Gillman Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 (edited) Recently a bunch of bourbon friends including TomH and Barb visited this new distillery in central-western Ohio.This was the best small (craft) distillery visit I ever did. The property is impressive, the stilling is done in a wooden building built on part of the 40 acres that were developed from the original 160 acre concession. An ancestor of Missy Duer settled the property and established distilling there in 1820 as an adjunct to farming and milling activities. She said they had come from Pennsylvania. Missy is in a direct line from the first Staley and owns the property today. She runs the distilling part with her husband, Joe. The distillery was designed to operate as historically as possible, making a rye mash using records handed down by the Staley distillers of the 1800's and also using sources such as Sam M'Harry's distilling text from the first decade of the 1800's. There are well-written narratives on the walls (plus historic photos and artifacts) and a well-produced video that you watch first to explain the history of the property and distilling there and what the Duers are seeking to do.What really knocked me out was that the twin copper alembic stills they are using are the stills placed there by the first Staley distillers in 1820. I repeat, the same stills. They were stored on the property after Volstead stopped distilling there, after 100 years in other words. The Duers rescued them a few years ago, cleaned them up and fixed them, and set them a-boiling again. I couldn't get over the fact that these stills, almost 200 years old, are back in operation distilling a very similar mash to what the first operators did. Missy said the Staleys made rye whiskey, it was barreled and stored but apparently not aged all that long. There was no bottling from 1820-1920, she introduced bottling with this revived operation. Thus, even by the time Prohibition came, the Staleys were still making pot still whiskey for a local or regional market, probably similar to the original jug market that the pre-1920 Michter distillery (then under a different name of course) serviced. Very old-fashioned operation, and it is again.The make? One is bottled white, one is given a few months aging. I liked the aged one especially. It wasn't radically different from other young rye whiskeys I've had but I liked the fact that it came from those original stills. The white one was good too, I wish I had some but I was limited in what I could bring back and I bought just the aged one.Gary Edited July 19, 2013 by Gillman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Sounds like a fun excursion and an interesting operation. That's really remarkable about the stills. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Fascinating Gary, fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutton Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I love that they revived a bit of history - and are making a go of it, not just as a novelty/one-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted July 20, 2013 Author Share Posted July 20, 2013 What they are doing is real. I asked them, doesn't copper wear out after some decades? They said normally, yes, but the 1820 stills were made from extra-thick copper, all hand-hammered and fashioned.More info here and you can see the stills: www.staleymillfarmanddistillery.comGary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 What an extraordinary story, what price goods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbroo5880i Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 It sounds like they are still making rye. I see that the tour includes tasting. Are they selling product at the distillery? If so, do you know the age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil T Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Thanks for the report Gary. Our local newspaper did a very nice feature article about them sometime in the last year. Looks like I need to get off my butt and drive the 20 minutes and pay them a visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted July 20, 2013 Author Share Posted July 20, 2013 Two bottles are sold at the distillery, one is a rye whiskey which is aged in small barrels about 3 months, the other is unaged white rye mash. The price was around $60.00.Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 A copper still will wear out no matter how thick it is. Better explanation probably is that they were never used very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 (edited) Or replacements from long ago, beyond living memory. In the antique firearms world well meaning descendants will claim their old gun was used by an ancestor in the Revolutionary War and has been in the family ever since when in fact it's a Military pattern rifle manufactured 50 years after that war ended. Edited July 21, 2013 by squire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNovaMan Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 The website says they distilled 30-35 gallons a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 The website says they distilled 30-35 gallons a day.Take that as a statement of capacity, not necessarily output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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