BEHIND THE SHINING STILL

Idaho’s Bardenay Distillery

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BARDENAY

By Chelsea Chambers

It was December 5, 1933. Amendment 21 was added to the U.S. Constitution and after 13 long years, Prohibition was over. People danced in the streets, gleefully celebrating alongside friends and neighbors. Hidden bottles were brought out of basements and from underneath floorboards for a country-wide jubilee.

A lot has changed in the decades that followed what became known as Repeal Day—among them, a flourishing resurgence in the art of spirits and distillation, finally above ground and out from under the thumb of federal control.

66 years post-Prohibition, history was made again in December 1999. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms granted Idaho’s Bardenay the first post-Prohibition permit to distill alcohol in a public space, specifically in a restaurant where the spirits would be sold. Bardenay, whose name hails from a sailing term meaning “cocktail,” became one of America’s first craftdistilleries and the first to do so inside a restaurant.

Ensconced behind a large glass partition in the corner of their downtown Boise location, Bardenay’s shining brass and chrome still is the cornerstone of their restaurants. With the still in operation, wooden barrels lining the walls, and vats fermenting their latest batch of water, sugar, and yeast, diners and bar patrons can watch the magic of their cocktails come to life in real time as expert distillers move from still to barrel to bottle and more.

“We make everything from scratch here at Bardenay,” said Distillery Manager Josh Malone. “Whether that’s hand-squeezing the fruit for our cocktails or making the spirits themselves.”

Bardenay is a full-service distillery, operating in (soon-to-be) four locations, with their original downtown Boise location, Eagle, Coeur d’Alene, and their upcoming space in Garden City. The Garden City operation stands to be the largest to date. They do everything themselves—fermentation, distillation, filtration, and bottling. After completing the extensive process, Bardenay sells and buys back the liquor from the state of Idaho, which is what allows them to work within the complicated liquor laws. Their spirits are then distributed for sale at all Idaho State Liquor Stores and each of the Bardenay locations.

Malone and his team hand-produce several distinct spirits: rum, whiskey, gin, vodka, lemon vodka, and an assortment of tantalizing liqueurs. “We only use fruit produced in the Northwest,” he explained. “We process and macerate it all in-house. The lemons used for the lemon vodka are handzested; it’s all naturally flavored by the lemons themselves.”

They are currently working on a coffee liqueur, which will be the latest addition to their ever-growing cocktail menu. Additionally, they make strawberry, cherry, blueberry, banana, and cassis liqueurs, to name a few. Cassis is a beautiful and flavorful dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants.

The Garden City location is slated to open by the end of 2024. In the meantime, Malone and the Bardenay distillery team are busy facilitating distillery tours to those interested in learning about the process, as well as continuing to bottle craft-spirits worthy of the restaurant’s long and storied history.