Talnua Distillery

By Meghan Swanson

At first blush, Colorado’s Front Range and the green hills of the Emerald Isle couldn’t be more different. One gently rolling, steeped in human habitation going back to prehistory; the other, ruggedly jutting from a landscape crisscrossed by the paths of nomadic indigenous Americans. From the very first days of uisce beatha (‘water of life’) to the modern American craft distillery, they share at least one thing in common: whiskey. Unbeknownst to the ancient distillers of Ireland or the people who once walked the Front Range long before the first Irish immigrants made their homes in North America, Meagan and Patrick Miller would fall in love with each other, fall in love with Irish whiskey, and bring it home to Colorado in the 21st century. 

Meagan and Patrick were married in 2011; they chose Vienna and the banks of the Danube for their ceremony. After rejecting a dreamed-of Italian honeymoon as taking more time than they had to spare, they chose the home of their ancestors, Ireland, to spend those precious days following their wedding. They reveled in the rain, visited cozy local pubs, enjoyed live Irish music, and enjoyed the sense of slowing down time. Both big rugby fans, they made it a point to watch USA Rugby take on Ireland–the match was being played in New Zealand, broadcast at 8:00 AM local time. They were the only patrons wearing USA Rugby gear in the pub, and unfortunately suffered a loss that day. “To be quite honest,” Patrick quips, “there probably weren’t very many people there because everybody already knew the results before it started.” The win they didn’t know was coming was delivered by a local spirits rep that very morning, there to drop the bar’s order of Redbreast 12-Year Cask Strength Pot Still Whiskey–the first year it had been reintroduced for the market. The bartender couldn’t contain his excitement, sharing it with the American honeymooners (also, graciously, the two losing USA Rugby fans in his pub). As he poured for Meagan and Patrick and told the story of Irish pot still whiskey, the Millers discovered a whole new love beyond their own newly formed nuptials.

“How does something go from fueling the British Empire with drink, and the entire east coast of America, to just two distilleries?”

The Millers began to visit Ireland regularly; their beloved Irish pot still whiskey didn’t make it to the U.S. until 2014. Even then, it was only in New York, Boston, Chicago - far from the Denver market. In the meantime, Meagan and Patrick brought back ‘suitcases of the stuff’. “It was part of our heritage,” says Patrick. “I’m not accidentally named Patrick, right? It’s part of our Irish heritage we were excited to share with people.” he explains. They were aghast at the tale they had uncovered. “It was crazy to think that Irish whiskey dominated the whiskey landscape of the early 1900s; how much Irish whiskey was sent all over the world, how much people were drinking on a global scale, and for that to nearly disappear. For us to be holding the first kind of, little revival of this style of whiskey.” Patrick recalls. He and Meagan think of it as a ‘mind-blowing story of an empire that fell’. 

During Prohibition, Irish distilleries lost the American market; a blow they probably could have recovered from, were it not for the effects of establishing the Irish Free State just two years later. Following that, they were affected by the Great Depression, and then two world wars. Markets disappeared, rationing took effect, and the combination of all these adverse events caused Irish distilleries to shutter, one by one. The three main families remaining were Jameson, Powers, and Cork; they decided to band together in order to survive, and became the Irish Distillers Limited. With consumer tastes trending toward lighter liquor, the IDL decided to focus its efforts on Jameson whiskey abroad while they kept up production of the popular Powers whiskey at home. The once-gargantuan presence of Irish whiskey shrank, but the single pot still method didn’t get discarded; it became part of the blend at Jameson. The Millers’ faces reflect their astonishment when they think back on how single pot still Irish whiskey nearly disappeared from the international market, never to be enjoyed by the modern American whiskey drinker. “What have we lost in the course of humankind that we just don’t even know about today?” Patrick asks. 

Meagan and Patrick met in Houston, where they both worked for an oil & gas company. They relocated together with that same company to Denver, where he did rig rotations and she did environmental science. “This is not one of those stories where, ‘I hated corporate life, I needed to get out and spread my wings!’ kind of thing.” he assures us. He was happy and comfortable with his work, but restructuring meant he would be out of a job soon. Meagan found out about a distilling class being offered by Breckenridge Distillery. Together, they decided to check it out. “It was like, the change is now upon us, and we have the decision to…kind of follow this and see.” Patrick explains.

