Talnua: America's Pioneering Single Pot-Still Distillery

Talnua's Patrick and Meagan Miller photo credit Joni Schrantz

Patrick and Megan Miller discovered Irish pot still whiskey on their honeymoon in Ireland. After a career in the oil and gas industry, they decided they wanted to try their hand at producing a pot still-style whiskey in the United States, even though the category didn’t really exist here. Together with Patrick’s cousin Amy Kingman, the couple opened Talnua Distillery, America’s only pot-still whiskey-dedicated distillery in 2017 in Arvada, Colorado.

Starting a distillery

Talnua Stills distillery — Talnua Stills photo credit Kyle Kennedy

“Our name is born of the Irish-Gaelic words ‘Talamh’, meaning ‘Land’, and ‘Nua’, meaning ‘New’,” says Creative Director and co-Founder Amy Kingman. “We're not the first ones to ever make a pot still whisky in the USA, we're just the first distillery that's dedicated to that style and exploring that style and encouraging others to explore. Much how the American category of single malt has been created, we would love if one day there's a single pot still category.”

Kingman says that her cousin, Patrick, had always been interested in whiskey and had considered the idea of making whiskey. A job location change led the Millers to a crossroads: move out of Colorado or try something new. They decided it was time to seriously consider opening a distillery.

“Megan really encouraged him,” says Kingman. “So he went up to Breckenridge Distillery, and they had a new distillers class. It was more of a business course, talking about the business of starting a distillery, and then he went to work for Stranahan's and really loved it. He didn't get tired of it. So they were like, all right, let's do this. And that's when they called me up. And he said, we have this idea. Do you think you could help us with branding? So that's how I got involved.” Read more about Stranahan's.

What makes a single pot still whiskey

Talnuna Single Pot Still American Whiskey photo credit Joni Schrantz

Making pot still whiskey is a little different from making the other, more predominant types of American whiskey.

“With single pot still whiskey, the copper pot still versus column stills is a key element,” Kingman explains. “But it’s also the mash bill — malted and unmalted barley. We self-regulate to the Irish technical file largely. There are things that we can explore and do that they can't do over there because of their technical file. In Ireland, it needs to be a wort-separated fermentation, malted and unmalted barley, and triple distilled in a copper pot still. We do all of that. One of the differences is we do not have to age it for three years for it to technically be called whisky. We do have some whiskeys that are aged for less time than that, including a whisky that's aged in a continuum cask, much like the wine solera where you pour whisky in as you take whisky out and over time, the overall age increases. We also are able to do some things with staves that they don't do over in Ireland. And of course, we'll never be Irish whiskey because we're in America. And they do that really well.”

Most consumers are just now starting to understand the concept of American Single Malt whiskey, which is well on its way to getting its own definition in the TTB’s Standards of Identity. But this isn’t that — there are a few key differences.

“The major difference is the use of unmalted barley,” Kingman explains. “American single malt is just a single type of grain, it's malted barley only. So when we're creating single pot still, it's that malted and unmalted barley in the mash bill.”

Maturing Whiskey in Colorado

In 2022 Talnua Distillery released its first Bottled-in-Bond product, a distinction the distillery founders are excited about.

“Bottled-in-Bond means different things here than over in Ireland,” Kingman says. “We have always wanted to be the EH Taylor of American single pot still whiskeys, where we can really pride ourselves on this bottled-in-bond designation, saying we make everything in-house. That four-year age statement is important to us as a marker of the difference between something that's aged a year and a half versus four years.”

Maturing whiskey in Colorado has its advantages and disadvantages. The climate is very dry, and the elevation is very high — about a mile above sea level.

“In Colorado, we're not in a climate-controlled building, and it's really, really hot in the summer and really, really cool for winter,” says Kingman. “Those drastic swings in temperature and the high altitude can age things a little quicker. There's definitely a big difference in just a year that we've noticed in the taste. There is such an amazing distillery scene in Colorado, and it's also been really collaborative. We've found that everyone's been really open and collaborative and there's a lot of info sharing we've done for people and that has vice versa. I know that as far as environmental challenges, we lose a lot more to evaporation. And so right now we have a project going with an Irish distillery Boann Distillery, where we took their world's best new make recipe and we each laid down barrels. At the end of the set time period we'll each taste and see the difference. But we had to lay an entirely extra barrel down so that we would have the same amount because of all that we lose to evaporation versus their more mild and humid climate.”

Experiences

Talnua Core Product Line photo credit Joni Schrantz

Talnua has already amassed such a following that they offer memberships to super fans in a club called The Triskelion Society, which hosts parties, has classes, and affords members coveted access to special releases.

Tourism with non-members has also steadily picked up since the distillery opened its doors, and the hospitality has earned Talnua and almost perfect five star score on Google Reviews.

“You can taste four spirits and then we talk about why we're dedicated to making the style of whisky in the distillery and what we hope to do with it in the future and some of that history of single pot still whiskey,” Kingman says. “People are really big fans of that tour. It's an hour-long tour. Our goal is to eventually build a world class tourism facility, to really draw people to it and become a destination.”

In the first year, Talnua filled just 75 barrels, while last year it filled 200. Talnua Distillery is currently undergoing major expansion for production capacity, which will soon allow them to increase their distribution.

“We're just really excited about all of the growth that's happening right now,” Kingman says. “We're excited to be able to offer our whisky as it comes of age, and as we produce more to a wider group of folks outside of Colorado, it's coming. We get asked daily when it's going to be available in other states. We're definitely working our buns off trying to make that happen.”

Talnua Distillery is located at 5405 W 56th Ave Unit C, Arvada, CO and is open six days a week, Tuesday thru Sunday. Learn more at talnua.com.

Cocktail Recipe

Lemon Espresso Old Fashioned

2 oz Talnua Continuum Cask Whiskey

1/2 oz simple syrup

7 dashes Angostura bitters

1/2 tsp dark roast coffee

2 lemon peels

Combine all ingredients in mixing glass and stir. Express 2 lemon peels into glass and drop in. Add ice and stir for 20 seconds. Fine strain with cheesecloth into rocks glass. Express lemon peel over glass and drop in.