Tenth Ward Distilling Company

By Meghan Swanson

THE CUT

Location: Frederick, MD

Still type: 1,000 L hybrid ‘Falcor’ and 2,000 L pot ‘Mama Bear’

Still manufacturer: Still Dragon (‘Falcor’) and Specific Mechanical (‘Mama Bear’)

Barrel size: 53 gallon

Core products: Absinthe Nouvelle, Genever Gin, Smoked Bourbon, Maryland Rye and canned cocktail varieties 

Year founded: 2016

When lightning strikes a monumental old tree in the forest, and it falls, it can be viewed as something sad. A change, unasked for and unforeseen, that will alter its surroundings. That sudden strike can also be the start of something entirely new; something unexpected and good. By changing where the sun touches and what gets access to the rain, the landscape begins to look different. Monica Pearce, a student of conservation biology and environmental advocate, knows what it takes to hold space for something delicate. She spent the first half of her career working to convince human beings to change the way they interact with the natural world, laboring to bring communities and the endangered species they coexist with into harmony. For the past seven years she has turned her focus to the world of craft spirits–but the instinct to protect the rare and fragile and give it a fighting chance has held fast. Tenth Ward Distilling, of Frederick, Maryland, didn’t spring into being fully-formed one day–though it feels, somehow, like it’s always been there–it was through Monica’s vision, hard work, and a little bit of natural magic.

“In the moment, to me it didn’t feel like a risk. It was just like, ‘This is the next cool thing I’m gonna do in my life now.’” - Monica Pearce

Monica grew up in Frederick, the third point of a Pythagorean triangle completed by Baltimore and Washington D.C. to its east. It boasts the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and an impressive array of significant figures in sports, music, politics, and history. Despite all this, it was the kind of place Monica and her peers swore they’d grow up and ‘get out’ of. It was agricultural and sleepy. Tired of being known as ‘Frednecks’, they were eager to explore the world outside of the places they knew like the backs of their hands. Monica did get out - for about a decade, she sought adventure in the great wide somewhere; attending university, traveling, and building a career with a nonprofit whose mission she was fiercely proud of. She loved her work in the conservation biology sphere. It wasn’t perfect, however - over time she grew sick of the city life, traveling six months out of every year, the crush of people, and even the nonprofit itself. Her company canceled its employees’ ability to telecommute, forcing her into an hour-long daily commute one way–in good traffic. “I had one of those days, where I emptied my bank account and said ‘Screw it, I’m going to do something totally different and open a distillery’.” Monica tells us. 

She had been a whiskey fan for years. “I was that weird girl in college ordering Jack Daniels when all my girlfriends wanted Dirty Shirleys.” she explains with a laugh. “I couldn’t afford Scotch,” she adds. Craft brewing was nearing its peak, wildly popular among Monica’s social group–especially her friends with children, who valued the ability to let their children play games in an all-ages environment while they enjoyed a pint of craft beer. Monica enjoyed it too, but found herself wishing whiskey was available. The Frederick of her youth, she noticed, didn’t look the same. “Frederick was a very different place from what it is now.” she notes. It was perfect timing for her to come home and embrace Frederick’s newly ‘hip and historic’ vibe. She teamed up with a business partner, took out a loan against her 401(k), and set about making her distillery a reality.

“We wanted to embody the history of Frederick, the history of the region, the history of spirits but also still be interesting enough that we still stand out on the shelf.” - Monica Pearce

It was 2014 when Monica made her decision to quit her nonprofit work and start a distillery. By a twist of fate, she was laid off before she could give notice at her job, thus securing her unexpected severance pay. In 2016, the distillery came online in a 1600 square foot space with a 100 gallon stainless steel still, one 130 gallon mash tun, four 130 gallon conical plastic fermenters–”What, like, start-up breweries use,” Monica points out–and a chiller made from an air conditioning unit. She quickly learned the ins and outs of commercial real estate as they started up. “Downtown Frederick had all these weird, run-down places or warehouses that were not being used. So I did a lot of, like, climbing under fences and peeking into windows to find what would be a really cheap and cool warehouse space.” she recounts. She also started to work closely with the city and county of Frederick. “I feel very warm and thankful toward them, because they did everything they could during COVID to keep us open. They have done everything they could to support us and not pooh-pooh the people that want to make alcohol because they see our value.” she says. 