“It was a class not so much about how you make whiskey, but how you make a distillery work.” Patrick tells us. He and Meagan got a glimpse of both the romantic and not-so-romantic sides of distilling. Their Irish heritage, their love affair with pot still whiskey, and Patrick being ushered out of oil & gas all combined into a current that carried them both forward toward what would become Talnua. “We have this idea of making America’s first single pot still [whiskey]. But we’ve gotta figure out how we do that.” Patrick recalls. He went to work at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, where they make a Rocky Mountain single malt. He and Meagan also got to work at home, experimenting with homemade distillates and practicing their craft one halting, tiny-scale step at a time. At Stranahan’s, where Patrick was working in packaging, a sudden need for a distiller opened the door for him to get up-close-and-personal with the process. Bit by bit, they crept closer to their dream of bringing single pot still whiskey to America. “Looking back on it now, listing all the stuff we had to do, I can’t believe we did it.” Patrick says.

“We started this thing with pennies and a handmade pot still, and old dairy tanks that were our fermenters.”

At Stranahan’s one fateful day, their now-partner and close friend Robert Siegrist walked in. He owned a building that had been in use by a beet-sugar rum distillery that had gone belly-up; he figured somebody down at Stranahan’s might buy their old equipment. Patrick’s ears perked up, and he went with Robert to check it out – it turned out to have everything he and Meagan needed. The still was handmade and the fermenters would have to be former dairy tanks, but it had a boiler, a chiller, and a permit too. “Ok, this is when those doors, if they are opening, if you don’t walk through you’ve never ever going to do it.” he explained. They pitched Robert on their dream.  “Listen, Robert. We don’t have anything. We don’t have a recipe. We have a brand idea, we have the more liquid things in place that we need, but none of the business model.” Patrick recounts just how they laid things out. Robert was in - he became a partner, as did Patrick’s cousin Amy Kingman. “It has been fortunate door after fortunate door, with every struggle of a small business inbetween.” Patrick tells us. Single pot still whiskey was about to jump the Atlantic.

Meagan and Patrick were ready to go, and they even had a clever name for their new distillery - ‘Western Gael’. It was a perfect representation of their mission, bringing Irish-style whiskey to the American West. It was an uncommon word, and brought associations with the word ‘gale’; a perfectly fine thing to be associated with on Colorado’s Front Range. They had t-shirts made, a logo designed, and their hearts set on it. Then, in a not-uncommon turn of events, the US Patent and Trademark office crushed their dream. A brewery in upstate New York, Gael Brewing Company (since shuttered in 2020), already had that word in their name. The Millers’ fledgling distillery would have to go by another name.

It took some time to become comfortable with the idea of letting the name go. “We were like, what are we gonna call this? It’s so important. It’s a brand. It’s like, the most important thing.” Patrick tells us. Finally, their lawyer laid out the hard facts for the downcast distillery team. “‘Guys, you don’t have anything on the shelves right now. You can probably fight this, you can probably win it, but if you don’t, you might have stuff on the shelf and it’s gonna be much harder to change people’s minds moving forward.” Meagan recalls him saying. The idea of the tens of thousands of dollars and years of work required to challenge the trademark helped Meagan and Patrick put the nail in Western Gael’s coffin. “A week later, Patrick had had a name and Amy had had a logo. And it was like ‘Holy shit, this is home.’” Meagan remembers. “It like snapped together.” Patrick tells us of coming up with their new name: Talnua. “What shows this Irish style becoming American? And that name, I think, just had a nice ring to it.” he says.

Talnua is a portmanteau of the Irish talamh, or ‘land’, and nua, meaning ‘new’. It is a unique word for the American market, without associations, and something of a little Easter egg for consumers once they find out the translation. For the Irish market, it does have associations - and they’re just what the Millers had hoped for. “It’s funny because the Irish do have preconceived notions of what it means, and it’s exactly what we intended it to. When they see that name, it’s like ‘Is that what I think it is?’” Patrick tells us with a smile. They had their beautiful new name, a logo they loved, and a lot of work ahead of them.

“There was plenty of luck going in our direction, ah, but we also needed to be good.”

