SPIRITED ART

Distiller Josh Malone. PHOTO COURTESY OF BARDENAY

Bardenay Spirits are Crafted in Idaho

By April Neale

One of Idaho’s older distilleries, Bardenay Distillery, is devoted to proving itself as a standard maker, mover, and shaker among the growing collection of distilleries in the Gem State. Its first releases go back to Prohibition days, as Josh Malone, the production manager for Bardenay Distillery, tells us they were the first public distillery (a distillery combined with a bar) post-Prohibition in the United States. Cut to 1999, and the landmark brick warehouse on the Basque Block in downtown Boise, Idaho, was where the Federal Government issued Bardenay the first permit ever given to a distiller to operate in a public space. Then on April 25, 2000, Bardenay served the first cocktail with spirits crafted right on the premises.

\Bardenay’s gleaming copper still produces light rum, dry gin, and vodka from fermented sugar cane.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BARDENAY

They make award-winning craft dry gin, vodka, rum, and whiskey, all of which make up their well brands for lucky imbibers who come in for the classic cocktails they tastefully turn out. “We make different products at each location. We have three distilleries, and each distillery makes different products,” said Malone. “Here in Boise, we make rums and whiskey. In Coeur d’Alene, we make vodka; in Eagle, Idaho, we make gin, lemon vodka, and fruit liquors. Each one makes different products and is made in a different process.” Malone noted that their ambitions are to distribute beyond Idaho’s borders someday. “In the retail world, our gin is the flagship, but like other establishments, we sell lots of vodkas,” he said. “You can purchase all of our spirits in Idaho liquor stores. We have been growing our quality versus a push to sell out of the state, but that potential distribution is hopefully in the near future.”

How do they create a dry gin? Malone said that the botanicals begin with the classic note of juniper. Critics have penned poetic prose saluting Bardenay’s artistic hand with a spirit few realize is a complex melange of nature’s most aromat- ic herbs. Bardenay’s gins come at you with subdued flavors of peppery spices, citrus, herbal roots, and even floral notes that are essential to any mixologist. “Our gin is distilled, then juniper berry is added, being the staple flavor. And then we work in twelve botanicals for the final finished spirit,” said Malone.

The Moscow Idaho Mule is a beautifully reworked cocktail that is a Bardenay best-seller.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BARDENAY

The craft approach mirrors the ethos in their Bardenay restaurants; everything is made from scratch and can be described as field to table. Malone noted this local Idaho supplier connection. “So fermentation, distillation, flavoring, filtration, and bottling—we do everything at each location from scratch and from start to finish. All our spirits are made onsite from start to finish. We ferment sugar, water, yeast, and other nutrients for seven to ten days, then the distillation process through the still,” he said. “At that point, we have high-proof alcohol. And then we decide what we’re going to make with it. We currently purchase our grain through an Idaho producer and have Idaho rye for our whiskey. We don’t use coloring. Our rum is also made with 1% caramel from a hundred percent cane sugar.”

Taste the spirit of Idaho in all of Bardenay’s spirits!