tasteMAKERS

- [Narrator] "Taste Makers" is brought to you with support from Missouri Pork Association and Global Foods Market.

(upbeat music) - In this episode, we are in the shadow of the Gateway Arch and you are going to meet Dave Weglarz, who is handcrafting Missouri bourbons, brandies, rums, and incredibly unique botanical forward gins.

(uplifting music) Oh - I am Cat Neville, and for the past two decades, I've been telling the story of local food.

In that time, American food culture has exploded in tiny towns and big cities from coast to coast.

In "Taste Makers," I explore the maker movement and take you along for the journey to meet the makers who define the flavor of American cuisine.

(uplifting music fades) So we're about to head off to StilL 630 Distillery, and when we come back, I'm gonna show you how to use gin in a pear date crumble.

(gentle music) - We are at StilL 630 Distillery, hidden in plain sight, right downtown St. Louis.

We're in the shadow of the Arch, and one of my favorite places in America.

And trying to make the best spirits we can.

Like everything in here, our name was overthought.

StilL 630, still for the piece of equipment we distill on, but we capitalize the last L to emphasize STL.

But it also highlights the IL for Illinois, which is the other half of our home region.

And we like to think of the river that unites us rather than divides us.

And 630 has a few meanings as well.

It stands for June 30th, which is the day we were founded.

We have a big anniversary party every year on 630 Day.

630 is also the serial number of our pot still, which was handmade here in Missouri.

It's one-of-a-kind unique pot still designed to my custom specifications.

Equally important, it stands for 630 feet, which is the width and the height of our inspiration, the Gateway Arch.

So you tie it all together, you've got StilL 630.

2011, wife and I moved down to St. Louis.

It was like this is the right environment for us to plant this seed and nurture it to grow.

And we have now become the most awarded distillery in the state of Missouri and one of the top four in the United States.

As far as craft distilleries go, it's unbelievable and amazing that this was just an idea in my head.

And through sheer willpower, and stubbornness, and some awesome help, and meeting right people along the way, it's manifested into a literal dream come true.

(upbeat music) - StilL 630 is located in an old Hardee's, literally within an eyeball range of the Gateway Arch on Broadway, just south of downtown.

And when you do walk in, you start to realize there are some very exacting and nerdy people who work in this distillery.

- That is correct.

Yeah, I mean, we take our brew seriously.

I've got notebooks literally with tasting notes written in there and stuff because, you know, in the mornings, we have to do our taste testing and sampling, and most people are at their jobs at 8:00 AM, we're in here drinking cask strength spirits.

- We're going to taste a few of your signature spirits.

The first one, I think, is gonna be the Missouri Bourbon, which is a legal designation.

And you actually were instrumental in creating this state law.

Tell me about it.

- The whole Missouri Craft Distillers Guild was a part of it.

And this was legislation that we put out, bill number 266, that we passed into law in August of 2019.

The governor signed it, and it became codified as a class distinction for a type of whiskey.

- A lot of people think that bourbon only comes from Kentucky.

- Kentucky.

Absolutely.

- Bourbon can be made anywhere.

It is- - It's a distinctive product of the United States.

You can make it anywhere in the US, but only in the US.

- And so having a Missouri bourbon, what makes it Missouri?

- The whole process has to take place here.

From mashing, fermenting, distilling to aging, bottling.

All the corn used must be grown in Missouri, and the barrels manufactured here.

And that aspect really makes it one of the most restrictive liquor laws in the world.

You can go on distillery tours in Scotland, Taiwan, Japan, all around the world.

And they'll tell you freely that Missouri oak is the most prized and best American white oak for making whiskey barrels.

Perfect climate, perfect moisture, perfect elevation makes the best barrel.

- It really is like ground zero for bourbon.

- Everything lines up.

(upbeat music fades) This is single barrel number 36.

We release a new single barrel of our Missouri bourbon every month.

It's the same mash bill.

It's aged over five years old, but it's bottled at 90 proof.

But each month is its own individual single barrel.

And that allows us to capture different nuances and little flavor profiles that change.

70 corn, 20 rye, 10 barley's our mash bill on this.

That corn gives it that sweetness.

There's little bit of spice- - But the rye has that spice.

That's nice.

So you have the same mash bill in all of these?

The only differential is the barrel itself.

- Yes.

- Does it make that much of a difference?

- 100%.

The best analogy are siblings, right?

Because they grow up in the same environment, they age in the same environment, they've got the same DNA, the same mash bill, totally different personalities.

So let's talk about why this batch is minutely different than the last one.

And let's drink while we do it.

- Let's drink while we do it.

