FOR THE LOVE OF WHAT ENDURES
This is what happens when two ski bums start a family, take up fishing and decide to start their own Colorado whisky distillery way up in the mountains of Colorado.
MINTURN WHISKY CO. WAS FOUNDED BY HUSBAND AND WIFE, STEFANIE AND SPENCE NEUBAUER.
THE TIMELINE
A Lifelong Passion
Spence Neubauer was the kind of person who drank peated Scotch even back in college. And not ironically. He just loved it, as does his father before him. Spence was always on the lookout for a traditional, peated single malt whisky made locally in the mountains of Colorado. But he couldn’t find one, and so he started wondering what it would take to make one himself.
A Trip to Scotland
A few years later, a trip to Scotland changed his and his wife’s lives in many ways. It got them interested in more than just enjoying Scotch, and made them realize they could start distilling whisky in traditional ways. After talking with a few of the distilleries over there, they discovered they could import barley from Scotland, already malted over peat fires. An idea became a passion for the couple, and when they returned home Minturn Whisky Co. was born.
Passion Becomes Obsession
Now, their small distillery in Minturn is nestled on the banks of the Eagle River and is committed to small batch whisky, made only with barley. The mash bill is not a guarded secret… It’s 100% barley. All day, everyday.
People often tell them that they should add a Bourbon to the lineup, but they won’t.
Because at Minturn Whiskey Co. their passion is to do this one thing to perfection. To produce great American Colorado Malt Whiskies.
You Found It!!! Secret 4 out of 8
What we are building.
The plans are drawn. The land is ready. This is what comes next.
A destination distillery in the Colorado Rockies. Shovel-ready, architecturally planned, and built on the same values that brought us here.
See the full vision →THE FOUNDERS
SPENCE
Spence moved to Colorado in 2007 to pursue his love of skiing and became a patroller at Copper Mountain. He has a rare ability to taste – not just enjoy – the difference between whiskies, and a quiet obsession with single malt whisky that never quite went away. He taught Stef the beauty of the telemark turn and introduced her to Scotch. Both decisions changed everything.
STEFANIE
Stef grew up in Colorado. Her parents – both skiers – met on a gondola in Zermatt, Switzerland, and decided to raise their family in these mountains. Every weekend, the family would explore Colorado in a Buick station wagon. She grew up skiing, fishing, and camping. Stefanie has a chemistry degree and an MD – but walked away from medicine after realizing her true love was making whisky, and whisky experiences, not treating patients. It took twenty years to admit it, but it was the right call.
TOGETHER
They both gravitate toward doing things the slow way. The traditional way. Most evenings you’ll find them knitting together, listening to music. A sweater takes a few months each. Spence makes a Sunday sauce that takes all day. Stef paints in oils that sometimes take a month to dry.
They share a love for the mountains. They fell in love there. They love to fish and ski, for the sports themselves, but even more so for the places those sports take them. The spots where fish are, the slopes far up and out in the trees.
Now they have two boys of their own and hope to pass on their love of skiing, fishing, and all of the slowed-down wonders in this world.
A perfect turn in the powder. The way the alpenglow pauses above an evening on the river. A trout gently sipping flies from the surface.
A perfect dram of whisky.