The Millers had been experimenting with different mash bills, yeast strains, and all the other variables that help determine a whiskey’s unique make-up.  “We wanted to…start out at least as a 100% barley-based whiskey because we’re in Colorado. We’re one of America’s barley states, we are arguably the barley state because of the Coors family who brought Moravian strains of barley from the foothills of the Alps to the foothills of the Rockies.” Patrick explains. “There definitely would’ve been another Irishman making this style of whiskey if barley grew east of the Mississippi.” he comments, citing American whiskey’s traditional reliance on corn, wheat, or rye. They also follow the technical file for Irish pot still whiskey which states that the whiskey must be made from a mash containing at least 30% malted barley and 30% unmalted or raw barley. Talnua uses equal parts malted and raw barley for its quintessential Irish whiskey flavor profile. Talnua ferment off the grain and they distill only using unobstructed copper pot stills, no pot-column hybrids or other configurations. “I can’t tell you…how much we wanted to belong to this story.” Patrick says.  “Quite frankly, if you’re not making quality product that people can be enthusiastic about, you don’t belong. We were very fortunate enough to have the resources and ability to make some pretty extraordinary whiskey at our age.” he tells us.

Meagan and Patrick are quick to point out that, though their love for Irish pot still whiskey is what drove their venture in the first place, they’re not trying to beat the Irish at their own game. “I wanted to be the first American pot still. We don’t have any desire to be Irish whiskey. We love our Irish heritage, but we are indisputably Americans here.” Patrick clarifies. “There’s no denying we make an American spirit, and that’s what we’re proud of.” he continues. ‘Irish pot still whiskey’ is protected by the E.U., and is geographically bound by law to Ireland. American pot still whiskey, however, isn’t even a legal category in the TTB’s eyes. Patrick and Meagan know that a big, concerted effort from distilleries is the only thing that will move it towards becoming its own category in the U.S.; that’s the reason they follow that technical file for Irish pot still whiskey. That, and in deference to their Irish forebears. “It’s one of the things that garnered respect from the Irish [distilleries]. We’re not just doing whatever we want and calling it ‘pot still’ just to ride on coat-tails.” Patrick stresses. 

The TTB aren’t the only ones who don’t quite know what to do with a pot still whiskey. “I can’t tell you how many people don’t know what pot still whiskey is….Americans speak bourbon, right? And if it’s not bourbon, it’s just Scotch.” Patrick quips.  “I love the name ‘single pot still’, but it’s really hard to describe to people.” he explains. It’s a challenge he and Meagan are willing to take on. “Since it’s quite literally the only whiskey named after an apparatus, I think it’s a necessary part of the style.” he points out. “If you were to distill this on a column still–even a good, modern column still that does have a lot of bypass–you’re gonna strip a lot of what that unmalted barley has to give to the spirit out.” he explains. 

There’s still a lot of room in the pot still space in the United States, but it’s a high-pressure environment. “There’s not a pot still whiskey that you can get–it might not be your favorite–but there’s not a bad one out there. There’s a lot of bad bourbons out there.” he points out. He and Meagan felt pressure not to become the one ‘crappy’ pot still whiskey. “I would say that was a major challenge, just figuring out how to make good whiskey.” Patrick tells us with a grin. He’s proud of the fact that they even made it through their first ten batches or so - some of them he describes as ‘terrible’. Obviously, they’ve landed on a winning recipe through all the experimentation; Talnua’s work holds gold medals from both the International Wine and Spirits competition and the San Francisco World Spirits competition, and their 2022 release of Olde Saint’s keep won “Best American Pot Still Whiskey” at the 2022 World Whiskey Awards. “This is as bad as it’ll ever be. It only gets better with more age, better equipment and processes.” Patrick proudly declares.

“There’s a lot of things we do that are reimaginings of what the Irish did.”

When it came to shaping the vessel that would bring their pot still whiskey to the masses and the label that would catch eyes on store shelves, Meagan and Patrick were no less methodical. “When we were looking at this, we pulled up–what are our favorite things in Scotch and Irish whiskey? What are the elements that we love that we can afford to execute? How do we make that modern?” Patrick says. Patrick and Meagan felt that American craft whiskey can fall a bit too easily into the roughshod Western mold–they wanted to channel some of the elegance lent to Scottish and Irish distilleries by their Victorian beginnings. “I think one thing…the craft space, across the spectrum in the United States, sometimes lacks a little bit of the finesse that our European brothers and sisters execute extremely well.” Patrick explains. They wanted to give Talnua drinkers the old-world feel of whiskey as a point of prestige, a luxury item. “We love that kind of aesthetic. We really wanted to bring an elegant nature to this whiskey.” Patrick tells us. 

