The distillery is located in what was formerly the Walter Schnader Tobacco Warehouse. Built at the turn of the 20th century, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. We have taken traditional distilling practices and adapted them with modern techniques in order to create an un-aged whiskey that will stand all on its own. Our whiskey is made with locally sourced grains in small batches in our custom, hand-constructed copper pot still. We spoke to the owner Andrew Martin and the Head Distiller Arvin Alston II about what it takes to make great Whiskey in PA.
Andrew and Arvin, give us a little preview in your background. What were you both doing before opening up the Thistle Finch Distilling?
AA: I come from two different backgrounds. 1st I’ve been brewing beer for many years commercially and at home. Making booze in some form has been a passion of mine. The other was doing photo retouching for a magazine publisher. I ended deciding to go back to making beer commercially but no one was looking for a brewer and just my luck TF was looking for a distiller and was willing to take me on and use my passion there.
AM: My background was in e-commerce and website development, so this was certainly a change of pace for me.
Andrew, what was your vision for Thistle Finch Distilling. Was it a hobby or a business idea, or a mix of both perhaps?
AM: I have been interested and fascinated with distilling for some time. I spent a lot of time reading everything I could about the production side of whiskey, and that eventually led me to start reading and researching about the legal and business side of things. When I moved back to Lancaster 16 years ago I was able to be part of starting a new business from scratch. Ever since that experience I knew I wanted to eventually start my own business here in Lancaster. When the state created the Limited Distillery License it really made it much more practical to start a small distillery like Thistle Finch and decided to start planning to open the distillery.
Give us some history on Thistle Finch Distilling. What challenges did you see in the beginning Andrew? What has been your proudest moment thus far?
AM: We opened on December 24th 2013. It probably took about three years to open the doors from the time I decided I was really going to try to make it happen. I purchased the building we are located in about two years before we opened and spent renovating the space, building out the distillery infrastructure and building our still.
Arvin, what attributes would you say are most important for a master distiller to possess?
AA: I would say paying attention to every detail from start to finish. I taste, smell and check every mash that is made. Oder’s can tell you a lot about how the yeast is doing and if it’s a healthy fermentation. Distilling needs just as much attention. The cuts very each time and knowing when it’s time to cut to hearts, heads or tails it very critical to maintaining our distinct rye character.
Arvin, can you walk us through the distilling process of your whiskey.
AA: From the grain to the bottle. The start to our Rye whiskey begins with locally sourced grains from Lancaster PA. We have our grains delivered to us as flour to maximize the alcohol content and to give the spirit a beautiful rye flavor. Next I will create the mash with 60% Rye 30% wheat and 10% barley. I utilize to a step mash to help the starches covert to sugar at 2 different temps. Once everything is converted I will cool it off with a chilled tank of recycled water that run inside the mash tun walls. This help save on the water bill.
Next its time to add the yeast and let it ferment for 3-4 days. Our yeast is a fast one, when the mash has created enough alcohol around 9.5% I will send it over to our hand built still that Andrew built himself. The first couple of runs I do are just stripping runs and I don’t make any cuts, just collecting all the alcohol from the mash. Usually on Wednesdays I will take all the stripping runs and put it all back into the still for a final double distill and make all my proper heads, hearts and tails cuts. After that it will get proofed down to a final barrel proof and let it sit for 2 or more years until its ready and bottled up.
What type of Whiskey do you currently produce and how do they all differ?
AA: We make a white rye whiskey, (white because its unaged) a black pepper whiskey, a black coffee whiskey and recently released our 2+ year old straight rye whiskey.
Do you source the ingredients locally?
AM: as much as we can!
Can you tell us about your manufacturing and distilling still setup.
AM: We have a 150 gallon, 4 plate, hybrid potstill that I built that we use for all the whiskey, and a smaller 50 gallon still we use for our gin and vodka!
How many Barrels do you produce yearly?
AA: We are on a target to fill 45-50 barrels a year for the straight rye and our flavored whiskey about 16.
Andrew, Arvin, do you remember your first drams? How do you drink whiskey, neat or on the rocks.
AA: My first love for whiskey began with Scotch, and with a younger pallet Glenlivet was it. I have always enjoyed most whisk(e)y’s neat. Time to time I add a drop or two of water.
AM: I think my first drink of whiskey was in London England, one day before I turned 21.
Where do you see your distillery 5/10 years from now?
AM: Hopefully a little larger, a little older and a little more profitable!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the Tastethedram readers?
AM: Check out these other interviews/articles for more background info:
https://www.lrrcu.org/small-business-financing-interview-with-thistle-finch/
http://blog.pennlive.com/wine/2014/01/post_386.html
