Had the chance to head out to Old Elk distillery in Ft Collins, CO to go pick a couple barrels for our local club. Very cool little setup they have going there. Their master distiller, Greg Metze, ran MGP for 38 years before looking to try somewhere new. They don't currently distill any product, but are ramping up for it. In the meantime they're an NDP selling barrels from misc places... though seemingly largely MGP (which means Greg technically WAS master distiller on those barrels as well).
Some Images:
https://imgur.com/a/pkApWQk
We had the luxury of having a pilot in the pick crew so the 8 of us flew out in a newly remodeled King Air, landing in Ft Collins Regional Airport.
We got settled into the hotel (Mariott) and then rolled over the "The Preserve", Old Elk's tasting room / restaurant in the heart of Ft Collins. Very nice tasting room with an excellent menu. I went with the Elk Pot Pie and Shishuto peppers... tasty. We enjoyed a few rounds of cocktails then headed to the warehouse where their barrels / bottling are. Old Elk picked up the tab for lunch and cocktails which is standard for barrel picks like this.
Warehouse is a pretty standard NDP setup. Hand bottled currently, though an automated line is in place and getting dialed in. They've got several bays of barrels and a nice tasting bar setup.
We tasted 4 barrels each of Straight Bourbon, Double Wheat (Wheat Whiskey), and their Wheated Bourbon. After a couple rounds narrowing it down over the course of a couple hours, including a final blind round of 4 barrels...we settled on two Wheated Bourbon barrels.
Later on we hit The Still : Whiskey and Steaks for dinner. Was a tasty dinner and their "Meat Pile" appetizer is worth checking out (A pile of 4oz Filets and some rolls). Grab a steak and a roll and go to town