Scrimshaw: I can tell just by the way you talk about this stuff that there’s an artistry to what you’re doing. It’s the same way a painter approaches a canvas – you’re trying to communicate something. What are you hoping your product line communicates to the customers? When someone sits down with your signature spirit, what do you want them to come away with?
Bumpers: Well, first and foremost, we want to make the best possible product on the market. The nice part of being at the scale we’re at is that we get to personally test every bottle that goes out – hand labeled, hand-signed it. We personally inspect every bottle to make sure it is the best possible product that we can put out there. In terms of the other aspects of our distillery that we want other people to see is the actual craft – everything we put into the spirit. We’ve also got a triple bottom line that really minimizes our wastewater, promotes our sustainability, and our distillery is totally wind-powered. (WHATTT?!?!) Also our involvement in our community – we sponsor a lot of events here in Frederick. We want people to see that and be proud of it – there’s a distillery in my hometown and its producing great product as well. But it all funnels back to the number one overall goal – to put out the best product that we possibly can for anybody.
Scrimshaw: So then what kind of product line are you launching here on December 3rd? Any super-secret small batch experiments you can divulge?
Bumpers: I can tell you the specifics of what we will have available. The three products that will be available right away will be our Epiphany Vodka – distilled from Northern Italian wheat – so it’s different than a lot of other vodkas out there that are distilled with corn or potatoes – fully organic as well. We have custom plate filters that we put it through, after we re-distill it to reduce any impurities that we can – we get down to .5 micron, so it’s literally the purest vodka you can possibly make. Then we have the Forager Gin which I talked about earlier. And we are also going to have Maryland Heritage White Whiskey, which is a rye-based white whiskey. Some people will call it moonshine or white dog – that just means unaged whiskey. Most of what’s out there right now is corn based and really syrupy and sweet to the taste – we did not want to do that. Our rye base gives it a more peppery taste, a lighter finish, and we also filter that for smoothness and drinkability. We’re aging a bourbon and a rye in-house – no names yet – because we’re not taking any shortcuts. Aging them out the old-fashioned way in 30 gallon barrels, so they won’t be ready for 2-3 years probably.
Scrimshaw: Being so local, where are you sourcing the ingredients from?
Bumpers: So, right now we were initially hoping to get our grains from local farmers. But, there isn’t enough farms or incentive for farmers to become organic certified grain farmers. So, it’s hard for us, in terms of the quantities we need – around 36 tons of corn, wheat, and rye – close to 100 tons a year. So it’s tough to find a local, organic certified supplier for that. We are in talks with a few farmers to start growing grains for us in the future so we can keep our supply chain in western Maryland.
Scrimshaw: Well, the last thing I want to end on – give me your hopes for the future. What’s the McClintock five year vision?
Bumpers: We want to be in distribution early next year. We’re going to start in Maryland, DC and Virginia. Ideally, we want to grow the brand across the US – within 5 years, we want to be on shelves in specialty spirit stores across the country.
Scrimshaw: Last word, give me a parting thought for people to come out and support local businesses.
Bumpers: Our main message is that we don’t care if you buy our specific product, but we want to see consumers buying local however they can. It doesn’t need to be our product, but supporting anyone who’s following their passion in life is immeasurably more valuable to the community, and to that person, than anything that one more tick on the Jack Daniels stock line can ever be. It just makes such a huge difference. One bottle to a craft distiller can be the difference between life and death sometimes.