(train rumbles) I'm standing here with Andrew in front of their wall of awards.

And you're the master of sales, but you do so many other things.

So, like, what is a typical day for you?

- Some of my favorite days are the days that I get to come in the distillery and we get to try different samples from different barrels and we get to pick the next batches of whiskey, or gin, or whatever for our experimental program, which is one of my favorite things that we do here at the distillery.

Always trying to kind of push the boundaries of what craft spirits and hopefully, at the end of the day, craft cocktails are.

But it's just been super fun working on these different spirits and getting to do really fun different stuff that's not just whiskey, which is what I signed up for, but in the agave, the gin, all these different things that you can do when you're, you know, not a giant corporate company.

(upbeat music) - Juniper is what makes gin gin.

And beyond that, it is essentially dealer's choice.

So here at StilL 630, Dave and Andrew have created a library of flavors and aromas to play with.

- So our botanical spirits library, purportedly the largest spirits botanical library in the entire world.

It now has over 500 different individual and counting spirit botanicals, which each one is a different individual flavor, colors to paint with in there.

They are received from a large supplier or from my trees in my yard, or from Andrew's garden, or my garden, or down the street, or on road trips.

We'll turn it into a concentrate and distill it on our little stills, and add it to our library.

So it's an ever-growing, ever-evolving library.

It literally is really our nerdery on display.

You can see people are just kind of stunned, like, "Wow, I could spend, you know, weeks in here just sipping and sampling and stuff."

You can't, but you'd like to.

We do that.

(upbeat music fades) - So the Confluence gin is the one that won this big award.

The nation's top gin from the American Distilling Institute, and it's really unique.

I mean, it has horseradish in it, which is a very unusual ingredient.

Gin itself is a category.

The only thing that unites gin is juniper.

- Correct.

- Beyond that, it's kind of dealer's choice.

- A lot of people think, "Oh, I don't like gin.

I've had some gins in the past.

It's like chewing on a Christmas tree."

Not the case if you build different gins to have different flavor profiles.

The Confluence, for example, is that herbal and savory gin.

We've got juniper, and coriander, horseradish, and we layered that with a little bit of pink peppercorn 'cause it's one of the softer peppercorns and galangal root and create this very herbal, very savory gin, you know?

And savory is not an aspect most people think of gin, and that's what makes this one very, very different.

- That's what I love about gin is that it's this blank palette in a way for people like you to just kind of, like, layer these different flavors on.

So, like, every gin that you pick up is a different adventure essentially.

- And there's just more room for expression, I feel, like in gin.

And that's why it's so exciting to go and try other people's expressions.

It tells you a lot about them.

- Absolutely.

(gentle music) Our next stop is with Natasha Bahrami here at The Gin Room.

She's actually been inducted into the Gin World Hall of Fame, and she's gonna give us a gin 101.

(upbeat music) So I'm standing in The Gin Room with Natasha Bahrami.

You've come up as the gin girl, and you actually have been inducted to the Gin World Hall of Fame.

So I think it's pretty safe to say- - I'm a little obsessed.

- that you're an expert.

You're obsessed with gin.

- Gin actually has the widest spectrum of flavor profiles of any spirits that is out there.

Maybe not every gin is for everybody, but there is a gin for everybody.

- So tell me about how you got to know Dave Weglarz, because he credits you.

- One fateful day, he sat in this very bar with his loveliest wife, and we tried a lot of drinks.

He said, "I have my distillery, and I make brown spirits and things, but I really love gin, and I wish I could make gin."

And I kinda looked at him like, "Do you have a still?"

And he is like, "Yeah."

I said, "Okay, I'll see you next week."

And it was really exciting to take someone who's already passionate about distilling and bring them into the world of gin.

When Dave walked in here and he left wanting to make a gin, that's what my job is here for.

- You were like, "Yes."

- Yes, and then ended up making an amazing gin that won so many awards.

That's only an additional bravo.

Anyone who really comes into The Gin Room bar, our goal is education.

So this is what I would call a blind-tasting flight, right?

And so the goal is to really understand the spectrum of flavor profiles that you would find in a gin.

So we actually have one here.

It's an Italian gin that's distilled with four different types of tomatoes that are explicitly from the Veneto, which is northern Italy region.

And it has this savory vegetal quality to it.

It's crazy, weird, and different.

- You know when you cut open a fresh tomato and the pulp smell and the seed smell?

- I can smell it in this entire room right now, just that little tiny pour.

This is one out of the Philippines.

The Philippines is the largest producer and consumer of gin in the entire world.

- The Philippines?

- I had to fly there, get suitcases full of gin to figure it out myself.

