Matt Blaum (left) and his brother, Mike.
What happens when two whiskey-loving brothers from Normal, Illinois, abandon their careers to pursue their passion?
If you’re Matt and Mike Blaum, you start your own distillery. The Blaum Bros. Distilling Company is now six years old and earlier this year released its first barrel-aged bourbon and rye whiskeys in Wisconsin, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The distillery began, as many do, by producing vodka and gin — white spirits that don’t require aging — to stimulate cash flow. Absinthe followed, as did HellFyre Vodka, produced
with clusters of black peppercorns, jalapeno and habanero peppers. That became a top seller.
But it’s the brown stuff — bourbon and rye each aged four years in new American oak and bottled at 100 proof — the brothers were waiting for.
The Blaums had no distilling experience before starting their company.
“We’re whiskey nerds who came at it through an appreciation of the product,” says Matt Blaum, company co-founder and CEO whose MBA qualifies him to run the business operations. “We just wanted to make an amazing whiskey, and we’re selling every drop of the brown stuff that we make.”
“We’re also big proponents of honesty,” says brother Mike Blaum, COO and chief distiller, who holds a master’s degree in IT. “We pride ourselves on telling everyone what ingredients and processes we use.”
Their love affair with whiskey began by sharing bottles and sipping what they considered exemplary brands. When they started distilling their own spirits, they chose quality over quantity.
Blaum Bros. Straight Bourbon Whiskey, produced in 53-gallon oak barrels, is distilled from a blend of Illinois-grown corn (72 percent), rye (23 percent) and malted barley (5 percent), the latter from brewery supplier Briess Malt & Ingredients Company in Chilton, Wisconsin.
The whiskey boasts a nose of honey and a little bit of apple, a byproduct of what Mike Blaum describes as the spirit’s esterification, a natural part of the distilling process. The same process contributes notes of caramel and roasted peanuts, with a touch of cinnamon and maybe a little nutmeg in the finish.
Blaum Bros. Old Straight Rye Whiskey is quite different, eschewing corn altogether. It consists of rye (92 percent) grown on a single Illinois farm. Cherrywood smoked malt (5 percent) and malted barley (3 percent) round out the mix. The resulting whiskey has a nose of smoky caramel and sweet tea, with flavors of berries, honey and spice that taper to a slightly smoky finish, thanks to the smoked malt.
“Most ryes are produced with some corn, and we wanted ours to be completely different, with a firm, smoky taste,” Mike Blaum says.
The Blaum Brothers tour and tasting facility is located in historic Galena, just over the Wisconsin-Illinois border. The city’s many attractions include its well-preserved 19th century architecture. But Blaum Bros. Distillery is the top destination on Trip Advisor, edging out number two — the home of President Ulysses S. Grant. The brothers are pretty sure the whiskey-swilling Civil War general would have appreciated their product line. And fortunately, you can tour both on a day trip.
Distillery tours ($10, 45 minutes) take place daily, with one per day (at 3 p.m.) Mon.-Thurs., and multiple tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tours end with a guided tasting. The tasting room is open daily as well for spirit tasting and cocktails.
Blaum Bros. Distilling
9380 W. U.S. Hwy. 20, Galena Illinois
815-777-1000; BlaumBros.com
