Jess Graber, a volunteer firefighter, met George Stranahan in 1998 at a barn fire. In 2004 they opened Colorado's first legal distillery since Prohibition, in Denver. Every bottle starts as 100 percent malted barley in new charred American oak, and Stranahan's helped win American Single Malt federal recognition in 2025.
It is known for Snowflake. One batch a year, released the first Saturday of December, finished in casks it never repeats, so each bottle is a whiskey the distillery cannot make again. People camp overnight in Denver for a three bottle limit, and it sells out that day. The rest of the range states an age and a proof.
