Presented by Tenacity for
The Bourbon Friday Show with Adam Stumpf from Stumpy’s Spirits Distillery
On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show, we had the opportunity to talk with Adam Stumpf, Owner and Distiller at Stumpy’s Spirits.
On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show, we had the opportunity to talk with Adam Stumpf, Owner and Distiller at Stumpy’s Spirits.
Stumpy’s Spirits—Capturing Homegrown Flavor
This week on The Bourbon Friday Show we had the opportunity to do a tasting featuring Stumpy’s spirits, based right outside St. Louis in Colombia, IL
Stumpf’s entrepreneurial journey started off in college due to an interest in alcohol and spirit distillation. Upon graduation, he started working for Anheuser-Busch and soon after went to Washington University to get his MBA. It was there that Stumpf saw the saturation in the craft beer market and became focused on the spirits industry. From there he hashed out the details of starting and owning a distillery. Then, a little over four years ago, Stumpy’s Spirits began.
The first spirit up for tasting was the Old Monroe Single Barrel Select Bourbon Whiskey. This four-grain high rye bourbon has an unmistakable spice from the rye, yet is balanced out by more common bourbon notes of caramel and vanilla from the wood it was aged in.
Though it’s uncommon for a distillery that only just passed it’s four year mark, Stumpy’s is proud to say that everything that goes in their bottles is made themselves—they don’t source whiskey from other distilleries.
“So what we did to create value for consumers was build a single source distillery and really take the Napa Valley approach to distilling and try to put the taste of a region inside our bottle,” says Stumpf “so we decided to grow all of our own grains.” To accomplish this the distillery sits on the same farmland that’s been in Stumpf’s family for 8 generations.
The next spirit was the new bottling of Old Monroe Bourbon, so new it went from barrel to bottle just that afternoon.
While this spirit is made with all the same grains as the one before, they are included in different quantities—exemplifying one of the many ways Stumpy’s experiments to make its products better and more interesting to the consumer. Specifically, this whiskey has higher wheat and corn quantities, making it less spicy and sweeter and more mellow.
To round off the tasting experience, Stumpf also brought samples of the Old Monroe Pecan Pie Flavored Whiskey as well as their seasonal Unbroken Peach Flavored Vodka flavored with peaches from Eckert’s. Because these two spirits do not require the aging, they are sold to generate the cash flow necessary to keep the day-to-day operations running.
While distillery has recently doubled production capacity, they are always looking to do more to provide the best possible experience to their guests. So they will be building an expanded tasting room, as well as, a 300 person event space.
If you’re interested in learning more about Stumpy’s Spirits or scheduling a distillery tour, go to http://stumpysspirits.com/us/.