It was chosen over 2,000 different spirits.” It’s little wonder that Rallypoint is their best seller.
Always forward-looking, StilL 630 initiates what they call their “Experimental Spirits Program.”
Essentially, it’s a search for new recipes and flavor sen- sations through mad-scientist- like exlirs and mash-ups. “Yeah!” exclaims Weglarz. “To the best of my knowledge, nobody else is doing this anywhere else in the country. Or at least not on the scope or scale we are.” Here’s how it works: “I distill a bunch of different spirits and start blending them with different ingredients, in differ- ent proportions, into our barrels… just looking for differ- ent recipes. We’re trying to find awesome new recipes for wheat whiskeys, and single malts, barrel-aged gin and dif- ferent bourbons and so on. Basically, everything that isn’t vodka will be in those barrels at some point.” The brave and the unsuspecting come to the distillery’s “First Fridays” events (yep, you guessed it… held on the first Friday of every month) for the 6:30pm release of the newly concocted spirit. And it’s no small commitment. The distillery plans on releasing one new spirit per month for 5 years! “There’s going to be 60 of these bad boys by the end of this program! It’s a big plan, but it’s been a big hit. Four- and- a-half years to go!”
The feedback from the tasting-room patrons is paramount to the future of these new spirits.
The central idea behind the experiments is to conduct a bit of localized market research right in the distillery. If a particular spirit is a hit, you may see it produced on a larger scale in the future.
“Giving our customers what they want.”
StilL 630’s collaborative outreach extends much further than their tasting room. Weglarz explains that they have forged close relationships with many St. Louis businesses and insti- tutions with a view toward building a community of shared enthusiasts for food, spirits and “the finer things St. Louis has to offer.” Some of these relationships result in the develop- ment and distilling of a collaborative special spirit. “We work very closely with the Missouri State Botanical Garden, which is here in St. Louis. We are in the process of trying to work out a collaboration spirit with them. And we host many events at the distillery that highlight our various partnerships around town.” The biggest day of the year at the distillery is, of course, 630 Day (June 30th). That’s the annual event at the distillery where many of their partners come down and offer their products to each other’s clientele in a festive atmosphere. Local coffee, candles, cigars, food and even beard and tattoo oil (who knew?!) all make an appearance on 630 Day. And, naturally, so does a new spirit.
“seize and savor” attitude behind the business. He slyly remarks that he’s happy to report the company has tripled in size in 2017. “There’s three of us now!” he laughs. But staying the course seems to be the name of the game… sort of. They just finished piping and fitting in a new still that has a little more than three times the capacity of their old one. That’s step one. The next step, tentatively slated for mid-2019, is a larger facility with greater capacity.
Weglarz’s sense of humor seems to compliment the whole
“We want to keep doing what we’re doing. Just more of it!”
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JANUARY 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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