At first, the plan was to name the distillery after Carroll Creek, which runs right through Frederick and actually backed up to their initial space. Then Monica realized another nearby distillery sat literally on Carroll Creek, she didn’t want to cause brand confusion. Her business partner at the start was a hobby historian, and dug up some old maps of the city that divided Frederick into thirteen wards; their new distillery sat in the tenth. Each ward was labeled in Roman numerals on the historical maps, giving Tenth Ward Distilling its bold and simple ‘X’ logo. The use of wards isn’t unique to Frederick, and in fact other cities are perhaps better known for using the term. However, naming their distillery after Frederick’s tenth ward has gained them an unexpected fanbase. “There are a bunch of customers that are obsessed with Tenth Ward that are based out of Baltimore, because they have grandmas that grew up in the tenth ward–and they always buy our stuff for their grandmas.” Monica tells us with a bemused expression. 

Although Tenth Ward honors the history of its hometown, it has never been obsessed with tradition. “We don’t like ‘basic’ things - no offense to the rest of the public out there - we want to try something new and be unique and fun and interesting.” Monica explains. That innovative energy led them to try out crowd-sourcing their distillery slogan through a social media contest. They cast their brand out into the web, and what came back was a phrase that would shape their product development and ethos forever after: ‘Ward off ordinary.” Monica and her team put a lot of work into taking traditional products in a direction that’s unique and unexpected. “When we work festivals, we’re the only brand there with absinthe. We’re the only brand there with a Genever gin. I see more of our bags leaving the door because everybody wants that thing they’ve never had.” she explains.

“Here I was getting paid to learn this amazing craft…Monica really encouraged pushing the envelope.” - Kay Bennett

Kay Bennett, Assistant Distiller at Tenth Ward, did not start her post-secondary education career intending to make beverage alcohol. “I describe it as my legal ‘Breaking Bad’ story.” she says with a laugh. As a college student who wasn’t too sure of her path, she tried out teaching and discovered she loved it and she was good at it. She got her master’s degree and started teaching in New York City. She was running a program for at-risk youth to obtain their GEDs when she became pregnant with her daughter. Her baby was born with a rare genetic disorder and special needs, and Kay needed to leave the workforce for the first few years of her daughter’s life. When her daughter entered school and it was time for Kay to re-enter the workforce, one of her husband’s favorite craft brewing spots needed some help. She decided to try it out as her on-ramp back into working outside the home. “I was really cringing, like ‘I didn’t go to all that school just to be a bartender! What am I doing?’” she recalls. Soon enough, however, she found it fit with her skills and background far better than she had anticipated. There was plenty of educating customers to be done, and interesting new work to learn.

“I would get real nosy, kind of put my head in the brew room and be like, ‘What’s this? What’s that? Why are you doing this? What if you did that?’ and just pester, pester, pester.” Kay tells us, smiling. Drawn to the process, she would come in during her daughter’s school hours, and eventually ended up assisting the brewer. A mutual friend told her about Monica’s work at Tenth Ward and asked Kay, what about distilling? At first Kay expressed concern about her family's needs potentially getting in the way of working for Tenth Ward, but Monica’s answer to that was ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Kay took on the new role with enthusiasm and a minimal learning curve. “I think I kind of took it in stride because everything was new to me. There wasn’t this huge body of knowledge that I had to unlearn in order to move forward.” she explains. She didn’t need to prove anything, except a willingness to learn and work hard at her new craft.

Each year, Tenth Ward holds a ‘retreat’ for its staff, where they get deep into strategic planning for the next year as a group. “Our process for keeping it ‘ward off ordinary’...is pretty neat.” Monica tells us. It’s a collaborative, democratic event. They begin the retreat with sensory analysis activities the team undertakes together. Constructive feedback is given to the distillers on year round products, and then everyone brings new release ideas for the coming year to the table. The top product ideas are selected, and group voting via sticky dot determines which releases the company is going to put into action.