This is where Meagan and Patrick left the shape of Talnua’s vessel to Patrick’s cousin and distillery partner, Amy. They started with the idea of a bighorn ram - Colorado’s state animal. “What puts us in a sense of place in Colorado? …it’s not like we have a crap animal. I mean, the bighorn ram is like an epic creature.” Patrick says with an incredulous snort. From there, Amy crafted their logo out of hundreds of circles that form a subtle Fibonacci spiral. It features a proud Coloradan bighorn ram, statant, its head turned back to look at a golden triskele moon. The moon represents the old world, while the Flatiron Range pictured gives it an immediate sense of location for all who recognize that horizon. It doesn’t overtly brand Talnua as Colorado, maintaining a broader national appeal while still having clear ties to its home for those who know where to look. Patrick and Meagan are deeply satisfied with the Talnua bottle’s look. “I think the whiskey drinks like the bottle looks. It’s not brash and bold, it is a little bit more elegant and reserved. It is clean, it is in a way, representative of how we think of ourselves, how we view this facility as well.” Patrick explains, gesturing around at the racks and barrels around him in the background.

Talnua’s sense of place in Colorado isn’t just in its bottle, but in the whiskey itself. “We are terroir believers. We believe that when we put ‘American single pot still’ on there, that it means something. To speak directly to our provenance, where we are regionally, how it tastes and that we’re the first ones to be kind of pioneering this style. Figuring it out quite literally from grain to glass and everywhere in between. And then taking that Irish whiskey technical file to the outer edge of the boundaries of what we’re able to do.” says Patrick. “When we’re talking about terroir, we use all Colorado grains right now. We have Root Shoot Malting in Loveland and Proximity Malts out of San Luis Valley in Colorado.” Meagan adds. Terroir being a controversial subject in the whiskey world, Talnua has embarked on a collaborative project to try to help prove its existence. They’re working with Boann Distillery out of Ireland’s Boyne Valley - both distilleries are using the same mash bill, same distillations, and same barrels. The only difference will be Irish barley and water versus Colorado barley and water; in about 4 more years, Talnua and Boann will be able to share the results.

“We love this and we want to own it. This is what we want to do for the rest of our lives. This is not a ‘we’re gonna build this thing up and flip it. Get rich and walk away.’”

Meagan and Patrick have big plans for their future, including an eventual relocation. For now, however, they’re sticking with their Arvada warehouse. “The idea is to organically grow this brand over time into a world-class spirits experience.” Patrick says. “The first step in executing that dream was more liquid in barrels–not moving.” he explains. “We don’t mind telling people that that’s the goal, to build something where people really wanna come visit. And it’s a better way to be more hospitable, to tell the story better…to engage people in a really immersive whiskey experience.” he tells us. Hospitality, it turns out, is a major tenet of Meagan and Patrick’s brand philosophy. “That touches a little bit into the Irish nature of it. Hospitality is just second nature to the Irish - they excel at it.” Patrick says admiringly. “I think through COVID…the consumer in Colorado, they want to educate themselves on everything. They want to be the first person to find the newest, coolest, hottest brand and bring it to their friends.” Meagan explains further.  “Our tours are more about the story and the history of pot still whiskey, not the production of how we make our whiskey. We spend an hour in our tours just sitting at the table and sipping whiskey and talking about the history of our story.” she tells us. 

Hospitality, that famous Irish welcome to join the table in a song, a dram, a tear, or a smile, informs Talnua’s approach to sharing their story. “Everybody here has been to a distillery or a brewery, they’ve done the production tour, they don’t really need that anymore. What they need is the education of what is pot still whiskey, and why we care about pot still whiskey.” Meagan explains. “Most average whiskey drinkers don’t know what pot still whiskey is, much less people. So Meagan’s exactly right; what I think people care about is not that it’s malted and unmalted barley…what they care about is why. Why do you guys do that? Where did that come from?” Patrick adds. “It’s uncovering the pieces of the story that people love, not the legal requirements that make it this,” he continues. “It’s the same thing that people fall in love with bourbon. People want to know who Elijah Craig was, not that it’s 51% corn, has to be in a charred American oak barrel…people want to know how the charred American oak barrel came about. And then there’s the whole legends and lores behind how that happened.” he finishes.

