On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show we had the opportunity to talk with Dave Weglarz, founder and owner of StilL 630 Spirits, about his journey into the world of bourbon and other craft spirits.
Locally Distilled Indomitable Spirits
While graduating with a degree in English may not scream future master distiller for many, it marks as the starting point for StilL 630’s owner and head distiller, Dave Weglarz. Directly after graduation, Weglarz moved to North Carolina to become a professional river rafting guide before moving to Chicago for a career as a futures trader.
Several years later, Weglarz experienced burnout from his career and decided to take the plunge into owning his own business. After experiencing the craft beer boom that was happening in Chicago during 2009 and 2010, Weglarz became deeply interested in the craft alcohol scene— leading him to create StilL 630, which began on June 30th, 2011 here in St. Louis.
Since then Weglarz and the StilL 630 team has created many different products and explored many different flavors with their spirit lineup, and fortunately for us, Weglarz also brought several of those unique spirits for us to try during this show.
Spirit Tasting with StilL 630
Up first is the StilL 630 Monon Bell Bourbon. Monon Bell was the first bourbon to be released by StilL 630 back in 2016. This bourbon gets its name from the legendary football game that takes place between Wabash College (Weglarz’s alma mater) and DePauw University each year, in which the victor’s prize is the 300lb Monon Bell taken from the train that once connected the two towns. StilL 630 releases a new version of Monon Bell, with it’s perfectly blended spices plus caramel and vanilla notes, to commemorate the game each year.
Next is the StilL Modern Arkham’s Opus whiskey based off a local brewery collaboration. This whiskey was created through the little-known process of distilling finished beer to make whiskey. Specifically, StilL 630 distilled Modern Brewery’s Biere de Garde, and then finished that whiskey in the Opus One wine barrel that Modern Brewery used to age their chocolate, coffee stout: Arkham’s Finest. This whiskey creates a unique combination of candied floral flavors with rich chocolate notes.
Surprisingly, the third spirit isn’t a bourbon or a whiskey, but rather a gin. Volstead’s Folly, named after Andrew Volstead who wrote the Volstead Act, which was used to enforce prohibition in the United States. This gin is distilled with over 200 different botanicals in order to give it a bit of a juniper forward flavor, but to also make it a little more on the savory side with notes of sage, elderberry, and lemongrass.
If you want to learn more, or if you would like to try some of StilL 630’s newest creations, they are doing First Fridays where people can come and sample a new, experimental spirit each month. For more information go to StilL 630’s Facebook page or https://www.still630.com/events/.