OUR STORY
where it all began
The idea for Black Frost Distilling was born while standing in the middle of a barley field. Co-Founders Nate Gieseke and Jace Marti, a 6th generation farmer and a 6th Generation brewmaster respectively, were admiring the field of lush green 2-row barley Nate had grown on his family farm just a few weeks before harvest. It was the culmination of a dream to incorporate locally grown barley and bring the concept of terroir, to the beers brewed at the August Schell Brewing Company. It was at that moment when the idea to make this into something even greater-with whiskey, was born.
We realized that not only does everything you need to make whiskey grow exceptionally well in Minnesota-corn, rye, wheat, barley, and oak but that we could grow everything we need ourselves. By intentionally utilizing ingredients grown exclusively in the northland, we are committed to creating a portfolio of high-quality, distinctly different whiskies, whose flavor is wholly created by our northern climate.
jace & nate
terroir / /terˈwär/
The concept of Terroir is a French term used to describe environmental factors such as the soil, topography, climate, and the people who make it all affect the characteristic flavor of the wine. While this certainly isn’t a new idea, even in whiskey, we feel that Minnesota is one of a few locations in the world where the concept of terroir can be explored in every single aspect of our production to influence the character of our whiskies. Join us as we put a microphone to our environment, and showcase what the bold north can do to whiskey.
THE NORTHERN DIFFERENCE
ESTATE GROWN GRAINS
Corn, Rye, Barley and Wheat. Everything we use to produce our whiskies, are grown onour co-founders fifth generation, family farm, just a few miles from the distillery. With the exception of corn, all of our grains are then malted to bring out even more flavor.
SINGLE GRAIN PROCESS
With a nod to our friendly neighbors across the border, we mash, ferment, distill and barrel age all of our grains individually. This allows us to maximize the flavor potential of each individual grain by customizing each step of the process throughout production. This places the focus on blending the individual components as mature whiskey, giving us unlimited flexibility to create our Bourbon, Rye, and American Single Malts.
OPEN TOP FERMENTERS
We ferment in uniquely shaped, open top, wooden fermenters that are wider than they are tall. This minimizes the stress on yeast during fermentation, which lends amore aromatic, ester-forward character in our whiskies.
LOW AND SLOW
All of our whiskies utilize a low barrel entry proof of 110. By storing our whiskies at a lower proof, we are able to extract more of the water soluble, toasted wood sugars from the barrels in our spirits. We also proof down our whiskies inside the barrel to bottling strength, slowly, over the course of several months. This labor intensive process gives our whiskies a more rounded and integrated oak profile.
INNOVATIVE FERMENTATIONS
Fermentation is the pinnacle of distillation. We ferment our whiskies with a very special collection of non-saccharomyces strains of yeast that we maintain and propagate in house. These slow growing yeasts give our whiskies deeply complex, aromatic, and radiant notes.
NORTHERN BARRELS
Our barrels are made by Black Swan Cooperage in Park Rapids, Minnesota.We exclusively use air dried, Minnesota grown oak. The shorter growing seasons make for tighter grained wood. Our barrels feature water bent staves that are toasted first, and then charred. This gives our barrels a sweeter, vanilla-forward profile that will provide the foundation for it's flavor.
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