Then Patrick says something that stopped us in our tracks here at American Mash and Grain; “Whiskey is stories. People are stories. That’s really what they gravitate towards…and then, it has to be good.” We couldn’t possibly agree more–and Talnua’s story continues. They have upgraded from that handmade beet-sugar still of the early days.  “It was clunky, it was slow, it probably was dangerous–however, it did make Talnua. It’s made everything everybody has tasted up to this point.” Patrick admits. “I’m very thankful for it. I never even gave it a name - it was just Still #1.” he laughs. “We were trying to squeeze blood out of this turnip…that was only gonna give you turnip blood.” he says. He feels their newer still gives them a cleaner distillate. “I use the word ‘clean’ at my own peril–I feel like some people don’t really know what we mean when we say that, but there’s a crispness to it. There’s a more deliberate flavor profile where you’re getting less water-laden compounds coming off this new still system than there were on the previous [still].” he explains. We ask him when the planned expansion is coming; he says “It’s happening now. We need to get this facility to where, if we can’t be in the dream location, we need to be making the best quality product that we can.” 

“I think it really shines. They figured that out a long time ago - we’re just re-figuring out how to put tires on the wheels they created for us.”

Hard work, time, immense amounts of patience, and a healthy dose of luck have allowed Meagan and Patrick to launch Talnua Distillery. A journey a hundred years and more in the making has culminated in the Millers’ successful reintroduction of pot still whiskey in the Irish style to American shores–the American West, no less–in the 21st century.  “We’re enormously proud to be, what I could consider, torchbearers or really flying the banner of pot still whiskey here in the United States.” Patrick tells us. “We don’t take it lightly, either.” Meagan adds. As Talnua pushes the borders of what pot still whiskey is and works to define American pot still whiskey from a legal standpoint, we encourage curious whiskey drinkers to stop by their warehouse in Arvada, CO and see what all the fuss is about. We’re confident you’ll receive the very best of Irish-American hospitality; though hospitality was once mandated by law in ancient Ireland, we think you’ll find Patrick and Meagan provide it out of sheer joy in sharing the Irish-style pot still whiskey story with old and new friends alike. 

TASTING NOTES:

Single Pot Still American Whiskey (43% ABV)

Nose: Apple Cider, Dried Apricots, Honey and Sanded Wood

Palate: The mouthfeel is light and oily with notes of honey nut cheerios up front. Vanilla and caramel sweetness creep in, matched with soft baking spices on the back end leading to a medium finish of brown sugar, cinnamon and apple cider donuts. 

This is a true testament to the Talnua mission. It’s as elegant and refined as some of the great Irish pot still whiskeys, with bold and dynamic sweetness from the virgin oak barrels. It’s a wonderful combination of an old world style meeting modern American flavor. 

Single Pot Still American Whiskey Continuum Cask (43% ABV)

Nose: Leather, Creme Brulee, Overripe Bananas

Palate: The mouthfeel is similarly light and oily with vanilla and orange sweetness up front. The sweetness persists throughout the palate with hints of chamomile and honey and just a subtle touch of black pepper culminating in a short finish.

This is a very light and sweet whiskey. A bit less dynamic than the flagship with some of the flavor notes perhaps softened by the continuum process, but nonetheless a very enjoyable experience. 

Single Pot Still American Whiskey Bourbon Cask & Stave (43% ABV)

Nose: Lemon Bars, Gala Apples, Honey

Palate: The mouthfeel is once again light and oily. It’s sweet up front like vanilla cake. The is a slight tartness like a granny smith apple in the midpalate with a deep maltiness that serves as a foundation to hold up the other flavors through a medium finish. 

This is a really wonderful whiskey. The flavors are reminiscent of one of our favorite Irish pot still whiskeys, “Writer’s Tears.” It’s delicate with a great combination of malt and fruit sweetness. 

Pot Still & Grain Whiskey Heritage Selection (43% ABV)

Nose: Vanilla, Sweet Corn, Stewed Peaches and Brown Sugar

Palate: The mouthfeel is very soft up front with some vanilla sweetness and soft spice. The remainder of the palate continues as a push and pull between those two leading to a short finish. 

You can definitely tell the sweet influence from the mostly corn-based Irish whiskey used to blend this product. The pot still whiskey element still stands up lending some texture and spice, but overall this is the most simple and straightforward of all of their offerings.