MASTER DISTILLER & KENTUCKY COLONEL
BY SHEILA YASMIN MARIKAR AND ROBERT SERGENT
That term came to mind the first time I visited the headquarters of Alpine Distilling, in Park City, Utah? Rob and Sara Sergent, the husband and wife that founded the company in 2016, had led me through a tour of their facilities, encouraging me to sample Bourbon straight from the barrel as they talked at length about what compelled them to start Alpine and what made their spirits unique. It quickly dawned on me that, while pot stills, pH levels, and mountain water are all well and good, what sets Alpine apart from the pack is something else. It’s them, devoted stewards of spirits thriving in unlikely terrain, the heart of Utah.
Expertise, hospitality, and warmth — Rob and Sara possess it in spades, which was made even more clear when I visited Alpine Distilling’s Social Aid & Pleasure Club in downtown Park City. The subterranean space, alluringly lit and replete with cushy couches, feels like an extension of the Sergents’ living room, a place to showcase their passion for bottled spirits as well as the strength of the human spirit. It’s a venue to gather with friends, to corral around a cause, to indulge in a sublime slice of Apple pie, which is served with a piece of sharp cheddar cheese on the side, the better to bring out the sweetness of the filling. It’s unlike any other bar or lounge — a space with a purpose beyond consumption, that endeavors to better all who pass through its doors.
Knowing the caliber at which Alpine operates, it came as no surprise to learn that their most ambitious venture, Triple Oak Whiskey, received an impressive Platinum 98 score ranking. You could call Triple Oak the Sistine Chapel of whiskeys, the Ulysses of whiskeys, the Porsche GT3 of whiskeys — or, you could do away with the metaphors and stick to the facts, best laid out by Rob, in his own words.
“A thing is neither better nor worse for having been praised.” Marcus Aurelius
A good man strives to cultivate greatness in his life. Great friends, great passions, great ambitions, and great love. Kim Gordon, the frontwoman of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, once wrote that men develop “triangles” — themselves, another person, and an object of desire or interest that completes the shape.
As I have gotten older, and perhaps wiser, the triangles in my life have strengthened and the alignment between passions, ambitions, friends, and love have come to overlap. Case in point: a few years ago, a request came to create a whiskey with a profile that this famous client couldn’t find — one redolent of vanilla but naturally balanced, sweet with wood sugars and fruit peels but with an elegant, soothing mouthfeel and a buttery finish. My immediate response: “absolutely.”
Crafting whiskey is the purest blend of art and science. For most of the process, assuming the distiller has the right training, the right ingredients, and the right equipment, the job is to follow determined points of time, temperature, pH, and others to ensure that desired attenuation, specific gravity, and other measurables are met. At our distillery it is far from automated, given Park City’s elevation, climate (lower atmospheric pressure and many snowy mornings frequently followed by balmy, sunny afternoons), and the fact that we’re pulling mountain water straight from the ground.
The matter of innovation often comes up during tours and tastings. We frequently get asked, how does Alpine “innovate” in the distilling space? I called on a friend, the innovative neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Masson, to help me best answer this question. In my mind, there was no innovation — one of my goals is to distill the way my great-grandfathers did in Corbin and Midway, Kentucky. Robert helped me understand that innovation, in my case, referred to the ways in which I deepened each stage of production to improve the outcome. He called it “perpetual limitless optimization,” and it helped us validate the investments we were making to transcend what we previously thought possible.
To introduce thermal energy, we cook and distill with a double-boiler, or bain-marie, which is a slow, sensitive method. As we cook, open-ferment, and pot distill on-grain, it is critical that we monitor our conditions like a motorcycle racer watches his bike. My good friend, developer & motorcyclist Mike Bradshaw, once told me, “It’s quite a relationship — loving something that can kill you.”
With Triple Oak, no step in the process was left unchallenged: the types of grain (corn, wheat, rye, and barley), the time and temperature of the water, whether to use a hammer mill, a roller mill, or stone, the crash time and temperature, the type of yeast, the fermentation temperature range, the attenuation goals, the distillation rate and proof. At Glenfiddich many years ago, the distiller shared that great whiskey is the result of millions of small, considerate steps that produce something special.
Due to the importance of the primary and secondary aging for Triple Oak, we worked closely with Chris Hansen to craft barrels and determine a barrel-entry proof that would compensate for our lower humidity levels, our water composition, and the flavors carried over from open fermentation. These barrels would allow for balanced lignin extraction early in the process, prior to oxidation, and the “softening” of the spirit as alcohol/water levels changed. Due to our significant temperature swings we anticipated and planned for evaporative loss into the entry-composition of our spirit distillate. The results have proven these steps worthy, even at barrel-proof we’ve never had a taster not compliment the whiskey on being smooth and balanced.
My friend Ken Weyand once told me about how at Grove XXIII, he alters the score cards daily to reflect wind and rain, as well as the tee and hole position. When I remarked that this seemed like a lot of effort, he replied, “If you can surprise people with experiences that improve what they had previously considered mundane, that is great value.”
Because of the single-barrel production philosophy of Triple Oak, we’re able to do that with our coopers, the people who make our barrels, and achieve outstanding results. Our complex, pre-sunrise, double-toasting process may lie outside of the interest of the average consumer; they may not care to learn about hand-split, quarter-sawn techniques which provide our best access to hemicellulose. But connoisseurs will appreciate the countless steps taken to ensure that only the best whiskey ends up in your glass.
As a Kentucky Colonel, a proud native, and son of the Bluegrass State, crafting whiskey in Utah—a state new to the spirit—has brought its own unique challenges. Culturally, we’ve found Utah to be remarkably pro-business and pro-innovation, which has been particularly beneficial for my wife’s vapor-extraction distillation process for botanicals. The community’s curiosity and support have been instrumental in our journey. Would Triple Oak be the same if it were made in Lexington? Certainly not. However, being a steward of this craft means appreciating and recognizing others who are performing at a high level—there are options out there. A special thanks to Dr. Pat Heist for his industry leadership.
