Iron Smoke Distillery Near Rochester, NY: Creative Whiskey in an Epic Venue
Iron Smoke Distillery, located in Fairport, New York, is a place for whiskey lovers from all around to come and see what happens when vision and creativity collide, ultimately producing something utterly unique both in terms of flavour and feeling.
About ten years ago, musician Tommy Brunett was in his backyard having a whiskey while minding a fully loaded smoker when an idea struck him like a ton of bricks.
What if he melded those flavours together? What if someone made whiskey that carried that subtle touch of applewood smoked flavour?
The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Iron Smoke is internationally acclaimed, with Forbes even noting that they make one of the “10 best bourbons beyond Kentucky.”
Sitting at the bar and taking it all in, I was struck by the notion that this place was wholly unique or, at the very least, tapping into something that may not as be as readily available in New York State as it might be in the south. That was confirmed to me after a lengthy conversation with a barback at Iron Smoke, when she noted that she’d lived for years in Austin prior, then moved back up near Rochester, and working here was, in part, her way of reconnecting to that previous time in her life.
I loved it from the moment I walked in to the last sip I took before I walked out.
The Philosophy of Iron Smoke Distillery
In some ways, it feels like a cop-out in travel writing to make a blanket statement to the effect that “this place does things differently,” but it genuinely does seem applicable here. They seem to have a carefully crafted attitude to just about everything - their whiskey, their service, their bar, their venue, and their music.
That’s what sold it for me - the intentionality behind it all. All the details were looked after on the backend to create a seamless experience for the customer on the frontend.
I like the way that they talk about sourcing their grain as well as the fermentation process on their site. One other thing that’s carefully cultivated is, quite clearly, their brand.
“Our internationally acclaimed NYS farm distillery in Fairport, NY is where the magic happens. The farm folk within a crow flying distance to our grain silos dump in their freshest and finest where our master distiller and crew ever so lightly smoke some of the grains on our handmade smokin’ machine. The apple wood smell is savored for miles by the locals.
We’ve got giant brass tub stills shipped all the way from the underbelly of Kentucky from our good friends at Vendome. Our swill swirls, spins and churns until only the finest of the finest is aged properly, bottled and delivered to your own local watering holes.”
That attitude that you can find in the quote above is found on their labels, their merchandise and more.
What I’m getting at is that this is a place that knows who it is and what it does. As a writer (and as a potential customer), that’s what I like to see from a distillery. I’ve visited plenty of distilleries in the past, and the ones that don’t make it are the ones that have an identity crisis.
Whatever the opposite of an identity crisis is - well that’s what Iron Smoke has.
And I mean that in the best of ways.
What Should You Try From Iron Smoke?
You should let your tastes guide you (ie. if you drink Manhattans, then it makes sense to try their Iron Man-Hattan first), but my pro-tip would be to rely on the staff. While I was there, I had Juli bartending up a storm, and I felt like I was in extremely capable hands. An Old Fashioned is my go-to drink, so after I had one (which was fantastic, by the way), I asked Juli where she thought I should head next.
She knew that it would be worth it for me to try the Iron Smoke CASKet strength whiskey, so she suggested the Salted Caramel Whiskey Sour, which was an excellent choice, and a cocktail I’d most certainly recommend to you as well.
Cocktail lovers will also find drinks such as the Maple Bacon Uptown Manhattan and the Revolver (straight bourbon whiskey, coffee liqueur, orange bitters), but I want to pull back to talk about the booze that fuels those cocktails.
Drew Wescott, Iron Smoke’s Master Distiller gives a nice overview of the end of their distillation process:
“The clear alcohol is pumped into our 250 gallon Vendome 4 plate column still where the alcohol is distilled again. This is where I select only the highest quality of white spirt to be allowed as part of our bourbon. We blend multiple distillations in one of our one thousand gallon stainless steel tanks in preparation for barreling.
The white spirt is then pumped into virgin oak barrels that have been made out of furniture grade oak and have been air dried for a minimum of 36 months. After close to three years, and only the angels have had their share and the devil has taken his cut, do we consider bottling.