Getting answers or ideas by consensus is a recurring theme in Tenth Ward’s methodology. Their original labels, developed to honor Frederick’s history and their place in it, were heavily focused on a done-by-hand look. Each label involved a good deal of actual handwriting, and as Tenth Ward grew, that became unsustainable. Once again, Tenth Ward went to the people for inspiration - they held a label design contest on 99 Designs, a platform for freelance designers to connect with clients. “We said, we need to change this, this is the vision that we have, who’s got some thoughts?” Monica says. This led to the creation of the headless characters featured on Tenth Ward’s bottles, affectionately dubbed ‘the Weirdos’. “At first it was zebra heads, and things that didn’t make any sense. Then I said, ‘What if you put the barley on their head?’ And then it worked from there.” Monica recalls. A graphic designer on 99 Designs provided the basic template, and an illustrator based in Poland does the details of each Weirdo. “Probably most of my team members don’t even realize this, that I have this weird dialogue with this guy in Poland that’s like, ‘What if you turned the birds into limes, and they had wings?’” Monica tells us with a laugh.

“It’s kind of like an honor. You want to make sure that you’re doing your best to go through all of that, so that if your name is added to the history books it’s a good thing.” - Kay Bennett

One of Tenth Ward’s first spirits took something extremely traditional–a European-style aquavit sipped by spunky grandmothers–and gave it a modern and unique twist. Some European aquavits combine caraway and fennel, so Tenth Ward took caraway seeds and added it to the mash for their white rye spirit instead. “We had so many caraway seeds, it would make the distillery smell like a bagel bakery. It was just amazing. It was a really special spirit.” Kay recalls with a smile. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as widely received as Tenth Ward had hoped, and had to be retired to make room for its younger siblings. “It’s heartbreaking to have cut that out of the lineup.” Monica laments. It’s a sought-after bottle to this day; the luckiest fans can still find it backstocked in random liquor stores around the region, and will tag Tenth Ward when they’re crowing about their good fortune on social media.

Still in Tenth Ward’s lineup are two versions of their smoked corn whiskey; a white dog spirit and a barrel-aged bourbon. Monica wanted to take a classically American corn whiskey in a new, extraordinary direction; but how? One night out with friends, the answer came: “I want to make the best corn whiskey that I can; my friend who was a brewer…he said, ‘Why don’t you smoke the corn?’” Monica recounts. The corn farmer they were working with in West Virginia obliged, applying his own secret ham-smoking recipe.  (which makes up 80% of the mash; the other 20% is malted barley) and that was that. “We’ve only ever done a smoked corn whiskey; it tastes like mezcal, it’s super cool.” Monica says proudly. What isn’t sold outright makes its way into 53-gallon barrels with a #4 char. They age it up to a year, working their way up to two years with the eventual goal of aging it to four years. Along the way, they use a whiskey thief to try out the distillate and help them assess its readiness.  “Once it’s ready, we harvest it, we bottle it, we sell it, and it goes fast.” Kay sums up. Today, they have transitioned to corn from a Frederick farmer and are using a new and updated smoking recipe.

Tenth Ward’s other core mash bill, at the time of this writing, is a 100% Maryland-grown malted rye. Unmalted rye would be less costly, and create a different flavor profile, but that isn’t what Tenth Ward wanted to aim for. “We wanted to be bold and big with our flavors. There aren’t very many…rye whiskeys that are using malted rye in the first place.” Monica explains. The malted rye yields a sweeter product, keeping their rye whiskey more in line with the historic ‘Maryland rye’ category. “And how many people can say they have a rye whiskey, that’s also a single malt, that’s also a Maryland rye–which is pretty frickin’ cool!” Monica exalts. 

