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Situated in the mountainous skiing paradise of Breckenridge, Colorado, award-winning Breckenridge Distillery is a true icon for whiskey lovers everywhere. Renowned for being the‘ World’ s Highest Distillery’, the company is based on the cusp of the Rocky Mountains’ Tenmile Range, with a main tasting room, restaurant, bar, and retail shop door-to-door. Its product portfolio encapsulates the beauty and freshness of its surroundings, offering everything from traditional craft whiskies and bourbons right through to gins, vodkas, tequilas, rums, liqueurs, bitters, and a variety of limited-edition treats.
With its products some of the most highly recognized in the United States, Breckenridge Distillery has something for everyone – tantalizing every tastebud and satisfying every craving. Food Chain sits down with Bryan Nolt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at the business, to learn more about the company’ s latest innovations and how it maintains its prominent position within the beverage industry. He begins by sharing some insight into Breckenridge Distillery’ s heritage and its journey thus far.
“ Breckenridge Distillery was officially founded in 2008, though I started out in 2007. I was working full time as a physician, so it was a bit of a passion project for me, but I really wanted to make great whiskey because I love whiskey,” Bryan reveals.“ I originally set the business up as a kind of hobby, but we started releasing whiskey in 2011 and it started growing like crazy. We began winning the most coveted awards and we soon became a bit of a cult brand.
“ Along the way, I started hiring people personally, guaranteeing all the debt myself; it was still very much a mom-and-pop kind of operation at that point. We then brought in Martin Franklin – an incredible business operator. Martin saw the company
Photograph: Alex Neuschaefer
and asked for a stake, so I gave him one in exchange for him helping me to transition the business into a publicly-traded company. From that point onwards, we continued to grow, distributing to all 50 states, and we now have a large product portfolio – still very whiskey-centric, but also including vodka, gin liquers, brandies, aquavits, bitters, and other eclectic things. Four years ago, we were then acquired by publicly-traded company, Tilray, and we’ re now the fourth largest craft beer brewer in the US.”
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