As you drive up and park at the distillery, it’s a little hard to tell how big the business is. The area is light industrial, a collection of small manufacturers and warehouses. It isn’t uncommon to find distilleries in these areas, which tend to fit into the industrial process rather than a retail business. But even in this production setting, most distilleries have a tasting room to share their craft with the public.
Leopold Bros. Distillery is perhaps a little deceiving. The tasting room is big enough for a wedding reception, yet sparse with tables. There is a large bar with seats, manned by two young men, the nephews and proteges of the owners, brothers Scott and Todd Leopold. Leopold’s tasting room is only open on Saturdays, the day of the week when the facility isn’t bustling with the production of their line of spirits.
There is a lot going on at Leopold Bros. Distillery. They grow their rye locally, just north of Denver, and create their own malt with a traditional malting floor at the distillery. Their floor malting facility is the only one in Colorado and one of the few in operation in the country.
They have the only three chambered still in the world which produces an amazing 3-Chamber Rye Whiskey. For storage and aging, the facility has a 2,000 barrel capacity rickhouse on site that is licensed to create Bottled-in-Bond bourbon.
This unassuming facility reaches back to the traditional processes in creating their whiskey and clear spirits. The liquor menu is diverse with the typical white spirits, whiskeys and flavored liquors. Leopold also has a line of Amaros, white spirits infused with a variety of botanicals.
One of the spirits in the Amaros line is a traditional light green Absinthe Verte. Absinthe, the black licorice flavored spirit, is traditionally green with the coloring coming from a second fermentation with herbs. In Leopold’s formula they steep the distillate in lemon balm and hyssop, kind of like a spirit tea, where the emerald green coloring comes from the chlorophyll in the herbs.
Absinthe Verte
Absinthe is a high proof spirit with botanical oils suspended in the alcohol. Chemically the ethyl alcohol molecules hold onto the essential oil molecules, delivering a pretty potent drink. But when water is added to the spirit, the alcohol molecules are more compatible with the water molecules, think oil and vinegar, and through a process called spontaneous emulsification, the oils disperse and open up a whole pallet of flavors.
At 130 proof, the straight out of the bottle Leopold’s absinthe will knock you out of your chair. But with the addition of a little water, the difference in flavor and drinkability is remarkable. The absinthe opens up with aromas and flavor that were hidden when it was served neat.
The traditional French style of drinking absinthe is to place a sugar cube on a special slotted spoon sitting on the top of the glass, and then drip water on the cube to dissolve it into the spirit. This process not only adds the water needed to release the essential oils but also sweetens the drink.
There is a lot about Leopold Bros. Distillery that is unique and interesting. So much, in fact, that one article doesn’t begin to cover the breadth of their business. The distillery offers public tours of the facility by reservation. The pandemic shut the tours down for a period of time, but we are told they are starting again soon. The tasting room, however, is open on Saturdays and is well worth visiting.
Leopold Bros. Distillery Absinthe Verte can be purchased at the distillery as well as at Bevvy’s, Daveco and Total Wine.
