YOUNG HEARTS AND FREE SPIRITS

YOUNG HEARTS & FREE SPIRITS

WRITTEN BY CARRIE DOW /// PHOTOGRAPHY BY LONG YAU

As a horticulturist, Mena Killough enjoyed working with plants. As an herbalist and vice president of the North Carolina Herb Association, she would take plants and create special hydrosols while working for organizations as varied as the Carolina Panthers and the Duke Mansion. As a bartender, she used both skills to combine herbs and alcohol into unique cocktails.

“I had all these different types of education that didn’t seem to connect, but somehow within me I made them connect,” stated Killough, a graduate of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in Asheville, North Carolina. It was while bartending at Kiki/Tattoo bistro and bar in Charlotte that she had a desire to take her skills to the next level through spirits distillation. As she began exploring that option, she ran into the steamroller that was COVID-19 shutting down the restaurant. However, as they say, when one door closes ...

“I was given the opportunity with Unknown Brewing to launch their hand sanitizer program,” she said. Brad Shell, the brewery’s owner, had an 80-gallon still he used to make small-batch, experimental spirits under the name Wood & Grain. That program, like at many other distilleries, quickly switched to desperately needed hand sanitizer. Needing additional help, Shell contacted an out-of-work Killough.

“I’d always wanted to learn spirits distillation, but was kind of afraid of making somebody go blind,” she admitted with a laugh. “I got used to working on the column still, which was new for me. With the plant water, I was working on a small alembic. That helped build my proficiency and getting comfortable on a larger system.”

While at Unknown, Killough was encouraged by her new boss and some friends to try another opportunity, competing on Discovery Channel’s Moonshiner: Master Distiller TV show.

“I had only been distilling a month before I went through the vetting process,” she acknowledged. “I thought, ‘You know what, if I make it, surely I won’t win, but it’ll be a great learning opportunity.’” Not only was she selected, the episode’s absinthe focus was right up her herbalist alley. “I had all these different types of education that didn’t seem to connect, but somehow within me I made them connect.” — Mena Killough

“I had been growing all these herbs in my garden that would be great components for absinthe and dug them out and put them in little pots and put them all in my car. It was like a little greenhouse going all the way to Tennessee,” she quipped about the drive to the TV studio. Despite competing against two better-established West Coast distillers — and much to her own amazement — Killough won. Along with being the best representation of the spirit (high proof, deep green color, turns cloudy when cold water added), the show’s judges thought her distinctive touches like the addition of raisins in the mash and lemon balm, mugwort, and yarrow for coloration and flavor made her absinthe the winner.

Last spring another opportunity sprouted, moving her to North Carolina’s capital. The partners behind Trophy Brewing Company decided during the shutdown to convert their downtown Raleigh brewery/eatery Trophy Tap + Table into a new restaurant with a distillery so they could make their own spirits for the bar program.

“When the pandemic hit, we took a step back and thought about what makes our other places special to us,” said co-owner David “Woody” Lockwood. “It’s always been connecting people to the process.”

After renaming the operation to Young Hearts, Lockwood and his partners went looking for a distiller, however, they couldn’t find quite the right person.

“We went on the hunt for someone like-minded,” described Lockwood. “Everybody wants bourbon. We want bourbon too, but we know that’s going to be down the road so we were looking for herbal and bitter, those fun Italian liqueurs. Someone who we interviewed who was really qualified — we loved him — he was just laser-focused on bourbon. We were like, we don’t think our visions align for this project.” That same interviewee later told Lockwood he knew someone who was the right fit. That person was Killough.

“We’ve worked around brewers who just want to come in, brew their beer, and hand it off to the bar and don’t want that connection to the guest,” said Lockwood, “but knowing the person that made that product also has a mind of how it’s going to end up in your glass is a lot of fun to watch.” “We’ve worked around brewers who just want to come in, brew their beer, and hand it off to the bar and don’t want that connection to the guest, but knowing the person that made that product also has a mind of how it’s going to end up in your glass is a lot of fun to watch.” — David “Woody” Lockwood

PHOTOGRAPH BY LADYE JANE

Young Hearts opened in August 2021 with vodka and a now locally popular gin designed by Killough. She is thrilled to put her botanical knowledge to use with these distinctive spirits.

“I’m looking at the botanicals and reading the cell wall and how the steam is going to move through the gin basket,” she noted. “I also like to manipulate where I place the botanicals through the system. It depends on the structure of the plant. Sometimes you think some things are delicate and need to go in a certain spot, but the way they get moistened you realize they should go in the pot.”

She also considers how people will experience the finished product. Young Hearts gin is a perfect example.

“It’s very citrus-heavy, but I carry most of the citrus flavor through botanicals,” she stated. “Lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, those herbs are uplifting, really bright and shiny. That’s what I want people to feel when they’re drinking my gin. I want them to feel their inner sparkle.” She also purposely built a ‘wet’ gin to complement the restaurant’s food.

“That was a consideration of how I wanted the gin to sit in your mouth,” she noted. “You’re having a dining experience. Do you really want a super-dry gin? No, you want to be able to get digestion going and having a wet mouth is the first step of digestion.”

She recently put the finishing touches on an amaro and she’s lobbying Lockwood for a second gin basket.

“I want to get a second basket put on so that different botanicals can sit in different places. It carries over differently,” she explained. While her botanical background makes many things easier, there is still trial and error in the creative process. It’s a process she enjoys because it helps her get the spirits where she wants them to be.

“I love formulating and playing,” she emphasized. “I think that part of it is really understanding what the essence of that spirit is and letting it talk to you instead of you trying to manipulate the situation.”

Young Hearts Distilling is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information visit www.trophybrewing.com/young-hearts-distilling or call (919) 424-7817.