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What happens to our bourbon barrels when we're done brewing things like Summerfest or Bourbon Barrel-aged Bragi?
We send them right back where they came from: to the distillery!
Well... and THEN what happens?
Something truly beautiful.
We are so excited to announce the first fruit of our collaboration with Village Garage Distillery: Fable Gin!
Here's what Village Garage Distillery has to say:
Our first collector's series Fable Gin" is a collaboration with Groennfell Meadery in Saint Albans, Vermont. Our Fable Gin was aged inside of a blood orange mead barrel from Groennfell, resulting in a spirit with notes of clove, warm honey, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The perfect winter spirit is here, and you can reserve your bottle now.
I sat down with Ricky the Meadmaker from Groennfell Meadery and Ryan from Village Garage Distillery to find out more about Village Garage Distillery, this collaboration, and more.
Ryan, can you tell us a little about Village Garage Distillery? How did it come to be? What do you make there?
Ryan: All of our grain is locally sourced and we use the spring water from woodford reserve to blend/brew with. Our initial bourbon and rye were sourced and now I just distill the same recipe
a. 5yr Bourbon 60/40 corn/malted rye
b. 2yr Rye 100% malted rye
c. 5 yr Bonfire 60/40 infused with less than 3% smoked maple syrup
d. Vodka we source gns and blend with water
e. Gin the base is our gns
You can see them all on our website.
2. How did the Village Fable Gin first come about?
Ricky: Through a mutual connection in the environmental business world, I got introduced to Ryan right as they were in the process of building out VGD. He had this amazing idea of making a bourbon followed by a mead followed by a gin all in the same barrel. A few weeks later he was up at the meadery tasting through all of our meads and it didn’t take long for him to come up with a sequence for each barrel!
The barrels that became VIllage Fable Gin were the ones we used for Summerfest!
Ryan: It was an idea that I had thought about for a while. Now one is really marrying mead with gin in this way by aging in barrels. I wanted to do something unique with keeping collaboration in mind. By bringing this idea together makes a perfect seasonal spirit for the customer to enjoy. .
3. Are there currently any tasting notes for Village Fable Gin?
Ricky: Notes of honey, juniper, and cinnamon on the nose with an incredibly complex palate. This is a gin that I only drink on the rocks or neat.
Ryan: It has a gentle nose of warm honey and cinnamon citrus while the first sip tickles your tongue with nutmeg, cloves and a cinnamon bite with a late palette of gin that wraps around your taste buds like a warm blanket by the fireplace.
4. How does this whole collaboration work? What products from both sides have been a part of them (with landing pages, if available)?
Ricky: We have used barrels from VGD for every one of our barrel-aged meads. We adore their bourbon and the flavors it brings to the mead.
Ryan: The process was using our ex bourbon barrels from our very first batch we blended then sent to Groennfell for them to age their winter warmer mead in. During that time I was aging our house gin in new white oak barrels for 5 months. Once I got the bourbon/mead cask back I then finished aging our gin in them for 3 months. Once that process was finished I blended the aged gin with the spring water and locally sourced honey.
5. Ricky, what are your favorite Village Garage Distillery products? VGD team, what are your favorite Groennfell products?
Ricky: So far I’ve been lucky enough to taste Village Fable Gin and their House Gin, as well as some of the base products for things yet-to-be-released and I’ve loved them all.
Ryan: I’ve only honestly tasted the Winter Warmer mead and was blown away by it.
6. Where and how can we get Village Fable Gin? Where and how can we get the Bourbon Barrel-Aged meads from Groennfell?
Ryan:Fable Gin is our first collectors series and they will only be available at the distillery. You can reserve your bottle for pick up using this form.
Ricky: We don't currently have any Bourbon Barrel-aged products on the site, but keep an eye out for something new very soon!
7. Are there any teasers about future products from either company you're willing to share with the public (collab-related or not)?
Ricky: We’re in the process of designing our next collaboration right now. Only hint I’m willing to give is: Apples are involved.
Ryan: I have a whisky blend aging in 2 armagnac casks that we will release next summer, I also have a sourced 14yr old bourbon that i’m infusing lightly with local berries foraged in Vermont and then hopefully another Groennfell collaboration fall of next year as well.
8. Is there anything else about this collaboration/your respective companies that you'd like to share with the public?
Ricky: It’s been an honor working with someone of Ryan’s expertise. I’ve actually been familiar with his work for years before he moved to Vermont to start with VGD!
Ryan: My hope with this project is to start collaborating with other industries to showcase what is possible with the flavors of Vermont.
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