Maryland rye, however, is a moving target. “What even is that term? Us Marylanders fight over what a Maryland-style rye is every day, and there’s still disagreements on what that even looks like.” Monica tells us. In her estimation, two things help designate a Maryland rye; color, which should be slightly red in tone, and sweetness. “To the point where some Maryland distilleries were trying to keep the ‘sweet’ name up. You might even find that if you open a bottle from the 1800s of Maryland rye, [it’s] a rancid bottle. Because they may have been sweetening it with prune or apple juice to impart that sweet flavor.” she expands. Tenth Ward’s rye whiskey, it goes without saying, is unadulterated. “It’s hard to put your finger down on what it is, but when you taste it you know it for sure. It’s gonna be spicy, it’s gonna be sweet, it’s gonna have like, a little touch of salt.” Kay adds. “It’s such a smooth and easy-drinking spirit that I would actually introduce to many new whiskey drinkers, when I normally wouldn’t introduce a standard rye to a first-time whiskey drinker.” Monica finishes. 

“We want them to become spirit connoisseurs. We want what used to be the person that knows an IPA tastes hoppy to now know that a rye whiskey tastes spicy or a Maryland rye tastes sweet.” - Monica Pearce

When Monica had the kind of day that makes a person put every penny they have into starting a brand new distillery, she didn’t expect her nonprofit work to translate into her new endeavor. She had been marketing for conservancy practices in the populations that coexisted with endangered species; her work followed along the lines of the Smokey the Bear campaign. Getting humans to change their behavior was a much harder sell than a delicious bottle of whiskey. “I never thought that it would be something that I would end up using, and then I realized that corporate marketing principles are almost exactly the same.” Monica explains. “Having that structure and that base…is different than a lot of other people I’ve known in the industry.” she tells us. It’s no secret that Tenth Ward Distilling is woman-owned; Monica even has the words ‘whiskey woman’ tattooed across her forearm in a flowing script. She had heard from others that she needed to be marketing more to that facet of the business–especially after she bought out her male business partner in 2018. “I kept hearing more and more advice from people to start pushing that as a part of our branding.” she says. 

Monica has met with her share of friction due to her sex. When she was searching out commercial real estate and getting her space outfitted, she ran into a ‘good old boys’ culture between the local contractors and the city of Frederick. She had to learn how to navigate that world, all while proving that yes, actually, she did know what she was doing. “When I started Tenth Ward, I had a lot of experiences where people didn’t trust that I knew what I was talking about when I was pouring a sample at a farmer’s market, for example. It’s funny because a lot of those times, they ended up sounding more like an idiot than I did. They’d be like ‘I’ll come back when you have a 5-year Scotch available,’ and I’d be like ‘Well, we can’t legally make Scotch because we’re in America, so…’” Monica trails off with an amused smile. She hasn’t forgotten what she went up against, and works hard to provide opportunities to everyone who wants to work in the business.  “It’s very interesting to see how our staff is typically, in our demographic, because I don’t seek to hire women; they almost seek us out more than anything. We just happen to have the majority of our qualified candidates being in a certain whatever-it-might-be, and it’s kind of cool that it happened that way.” she tells us. “We also are, of course, very LGBTQ+ friendly, and I’ve noticed because of that and because of the way that Tenth Ward has organically grown our look, our brand, our vibe, is that we’ll have customers come in and say ‘This is one of the only places we want to go to, because we feel comfortable being here..we feel accepted here’.” Monica says. “I’m super proud of that.” she finishes. 

Tenth Ward’s emphasis on inclusion and connection–and Monica’s marketing savvy–is best demonstrated by their bottle and canned cocktail clubs. “Our members are our biggest supporters, and they are the base of what we embody with ‘ward off ordinary’.” Monica explains. Both clubs are free to join, an unusual choice when most distilleries and wineries charge a signup fee for their memberships. “Based on our research, we found that is a huge barrier to gaining members. Instead, we offer free signups and bill the customers per each release.” Monica tells us. Within these clubs–whose releases are never made available to the public–is where Tenth Ward gets to, in Monica’s words, ‘get weird’. “The canned cocktail and the bottle club, they’ve got the stuff where our customers are like, ‘I want something different every time, I want something I’ve never heard of, I want it to blow my mind.’” she says. 