For each and every batch that we bottle, I sift through hundreds of barrels selecting only the ones that are in their optimum stage of aging.
Once selected, we bottle them up by hand and present you with our world famous Iron Smoke straight bourbon whiskey.”
Iron Smoke’s Whiskey Selection
Iron Smoke Straight Bourbon Whiskey: The classic choice that everyone should order to try to get a feel for what they’re trying to accomplish at Iron Smoke. Nice and smooth with just a hint of smoke on the backend.
Iron Smoke Casket Strength: Careful now, this limited quantity unfiltered, uncut, small batch whiskey is 120 proof! Handpicked from their very own triple charred virgin white oak barrels.
Rattlesnake Rosie’s Apple Pie Whiskey: This has been an award winner for Iron Smoke, and it features just the right amount of New York apple cider, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar.
Rattlesnake Rosie’s Maple Bacon Whiskey: You might, at first, be thrown off by the idea of “bacon” being in there, but in reality its the New York maple syrup that shines in this whiskey, so don’t be thrown off at all. It’s worth a taste.
Special Reserve Single Barrel: This is very limited, so it may not be available when you get there, but if that’s the case, I can assure you something new likely will be. All that aside, if you purchase this, by all accounts the finest of the finest, you’ll get a fancy hand signed collectively leather neck tag with the barrel number, date and your name. Apparently, you get the empty barrel for display as well!
Iron Smoke Rock the Barrel: Four grain bourbon with apple wood smoked wheat and coming in at 120 proof (60% alcohol). Pure and unfiltered, this is what you’d call “a bourbon lover’s bourbon.”
What Else is Going on at Iron Smoke?
As it turns out, a whole lot.
The Sideshow - Their Concert Venue & Event Space
When I got talking to the manager, Mike, about all that they had going on, I was astounded. No word of a lie, they’ve got live shows most evenings/nights. You can take a look at the calendar yourself on this page, but just to put it in perspective, a brief glance lets me know that in the next week they’ve got some great bands lined-up, a couple of cover/tribute bands, some acoustic sets, belly dancing and more.
I should note here that many events do require cover at the door or a ticket beforehand.
Tours and Tastings
Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that currently their hours of operation are Wednesday from 4-10pm, Thursday from 4pm-11pm, Friday from 4pm-12am, Saturday from 3pm-1am, and Sunday from 1pm-7pm. They’re closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
If you’re looking to try a flight, they offer a splash flight for $2, and a regular flight for $20. If you’re driving you may want to go with the splash flight, but if you aren’t you should get the regular flight, park yourself at a table, then proceed to sit, sip, and take it all in.
As of right now, all tours must be schedules in advance. They ask that you allow at least one week’s notice for any tours. I’m told there is some flexibility even in organizing tours outside of hours that they’re open but you can contact them to figure out more about that if you’re interested. Tours and tastings are available Thursday-Sunday.
A tour and a splash tasting runs you 5 bucks, and a tour and a flight tasting will run you $25. For groups, buses or parties, I’m told there’s a 15% discount if you’re doing the tour during their regular open hours.
The Watering Room
The main feature of the Watering Room, as you might imagine, is the bar. They’re got all the booze and cocktails you could imagine (and, as a former bartender myself, I’ll once again commend the staff), but they also have over 20 beers available, and two rotating beers on tap. Besides the bar, there’s a nice area to hang out with plenty of seating, as well as an epic gift shop with everything from shirts to shot glasses.
Iron Smoke is Not Your Average Distillery
I’ve been to some great bars, some great distilleries, and some great concert venues, but I’ve rarely seen them combined into one creation. It’s all pulled off rather seamlessly, and goes down as a smooth as their whiskey.
I brought some back with me, naturally, since I hadn’t tasted anything else like it and, in a not so shocking turn of events, I’m out already. That’s alright, I’m happy to have an excuse to go back, and to support places that take a chance and dare to do something differently, and unequivocally pull it off.
I want to humbly thank Visit Rochester and Iron Smoke Distillery for hosting me as media. All opinions are completely my own.
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