Fraser Valley’s whiskeys, a higher barley content gives them a maltier finish.

Small distilleries with big visions are the reason Colorado is making a name for itself in the world of spirits. Fraser Valley Distilling has found a way to utilize environmental factors to enhance the final product, and is a prime example of what a craft distillery can be.

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.