If you put England, and Spain, and the US together, they produce and consume more than that.

And this is the first craft maker from the Philippines.

You get a nose, a tropical nose, and a nuance of botanicals that come from the Filipino region and the islands.

It tastes like a citrus you may not have really had often.

- Absolutely.

I mean, but it registers as acidic and bright.

- Yes.

This is out of Norway.

The Norwegian countryside has such a beautiful, vast terroir in land.

So not only is the base spirit made from sweet potato, there's wild blueberries, there's crazy popping of flavors that are coming out of this gin.

- This is like a forest.

- It is a forest without it being too piney.

It's a forest of foraged botanicals.

- Norway, the Philippines, Italy, they all seem to exude a true sense of place.

And you could sit at this bar and travel the world by just tasting through these gins.

- And people do every day.

We're a beer and bourbon town, and we are the center of gin for the United States.

10 years in, it's our 10-year anniversary of The Gin Room, but here we are, and we're here to stay.

(upbeat music fades) Gin is meant to be mixed, so you're trying these all straight.

But I usually try to put a little citrus or some tonic on and allow these botanicals to shine.

- Well, and luckily, we're actually gonna head over to Platypus and mix some cocktails up with Meredith Barry.

- Another great place.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

(upbeat music) (vocalist whistling) - So I'm standing here with Meredith at Platypus in the Grove neighborhood in St. Louis.

And we're going to explore gin cocktails.

Obviously, we're talking about Dave's gin, the Confluence, and so you're gonna show us different cocktails.

- I'm going to do a white lady and a 20th-century.

They're two classic cocktails, but we're gonna kinda mush 'em together and have a little fun with it.

- So what is it called?

- Good question.

(laughs) - We're gonna name it right now.

- We're gonna name it right now.

- White platypus.

- Okay.

- The white platypus.

- I love it.

Perfect.

The white platypus.

- The white platypus.

Lemon juice, a little dry vermouth.

Just a touch of a white creme cacao.

This is a rosemary, jasmine, simple syrup, balancing the sweetness and the sour with the gin.

(upbeat music continues) (vocalist whistling) And this is a cherry bark vanilla bitter.

Just gonna round out the cocktail.

Egg whites.

It's kind of a meringue that is created onto the top.

La, la, la, la, la - So all the ice is melted?

- All the ice is melted.

- [Cat] Oh, look at that.

La, la, la, la, la - Wow, that's really complex, and it's really fun how you just married two cocktails together and kind of brought out the best of both of them.

- Mm-hmm, making it have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

A full story.

- Yeah, that's delicious.

(upbeat music fades) - We are gonna go tiki.

And I think people don't realize that gin can be in a tiki cocktail.

- Not just rum.

- Not just rum.

And it could add a massive amount of depth.

Fresh pineapple juice, lime juice, rich demerara sugar.

The Golden Falernum is a liqueur, so it has sweetness to it.

I'm just gonna add a little rum.

- Okay.

- Just a touch just to give it a little bit of something.

Just a little dibble dabble of coconut.

- And some salt.

- Yeah, and salt.

- I love that.

- And the most important.

- Yes, the gin.

- The gin.

(upbeat music) La, la - This is really, really good.

You can taste the rum, you get the gin, you get the herbal nature of it.

But all of that beautiful fresh juice just makes it really easy to sip and delicious.

This makes you feel like it's actually summer outside.

- Yeah, it's supposed to transport you into a different mindset.

- I feel transported.

- Yeah.

(upbeat music fades) - The rise of craft distilling has just deepened the possibilities for bartenders because now you can play with, like, stuff that's made locally, and you can actually get to know the distillers and have a relationship.

And I would imagine that that's, like, really fun for someone like you.

- It's a big part of what we do here at Platypus is community.

And so it's wonderful to have StilL 630 and so many other craft places that we have bonds with.

- Yeah, for sure.

(traffic humming) Another way that the guys here at StilL 630 get to tinker is through their experimental series, where they create small barrels of unique spirits and then bring people in every Friday to taste for free and give their unbiased feedback.

(upbeat music) - We're always making all these different things, like each month we're putting out a different spirit, and people are able to try it, and if they don't like it, great.

I love to hear feedback.

If they do, I love that even more, right?

Because ultimately, we wanna make what people are happy and excited about.

(upbeat music continues) - So we release a new spirit every month, and if you come down any Friday night that we're open, you get a free sample of that spirit.

All we ask in return is honest feedback.

And who doesn't love drinking and giving an opinion, right?

Everybody does.

We've got so many awesome, loyal fans that come down here and try our stuff.

