Eric M.
Yelp
I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Leopold Brothers a few days ago, and I could not have been more impressed.
I've been a fan of a couple of Leopold products for quite a while, but I didn't realize how many products they actually make - and make well. There were 23 different products available for tasting as part of the tour, including some very unusual and interesting ones such as the 3 Pin herbal liqueur, the Maryland-style rye whiskey, and the small-batch gin.
As a homebrewer with some knowledge of the distilling process, it was also very interesting to see not just the tools I'm familiar with from the brewing industry, but also more unusual things like floor malting and open fermentation in pine/cedar vats.
What really set this tour apart, however, was our tour guide Michelle, who was friendly, funny, engaging, and clearly knowledgeable. At each step of the 90 minute tour, she explained to us not only each step of the process Leopold Brothers uses (from malting their own barley all the way through to the final product), but also many of the little things they do differently from most other distilleries.
Michelle has a great command of what they do as well as a significant depth of knowledge. As I said, I'm a fairly knowledgable home brewer - so when she was explaining how they malt, crush, mash, and ferment their grain bill (and then invite in wild yeasts to add character and help finish the process), everything made sense - yet was explained at a level that even someone with no prior knowledge could understand. I even learned a few things about barrel-aging I wasn't previously aware of (despite having done a few barrel-aged beers myself).
It's also worth noting that not only is Leopold's product good (in fact, at the time of this writing Todd Leopold is a semifinalist for the James Beard award), but they actively work to make their products in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. Barley is locally sourced, and the water cooling system for the stills is a closed system, so doesn't produce the kind of waste that is the norm in many other breweries and distilleries.
We're hosting a bit of a family reunion this winter, including a number of relatives from overseas. I can guarantee another tour of Leopold Brothers is going to be one of the featured activities... and if I can, it'll be one Michelle is leading.
The cost of the tour at this time is $20, of which $10 can be applied toward the purchase of any two bottles at the end of the tour, and the other $10 of which is donated to charity.