Old Elk Distillery

Old Elk Distillery is a Fort Collins, Colorado whiskey producer built around a single unconventional idea: instead of sourcing an off-the-shelf mash bill, founder Curt Richardson commissioned a custom recipe from scratch.

History & Heritage

Curt Richardson founded Old Elk in 2013 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Rather than launching with a standard ready-to-sell mash bill, Richardson contacted Greg Metze, who now serves as Old Elk's Master Distiller, to develop a proprietary High Malt Blended Straight Bourbon recipe unique to the brand. That decision, to build a signature mash bill before building a bottle, shaped the company's identity from the outset. The brand is owned, as of July 2026, by Old Elk Distilleries, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company. Luis Gonzalez serves as Chief Executive Officer, Greg Metze as Master Distiller, and Melinda Maddox as Head of Production and Master Blender.

Old Elk operates as a non-distiller producer rather than a conventional grain-to-glass operation. The brand states plainly that its whiskey is not sourced off the shelf: the majority is contract distilled in Indiana to Old Elk's own custom mash bills, using an existing distilling facility's equipment. The company maintains a presence in Fort Collins that includes barrel room and bottling-line operations, and Single Barrel program participants are invited to visit for the barrel-selection process.

The Whiskey

Old Elk's core lineup runs on five house mash bills: the Signature High-Malt Straight Bourbon, a Straight Wheat Whiskey (95% wheat, 5% malt), a Sour Mash Reserve Straight Bourbon, a Straight Rye Whiskey, and a Rum Cask Finish Rye built on a 95% rye bill and finished in 14-year-old Barbados rum barrels for two to five months. Proofing runs through what the brand calls its Slow Cut process, adding water in small increments over several weeks to keep the liquid cool and preserve lighter flavors.

The Cask Finish Series takes the High-Malt Straight Bourbon and Straight Rye Whiskey, ages them five to six years, and finishes them an additional two to twelve months in imported barrels. Old Elk Cigar Cut extends that approach further, blending base whiskies aged a minimum of six years across older Sherry, Armagnac, Port, and Cognac barrels (no tobacco or nicotine involved, despite the name). The brand continues to expand its cask-finished and blended lines: in 2024 it released the Old Elk Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Cognac Casks, its first rye finished in Cognac barrels, alongside that year's Master's Blend Series: Double Wheat, a blend of two distinct wheat whiskeys.

The Sentinel Room's Reserve Whiskey Library carries 8 expressions from Old Elk, including Old Elk Blended American Wheat N' Rye, Old Elk Bourbon Port Cask Finish 5 Year, Old Elk Cigar Cut, Old Elk Straight Bourbon 4 Grain, Old Elk Straight Bourbon 5 Yr Cask Strength Single Barrel 110.6, and Old Elk Straight Rye Whiskey 5 Year.

Why It Matters

Old Elk's awards record backs up the custom-mash-bill approach. The Master's Blend Series: Wheat N' Rye took the Chairman's Trophy and 95 points at the 2023 Ultimate Spirits Challenge. Old Elk Cigar Cut Cask Finish Straight Bourbon Whiskey earned 92 points at the same competition and a Gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, both in 2023. Old Elk Straight Rye Whiskey took Gold at the 2023 Whiskies of the World Awards, and Old Elk Four Grain Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Old Elk Port Cask Finish Straight Bourbon Whiskey earned Gold from the Beverage Tasting Institute in 2022 and 2021, respectively. For those who appreciate good whiskey, Old Elk demonstrates that a contract-distilled brand can still command a distinct flavor identity when it controls the mash bill, the finishing program, and the proofing method from the start.

Visiting the Distillery

Old Elk does not run a conventional public distillery tour, but Single Barrel program participants can visit the Fort Collins distillery for the barrel-selection process. The brand also operates The Reserve, a tasting room, cocktail bar, and event space at 253 Linden Street in Fort Collins, offering food, cocktails, and flights across the full Old Elk lineup. The Reserve is open Sunday 12 to 8pm, Monday through Thursday 12 to 9pm, and Friday and Saturday 12 to 11pm.