There are No Shortcuts at Laws. That is their motto. They always have and always will distill every drop they bottle. While their whiskey aged, Alan didn’t sell any whiskey for the first three years. Time is as critical of an ingredient as the heirloom grains used in every batch. Every mash bill gets its own optimal distillation process, and they deploy time-intensive sour mash fermentation. Laws is the first Colorado distiller to bottle bonded whiskeys. For them, these steps are not extra, they’re mandatory to create Laws Whiskey.
At Laws, no person has the title ‘Master Distiller.’ They believe it takes the talents, smarts, quirks and obsessive passion of every Laws co-worker, aka The Village, to make their whiskey. In the Laws Village, you are part of something so much greater than self.
The soulful, rich flavors of the no-compromise whiskey begin with the use of only heirloom and heritage grains. Modern agricultural has no interest in these low-yield, finicky grains, yet they could not create the singular profile of each Laws Whiskey without them. Laws is dependent on the two family-owned farms – the Cody’s in the San Luis Valley and the Ohnmacht’s out on Colorado’s eastern plains – willing to cultivate these specialized grains for us.
Carmen Lucia Barajas Cárdenas or “Melly” to her friends is one of the leading ladies in the tequila industry. She always knew she wanted to be a tequila boss. After years of apprenticeship in the male dominated Tequila Industry, she purchased land in the highlands of Jalisco called Valle de Guadalupe and constructed her own distillery, Vinos y Licores Azteca (NOM 1533). She commited to hire only women from the rural area and to teach them all she knew, from operating fermentation tanks to bottling and more. She also established a learning center and living quarters at the distillery for her all female staff.
When asked if she was changing the tequila industry she said she is not sure she has changed anything in the industry. but they’ve changed the lives of many women in the town where the distillery is located in Valle de Guadalupe, Jalisco. “Besides teaching them how to make very good tequila, we’ve taught them that because we’re women, we are limited by NOTHING.”
Some call it a “session tequila”. Very vegetal, without the overt sweetness, oakiness or caramel that is often associated with highland reposado. You will not find a rounder finish in the reposado world. The distinct bottle is handmade from 100% recycled glass from Coca-Cola bottles in the Guadalajara neighborhood of Tonalá.