“I’m baffled to think of where we are, now that we’re closer to Tenth Ward turning ten than we were to even Tenth Ward turning five, which I never thought we would even…I couldn’t picture what we would look like then.” - Monica Pearce

Today, Tenth Ward Distilling has a 9,000 square foot space, where their 1,000 L hybrid pot still, ‘Falcor’, 2,000 L ‘Ashtun the Mashtun’, and the most recently added 2,000 L pot still ‘Mama Bear’ are busy warding off ordinary. They also have 6,000 square feet of space decidated to their tasting room, Cocktail Lab and event space; in the last year, Tenth Ward hosted 30 ‘whiskey hall’ weddings and 60 non-wedding events. As we speak with Monica and Kay on a web call, another Tenth Ward representative enters the frame: Kay’s new baby, all curly hair and plump cheeks in a blue onesie. “He’s obsessed with mechanical stuff, you know, metal, remotes, all that kind of stuff. It’s from being pregnant working around heavy machinery, you know?” she jokes as she gathers him into her arms. Monica’s drive to shift behavior for positive change, to create space for the rare and wondrous to exist side by side with the mundane, has resulted in an extraordinary entry into the craft whiskey world. Tenth Ward Distilling is something new in the industry’s landscape, something promising and worth protecting. Go check it out for yourself, next time you’re near D.C. or Baltimore; make the drive to Frederick, and sit down in their Cocktail Lab for a Perfect Penicillin made with their smoked corn whiskey, or a Negroni featuring their Genever gin. We imagine that, no matter your walk of life, you’ll find a warm welcome and an experience well outside of the ordinary.

Tasting Notes

Maryland Rye Whiskey ( 45% ABV)

Nose: Pumpernickel Rye Bread, Honey, Black Licorice, Raw Sugar, Fresh Ground Pepper

Palate: The mouthfeel is soft and sweet up front with hints of cane sugar, rye grain, maple and apricots. Soft baking spices, black licorice and subtle oak come through in the midpalate leading to a short finish with lingering notes of fresh ground pepper and vanilla.

Considering the age and the proof, this is a very smooth whiskey with very little burn. They are definitely successful in toning down the big bold spice notes typically found in rye and pushing forward a nice balance of sweetness that the Maryland style is known for. It still has some growing up to do, but it’s quite enjoyable and clear that this is heading in a wonderful direction.

Smoked Bourbon Whiskey (45% ABV)

Nose: Smoke, Brine, Rubber, Tennis Ball

Palate: The mouthfeel remains soft. The front of the palate has similar sweetness to the rye with a bit more subtly. Cane sugar sweetness is quickly met with the smoke which pulls out some molasses and fennel notes. The smoke persists throughout leading to a short finish with some burnt sugar and rubber notes.

This is a very interesting whiskey, and perhaps the best example of an American smoked whiskey that compares to what peat smoke is to Islay scotches. That said, it’s a bit overpowering. The smoke overwhelms the senses to the point where it is difficult to appreciate much else. We are curious to see how the new smoked recipe plays.

Genever Inspired Gin ( 45% ABV)

Nose: Juniper, Lemon Grass, Cardamom, Persimmon

Palate: Once again the mouthfeel is soft with sweet cane sugar flavor up front. The sweetness is balanced out with notes of lemon, orange, ginger, sandalwood and juniper berry on a short finish.

This is a really lovely gin. The underlying sweetness that comes from the combination of the cane sugar and rye distillate base creates a nice balance for the botanicals which are light, herbal and citrus forward in a way that is very approachable.

Absinthe Nouvelle (70% ABV)

Nose: Licorice, Fennel, Taffy, Mike and Ikes

Palate: The mouthfeel is hot and coating. The front of the palate is very sweet with licorice and fennel. Floral notes burst through in the midpalate leading to a long finish with hints of coconut and banana. 

We liked this absinthe a lot. It feels both traditional and unconventional at the same time. Very “Ward Off Ordinary.” Despite the high proof, it is very enjoyable to drink. The texture is almost syrupy, and adding some cold water not only provides the very satisfying louche effect, but also helps to draw out more complexity in the spirit.