Driftless Glen
I’ve been lucky enough to have this Bourbon several times even before we made the trip to Baraboo Wisconsin. One of my local stores that I buy a lot of my whiskey from has had this whiskey for a while, and as luck would have it, they have been fortunate enough to have several single barrels. Score!
The trip up was pretty uneventful, except for a Possum who decided to strike a pose in the middle of the highway, complete with one leg raised like he/she was frozen in time. I’m assuming he/she thought we couldn’t see it. It caught us all off guard and was the source of laughter the whole day.
Anyway, pulling into the distillery we were impressed. The building looked awesome, the Rack Houses were next door and it was all set inside the city of Baraboo, and the Ringling Brothers Circus museum and digs were right next door. A very cool setting.
Renee (one of the owners) told us some great stories about when they were starting and building the Distillery (...make sure to check out the video short …”Houston, we have a problem”) Bethany (the Marketing Manager) was our guide for the day and made sure we had access to film pretty much everywhere.
Casey (Warehouse & Bottling Manager) not only tapped a barrel for us so we got to taste right from the barrel, but also brought out a special bottle (the last one he had) of something they have experimented with....Wow, it was delicious!
One of the things that impressed me was the leadership of the owners. Leadership can be defined and explained in a number of ways, but one of the key fundamentals in leadership is Trust. Renee and her husband listen to their staff, let them make decisions and in the end they are producing some excellent spirits. Renee and her husband aren’t even at the distillery many days. But it’s clear, their staff love what they are doing and are all in.
We finished up the day with the tasting session. (We have learned a thing or two over the course of filming at several distillery’s) and oh boy was it a great tasting session. Keep an eye out for the tasting video’s. And, just when I thought we were done, Casey decided to bring out this one last bottle of a whiskey they were experimenting with. Talk about tasting a special whiskey. Holy buckets!
And we only scratched the surface at Driftless Glen. Their restaurant is fantastic. They have a patio that is right on the river, Of course they have tours and tastings, and if you are really lucky, the elephants will be over at the Circus so you can watch them while you are enjoying a cocktail or two. And their specialty cocktails are something else.
I need to go back, that’s all there is to it.
Oh, get this….they have no fryer’s. It’s Wisconsin, and they have no fryer’s in the kitchen. Truly, this distillery is doing everything differently.
Give their whiskey a try. If you are in Baraboo, Wisconsin, stop in, have a bite and enjoy.
Check out some of the behind the scenes pics below. The full YouTube episode can be seen HERE. You can also see our tasting of their flagship bourbon HERE. If you want to see the full un-edited ShopTalk video, along with the un-edited Distillery tour and some other tasting videos along with some outtakes, hit our PATREON page and subscribe or log on if you are already a member.
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