Pine Bluffs Distilling’s Chad Brown is always talking to his farmers about what he’s doing in the spirit and whiskey world.
He does it because he gets a kick out of seeing their eyes light up, and it tells him they’re busting at the seams with pride for their work, which is fundamental to his distillery’s Wyoming story.
That’s because the small-town Wyoming craft distillery has just notched a huge international win, bringing home a double gold medal for its straight rye whiskey from the American Distilling Institute’s 2025 International Spirits Competition.
It’s not a small feat. Hundreds of whiskeys are entered in the international competition in various categories. Spirits with rye in their name numbered 65 this year, and of those only a dozen took home a double gold.
To get the distinction, a whiskey must score 90 or above with all four judges in a blind taste test. The judges have no idea whose whiskey they’re tasting when they rate them and make their notes.
“Incredibly expressive and complex with layers of aromas and a big and beautiful palate with plenty of flavors and freshness and a big sweetness but all working together hard to create a truly big finale,” wrote one judge.
“A really great nose on this whiskey — balanced and expressive,” wrote another. “Nice, sweet, grassy, spicy palate and I love the proof on this — really shows nicely.”
Given how young Pine Bluffs Distillery is in the whiskey-making world, Brown feels tasting notes like those are a big accomplishment. Plus, the straight rye whiskey just so happens to be his own personal favorite of all the spirits Pine Bluffs makes.
“It is very unique in the sense that there’s four grains that go into it,” Brown said. “The standard rye whiskey right now on the mass market is just rye and malted barley, or maybe rye, corn and malted barley. Ours has four grains in it — rye, wheat, malted barley and oats.
The recipe came about because Brown listens to his customers. First, he added wheat to soften things up. Then, a distiller who was visiting one night suggested he try some oats to “round out” the flavor.
Pine Bluffs Distilling’s straight rye whiskey won a prestigious double-gold medal at an American Distilling Institute international competition. It’s a big win for a small-town craft distillery that makes whiskey with Wyoming-grown ingredients. (Courtesy Pine Bluffs Distilling) 
Pine Bluffs Distillery Master Distiller Aaron Mayer tests casks of whiskey at the company's eastern Wyoming facility. (Courtesy Pine Bluffs Distilling) 
Pine Bluff Distillings spirits are made from Wyoming grains. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
The tasting room at Pine Bluffs Distilling is roomy with friendly bartenders who love to make delicious cocktails for guests. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Whiskey doesn't have a high alcohol content until it's further distilled. The distillation equipment looks like a giant shiny chemistry set. There's a huge bunsen burner, with two distillation columns to the left, that ultimately leads to the final product, which is collected in the square-looking box. A switcher in the box allows the initial portion of the whiskey, which has all the off-flavors in it, to be shunted aside. Once everything is tasting right, that's what's collected and aged in barrels. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Pine Bluffs Distillery Master Distiller Aaron Mayer tests casks of whiskey at the company's eastern Wyoming facility. (Courtesy Pine Bluffs Distilling)
A Place That Raises Great Grains And Families
Brown landed in Pine Bluffs because he was looking for a small town to raise a great family. He also knew a cousin living there who is a wheat and barley farmer.
The cousin, Gene Purdy, and he were talking in the garage one day about barley. Brown, who liked to home-brew beer, mentioned how high the prices were for the grain he needs for malt.
That won a chuckle from Purdy, who said he doesn’t get paid nearly as much for barley as Brown pays out for it to brew beer.
The pricing disparity stuck with Brown and, ultimately, gave him the idea to start Pine Bluffs Distilling. When he started it, he knew right from the start that local Wyoming grains were the key to making his operation different.
“It’s important to be local just to show people that grain grown in Wyoming is phenomenal,” Brown said. “And we can’t have great products unless we have great grain going into these products.”
It’s like terroir, Brown said, but for whiskey. Terroir is a French term wine makers use often. It refers to all of the environmental factors that affect a crop, and, ultimately, the flavor of the finished product.
“Grapes grown in France taste different than grapes grown in Napa,” Brown said. “And that’s one thing we’ve talked about since starting the distillery is, yeah, we could get rye from somewhere else and haul it here, but then it’s not going to be a true Wyoming flavor, and we’re not going to be supporting local Wyoming farmers either.”
Right now, Brown’s operation is helping to support four different farming families. If Brown has his way, one day it will support more. That depends on getting on more retail shelves — something he feels his double gold award can help him with.
Why Rye Has To Make Things So Complicated
Head distiller Aaron Mayer played a crucial role in developing Pine Bluffs double-gold straight rye whiskey.
“Distilling is just taking the essence of something, concentrating it,” Mayer told Cowboy State Daily. “And so, it’s part of a process here of just basically taking the essence of Wyoming and distilling it.”
Aside from good ingredients, though, there’s also patience. It takes years to make a great whiskey. And it’s harder still to make a good straight rye.
As Mayer was experimenting with his recipes, he learned that the proof of whiskey going into the barrel is a critical element. Higher isn’t necessarily better.
“Every distillery has their reason and their rhyme on why they would put their spirit in at a certain proof,” he said. “Originally, we started at 120 proof, and I’d say we did maybe a year, two years of that.”
Mayer changed his mind about the proof after a conference where he listened to a master distiller explain the chemistry inside a whiskey barrel.
“This guy had a doctorate in barrels, if that is even possible to do,” Mayer said. “But it was very interesting. He talked about all the chemical compounds, the flavors that are in the wood, and the alcohol as a solvent which is essentially rinsing that barrel out.”
After that, he decided to try a lower proof alcohol, to see if that would bring out more of the vanilla and caramel notes he was looking for.
Those add a sweetness that’s crucial to a good straight rye whiskey, which starts life with attitude, and needs to be mellowed carefully.
“Rye is complicated because it’s a very peppery kind of spicy, earthy kind of grain,” he said. “And the balance with sweetness is kind of hard to get in there.”
On The Right Track
The tasting notes from the judges, in addition to compliments, also offered suggestions.
“It ticks the rye boxes,” one judge wrote. “But feels a little simple. I’d look for other ways to boost the complexity to get it to the next level. Maybe just a matter of a little more time in cask.”
The advice makes Mayer smile a little bit because that’s exactly what he had in mind already.
“That whiskey we submitted was about four, four and a half years old,” he said. “Our plan is to age everything in a barrel approximately five years.”
Five years, he feels, is going to be the sweet spot for their whiskey.
“Time is your friend with whiskey. The more time you have, the better it’s going to taste,” he said. “Most bourbons in the United States, and rye whiskey, are aged between five and seven years. That’s kind of like the sweet spot that whiskey likes to sit in the barrel.”
By the end of 2025, Pine Bluffs will have its first 5-year-old whiskey, he added.
No need to wait for the end of the year though. The straight rye at Pine Bluffs is already a killer, with four judges in an international competition liking it so much, they couldn’t rate it under 90. That makes this a place to put on any whiskey lover’s radar, because Mayer is just getting started.
There are many improvements to come for this Wyoming distillery’s products, which start their lives by growing under a Wyoming sun.
Restoring —or did we mean reshoring — indeed. Cheers to that.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