We literally on tour say, "Tell us what you want the future of craft spirits to taste like."

(upbeat music continues) (crowd chattering) (gentle music) I love the time capsule nature of spirits and getting to craft something totally from scratch to see other people enjoy.

So it's been extremely fulfilling for me.

I've always loved reading, and themes, and diving into things, and finding hidden meanings and stuff.

I really believe that the more input you put into something, the more worthwhile it is, and you're thinking of other layers and meanings, and you've put in this clear thought that transmits to other people, that you really do care about what you're doing.

(gentle music continues) - You know, when you can come together over a glass of Missouri bourbon or a really amazing, unique, smoked portobello mushroom agave spirit, or whatever that is, this entire maker movement, food movement, beverage movement creates conversation, and that's what kind of, like, creates bonds in society.

- Absolutely.

I couldn't agree more.

That's all we're trying to do here is to make the best possible spirit so you can have the best possible moment.

(gentle music continues) - If you have makers in your community, you've got independent people, you've got people that are self-reliant, that are trying to work with other great people to build a richer, vibrant, and more successful community, it's a better place to live, it's a better place to raise kids, and it's better for your personal quality of life to be surrounded and immersed with people that are out there making things.

(gentle music continues) It's my real dream to be a bright spot in an amazing city.

That arch, it's a testament to the indomitable spirit, that never-give-up, never-say-die attitude.

To do anything worthwhile in life, you have to have that kind of a spirit.

I really think that I have one life and I have one life to live, and it's up to me to make it what I want it to be and as great as I can.

And the only way to accomplish that is by overthinking things, and putting it all together, and trying to do the best possible in every little aspect.

We take level of nerdery, you know, to the nth degree, but, you know, it's because we care.

It's because we love it.

(gentle music continues) Anything that's worth doing is worth doing, right, period.

- So you obviously know that you can use gin in cocktails, but you can cook with it as well.

And I'm going to use the very botanical forward gin from StilL 630 in a pear date crumble that has a lot of complexity, as you can tell by all of these ingredients.

So I'm gonna get started with that crumble topping.

I have about a cup of oats, I have a stick of butter that is cold, and I'm gonna go ahead and cut it up into pieces.

(gentle music) These are just old-fashioned rolled oats, nothing fancy.

Toss this to combine.

Now I'm gonna add in flour, just regular AP flour, little bit of granulated sugar, brown sugar, tiny bit of salt, always need some salt to offset the sweet.

And then spices.

I have cinnamon, ginger, pepper, coriander, and nutmeg.

Now just working this until it's all well combined.

So now we're gonna make the filling.

Put in my wet ingredients first.

I have honey, little bit of vanilla, just a teaspoon.

More brown sugar.

This is dessert, after all.

And then, of course, half a cup of the gin.

I can smell the gin.

It just has this beautiful botanical aroma, which is exactly why we're using this in the recipe.

It adds just an unexpected hint of flavor and aroma to the filling.

And it's really fun.

I have dried blueberries.

Two apples.

You wanna use a tart apple, I have Granny Smith.

My pears.

And then I'm also gonna cut up some dates.

I absolutely adore dates.

They're rich, and they're going to add just so much beautiful texture and flavor.

(gentle music continues) So I have my filling ready to go, except I have to add in some cornstarch.

As the crumble bakes, the cornstarch will help bind the liquid together, so it's gonna get nice and syrupy.

Okay.

I have an eight-by-eight casserole pan.

Pour the ingredients in, and here is the crumble topping.

Literally crumble it on top.

I am going to put this in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes and we then we'll dig in.

(gentle music continues) I took this out of the oven roughly 45 minutes to an hour ago.

You wanna make sure to allow it to cool so that it kind of solidifies.

Otherwise, when you take it out of the oven, it's gonna be very liquidy.

I'm going to be pairing it with a dessert wine.

This is actually a white port made of chardonel.

You don't see dessert-style wines made out of Chardonnay parentage grapes very often.

(gentle music) They have such a beautiful kind of round sweetness to them, but a really good kind of almost alcohol punch to be able to kind of cut through sweetness and desserts like this.

(gentle music continues) Yeah, that's delicious.

If I was served this as the last course at a dinner party or even just a family weeknight meal, I think I'd be pretty happy.

If you're looking for the recipe, all you have to do is head to the website.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I'll see you next time.

(gentle music fades) Connect with us online at wearetastemakers.com or through social media on these handles.

(gentle uplifting music) (uplifting music continues) - [Narrator] "Taste Makers" is brought to you with support from Missouri Pork Association and Global Foods Market.

(upbeat music)