Welcome to our Happy Hour Question & Answer series, where we ask questions to interesting people in the alcohol world.

This week’s spotlight is on Nels Wroe, co-founder of Dry Land Distillers in Colorado. Dry Land Distillers is a small-batch craft distillery in the heart of downtown Longmont that produces unique spirits influenced and inspired by Colorado’s landscapes. With a focus on reestablishing ancient grains and choosing ingredients with a purpose, Dry Land Distillers produces Heirloom, Antero and Emmer Wheat Whiskey, Cactus Spirit made with prickly pear cactus, Native Colorado Gin, and other spirits that represent the authentic flavors of the American West.

Hops & Spirits: How did you get into the spirits/alcohol industry?
Nels Wroe: Teresa (my spouse) and I have always been food- and flavor-oriented. We’re not chefs, but certainly make a great team in the kitchen. Both of us were born and raised in the west, and at some point, we realized how much this shaped our view of the world. When we tasted some of the first Colorado spirits, we noticed that most of them were produced using alcohol from other states or using grains that probably shouldn’t be grown in the west. This was the motivation to dig in deep to better understand ingredients that are more appropriate – and authentic – to Colorado.

HS: You were a home brewer and a brewery was originally the idea?
NW: I was (am?) a home brewer. That experience offered a great baseline for understanding the process. A friend (who is a much better brewer than I) always had plans for a commercial brewery. When the opportunity came up to start something new, we decided Colorado was at ‘peak brewery’ – the market was saturated. We turned our attention to what was then a nascent industry of craft spirits. It was a good call.

HS: When did y’all turn to spirits? (AND) What pushed y’all to launch Dry Land Distilling?
NW: I had been in a completely different career for 25 years and decided it was time for a change. We discussed it as a family and decided that if we didn’t try something new now, we might not ever jump in. It was also a desire to become part of the growth and development of Longmont as a community – there was a lot of development happening in the city at that time, and we felt it was time for us to be more involved in building Longmont as a community we love.

HS: How did the founding team come together?
NW: It was surprisingly straightforward. I developed the model and the foundational vision, which was to create spirits that were authentic to the American west. My original partner (who was an award-winning home brewer) helped in the early stages, as did a key partnership with close friends at Still Cellars, one of the first craft distilleries in Colorado. Jason and Sadye took us under their wing and allowed us to use their space to develop and refine our recipes for production. This was a huge gift, and I’m forever grateful for their help. Our core team members, including our mixology lead and tasting room manager were friends who we invited into the mix – they are still with us today.

HS: Y’all use ancient grains and are very specific with your grains, why is that?
NW: We deliberately and carefully select grains and ingredients that are appropriate to grow in Colorado and the west. It’s surprising how significantly we’ve engineered our natural ecosystem to grow crops that would never stand a chance of surviving on their own. We select ingredients that are either native or at least appropriate for growing here without a significant amount of water, chemical fertilizer, or other engineered inputs. That significantly limits our options – and heritage and ancient grains are often the only ones that stand a reasonable chance of making it on their own. It’s a very difficult and expensive way to craft spirits, but we can stand tall knowing that they are true representations of the lands where we grew up.

HS: How do those grains impact the whiskey and spirits y’all make?
NW: The ingredients are everything – all our spirits showcase the flavors and complexity of the original crop. We intentionally craft our products to highlight these ingredients – for example, our whiskies are 100% single grain malted wheat that we distill to highlight the grain-forward flavors. We don’t over-oak or over-age our spirits because we don’t want the flavors of the ingredients to be overwhelmed by the barrel. We add nothing except water – we don’t even add enzymes during our mash, relying only on what the ingredients provide. Peer distillers always tell us it’s ridiculous way to make spirits – it’s a terribly difficult process – but it is true to place. The final spirits are complex, subtle, delicious, and sometimes perspective-changing. One of my favorite moments was a family hosting their grandfather’s 90^th birthday party. He sipped our Heirloom Wheat Whiskey and his face glowed with delight. He said it brought back memories of him working the fields with his father – he could taste and smell his life memories. It was a powerful moment for him and for me.

HS: Y’all even make a cactus spirit? What is that and how did that come to be?
NW: Originally, our plans were to craft a mezcal-style spirit from agave that theoretically grows in Southern Colorado. A good friend from Sonora was pivotal in teaching us about Bacanora, a beautiful, smoky spirit that is made from the same high-altitude variety of Agave. Try as we might, we could never source raw agave hears – not only domestically, but even from Mexico it was virtually impossible. We refused to use any pre-processed ingredients, such as agave syrup, which made things even more challenging. Frustrated, I was on a hike with our new Border Collie pup on a trail outside town when she learned a hard lesson about native prickly pear cactus. Removing the spines from her pads gave me the idea – prickly pear sure seems similar to agave. That led us on a research journey with Colorado State University, ultimately deciding to develop a recipe for an original Cactus spirit. It’s absolutely delicious – smoky, earthy, and slightly sweet. It’s used like a high-quality mezcal, and changes the game for any margarita! This spirit just won the 2023 Good Food Awards for the quality and sustainability of our production.

HS: What’s next/coming up from you all?
NW: We’re partnering with the University of Wyoming on a program to return Emmer to the Bighorn Basin in northern Wyoming. Emmer is the oldest known domesticated grain, likely 45,000 years old. UW has grown a pilot crop, and we are working on a 100% single grain Emmer Wheat Whiskey. It’s the only one we can find in the world, extraordinarily rare. Our first barrels are simply amazing – deep, rich, sweet and nutty right off the still. We can’t wait to release this in 2024.

HS: Where can folks find Dry Land spirits? Or get more information?
NW: Visit www.drylanddistillers.com for our story, to order spirits (pickup at the distillery), or to sign up for access to our limited release spirits such as the Emmer Whiskey Project. The only way to get most of our spirits is through the distillery, so I encourage anyone interested in getting a bottle to get on our mailing list.