New distillery, Eagle River Whisky, opens south of Vail

The old proverb, “necessity is the mother of invention,” describes how a new distillery in Minturn, Eagle River Whisky was formed.

“I couldn’t quite find a Scotch I liked and once I figured out that I could source my own ingredients, I decided to give it a try and make my own,” said Eagle River Whisky’s Spence Neubauer.

That’s Spence without the “r” and whisky without the “e,” just like how it is spelled in Scotland.

Spence Neubauer and his wife, Stefanie, came up with the idea to create Eagle River Whisky in the fall of 2021.

“My wife works as an anesthesiologist at the hospital and I’m a stay-at-home dad. This has been in the works for about two years and then we got the lease from Earle Bidez our mayor in Minturn so we are leasing the space. The town has been incredibly supportive, whether it’s town hall, planning or anyone we talk to. We just put our whisky sign out right next to the coffee sign,” Neubauer said, referring to the sign Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Company has along Highway 24. The new distillery is next door to the roastery café.

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Neubauer is originally from New Hampshire and his wife is from Colorado. They both met when he was working as a ski patroller for Copper Mountain. The two love living a slower-paced life and enjoy fishing, knitting and listening to music the old-fashioned way – on the record player. That throwback to a simpler time and place is evident in the distillery’s tasting room, where you’ll find dark woodwork, vintage photos, antique chairs, and, the record player spinning as you come through the door.

“This was an old audio/visual office space and we tore up the carpet, re-did the floors and our vision was to turn it into a Scottish pub. My wife designed it, everything down to the wainscoting, we painted it all and got the decor to match the look and feel. It’s just kind of like a place where you want to hang out. That’s what we made. Or, my wife made and I went along with it,” joked Neubauer.

The love of Scotch came from Neubauer’s father.  

“My dad liked Scotch, it was either Glenlivet or Dewar’s on the rocks if they didn’t have Glenlivet. And then in college, that’s what my friends and I drank, when we had the money to splurge on it,” Neubauer said. “I wanted a Scotch in the U.S. that was peated and tasted like that and is 100% barley and I couldn’t find anything locally or really even close, so that’s when I said, ‘let’s just do it.'”

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Eagle River Whisky has three products for sale out of their location in Minturn. Dowds is a signature blended whisky curated from a selection of Colorado single malt whiskies that creates a full-bodied blend with rich taste. Pocket Water is distilled in the Scottish style with imported barley and aged in local bourbon barrels. Gilman is a single barrel limited release of their whisky distilled from 100% barley, aged in American oak.

The names reflect the areas close to Eagle River Whisky – literally and figuratively.

“That goes back to a tradition in Scotch where a lot of them use just the place where they’re from, like Oban is just the name of the town, Oban, and Glenlivet means the valley where they are from, so we are trying to keep that kind of tradition of naming it after the places,” Neubauer said. “We also want to give back to the river that gives us so much. We’re donating 1% of proceeds to the Eagle River Watershed Council.”

Eagle River Whisky had its soft opening on June 15 where people got to try it for the first time.

“I made a whisky that I liked and everyone else there said they liked it, so that was a relief!” said Neubaurer.

Eagle River Whisky will start making a name for itself and is already traveling to events. Neubauer will be at the So Co Still Fest in Colorado Springs this Saturday and the Minturn Market on Saturdays from July 1 to Sept. 2.

“At our booth at the Minturn Market this summer we’ll have a speakeasy feel. My wife built a false wall in the booth so when you pull the book, the door opens, and it looks like a bookcase is opening up and that goes into a little back room where you can sit and enjoy the whisky if you want,” Neubauer said.

Eagle River Whisky will also have tasting room hours Wednesdays through Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays after the Minturn Market you can find them back at the distillery tasting room from 2 to 5 p.m. They are also available by appointment and for private events. For more information, go to ERWhisky.com.