When you talk to Alan Scott, co-owner of Waterpocket Distillery, his multilingualism is immediately apparent. Without batting an eyelash, he digresses from Greek mythology to medical textbooks of medieval healers and happily gives his opinion on local politics (he’s not a fan of UDABS, but then who’s who? mosquito?).
After years of traveling the world, Alan and his wife Julia came to Utah. Fascinated by the vast deserts of southern Utah, and specifically Utah’s Waterpocket Fold, they put down roots and founded Waterpocket Distillery.
But their journey also colored their palates with memories of alpine herbal liqueurs from the Pyrenees, plum brandy from a Slovakian farmhouse, and the scent of anisette wafting from a group of beret-wearing old men in the south of France. . Waterpocket Distillers will be a vehicle for shared memories, fueled by Utah ingredients whenever possible.
At the heart of the operation, aside from two custom stills named “Witch” and “Warlock,” is Alan’s wife and partner, Julia, who keeps the operation on track and keeps Alan focused. When making artisan spirits like this, having a PhD/MBA in biochemistry never hurts. In the world of Walmart, there is little margin for error when distilling unicorn spirits.
Craftsmen who followed the muse rarely retired wealthy, and the construction of water pockets was understandably a daunting task. There was no peanut butter whiskey or cheap ethanol vodka to pay the utility bills, but Alan is proud to still be open seven years later. There is now a shop in Torrey, Utah, and Alan cheerfully points out that his mechanic is now drinking Kummel, his distilled caraway spirit (if gin and schnapps had a baby) ). As always, Alan is taking it one bottle at a time and his audience is slowly but surely growing.
Waterpocket’s product range includes three spirits. House Spirits — modern interpretations of old classics like gin and mushrooms — true to history, locally fueled interpretations of ancient bitter and amari liqueurs, and Long Lost Cathedral Valley — tailored to local tastes. A variety of pre-Prohibition European botanical spirits reinterpreted.
Waterpocket is a model of distilling integrity and transparency that few distilleries, both locally and internationally, can match. Most distilleries lie and obscure Cathedral Valley. The bigger the distillery, the bigger the crime.
Alan has nothing to hide. If he succeeds, he will tell you. He will tell you where things came from and when he started serving whiskey to generate income. He writes it neatly on the label. He informed us that he had sourced his whiskey from elsewhere – not something most whiskey makers do – and that’s what producers like Alan think of as a “farmer’s market” when they want to trade. UDABC will only make the business model more difficult with Walmart. Producers like Alan have to compete with generic brands from larger companies or risk delisting. When your only ultimate customer is a government bureaucrat, your existence becomes unstable.
In recent months, Alan has added a gin, Temple of the Moon. The gin is named after a sacred geological formation in Capitol Reef National Park’s Cathedral Valley and was inspired by the aroma and beauty of Utah’s highland juniper forests.
His most recent success is Fruita Triple Sec, which exploded in Utah’s bar community. This isn’t your parents’ dusty bottle of triple sec, but a historically accurate recreation of his original 1834 recipe by the Combier family of Saumur, with a Caribbean twist from the Dutch East India Company. is. Naturally, Alan did some research.
At the end of the day, Alan and his irreplaceable and indispensable wife Julia realize that they have taken Waterpocket from one unicorn to an entire stable. They realize they have chosen the difficult path of following their muse, but over time they find themselves building a devoted community. A tribe of uncompromising cocktail geeks will seek them out through hell or high water. One book at a time.
Featured image: Alan Scott working in the lab. Photo by John Taylor.