Yes, Willie’s Coffee Cream, Salted Caramel Cream, and Huckleberry Sweet Cream Liqueurs are made with a shelf stable, real dairy base. Creams do not require refrigeration, although they can be stored in the refrigerator. Do not freeze. Store in a cool place and enjoy within 12 months of opening.

Our spirits begin their journey as fermentable grains such as corn, barley, oats and rye. The grains are cracked on-site with the use of a roller mill. Once cracked the grains are added in known proportions to our Mash-Tun along with water. Here, the grains and water are heated through direct injection steam to near boiling temperatures. With the addition of enzymes and yeast the mash will ferment for 6-10 days in a stainless steel Fermenter tank. Once fermentation has completed, the mash will register between 8%-10% alcohol by volume and is ready to be distilled.

All of our primary grains, with the exception of corn, are sourced locally from the Gallatin Valley and surrounding Montana areas. These include specialty malts (Chocolate, Honey, Biscuit, etc.) as well as Rye and Oats. All the water used in spirit production originates deep in the Madison Valley aquifer having been naturally filtered through Limestone sediment for millennia.

Enzymes are a critical additive to assist in breaking down the natural starches from the grains into fermentable sugars for the yeast to convert into Ethyl alcohol (Ethanol). Yeast nutrients are also added to assist the yeast in converting all the sugars to ethanol resulting in a complete fermentation.

Unaged spirits, Montana Moonshine, are diluted from “Still Strength” down to “Bottle Strength” by the addition of water.  Aged spirits are diluted from “Still Strength” to “Barrel Strength” with the addition of water before being barreled.

Once a spirit has been proofed down to barrel strength it is barreled depending on the product. By law our bourbon must go into a brand new charred American White Oak Barrel. Our new American White Oak Barrels are sourced from cooperages in the US.  These bourbon barrels will age in one of three Barrel Rack-houses. Typically, Bourbon barrels will be allowed to age for a minimum of three to four years depending on the size of the barrel.

Honey Moonshine and Rye barrels are not required by law to be aged in new barrels. These products are sometimes put into our used Bourbon Barrels for several years resulting in a more lightly aged final product.

The primary factors in determining if a barrel is ready to be dumped and blended are taste, smell and appearance. Each barrel is meticulously sampled to determine if it is ready, or if it needs more time aging before use.

Once the barrels are dumped for creating a final product the next steps vary depending on product.

Bourbon and whiskeys will undergo a final polishing filtering before going into the bottle. The filtering process involves pumping the bourbon through a series of paper-media plate filters. Plate filters range in porosity. This filtering process removes fine particulate and charcoal pieces left over from the barreling process. Once filtered the spirits are ready to be bottled and will pass through one final cartridge filter before bottling.

Honey Moonshine is a lightly aged whiskey that undergoes the distillation and barreling process similar to bourbon and whiskey. Generally, the Honey Moonshine is aged in second-use Bourbon barrels. After the aging process is deemed complete the addition of raw honey adds sweetness and deepens the flavor profile. The raw honey used is sourced in Madison County from Wentzel Apiary located in Twin Bridges, Montana.

Chokecherry Liqueur is a vodka-based spirit made from steeping (Macerating) fresh chokecherries in a vodka bath for 6-12 months. The chokecherries are collected by local pickers and brought to the distillery for purchase.

Willie’s Green Truck Gin is a vodka-based spirit made by Macerating a blend of botanicals for 1-2 days and then distilling. Juniper berries are the primary botanical with other botanicals completing the bill. Upon completion the Gin distillate is proofed down with water. Minimal filtering is performed as to not remove the flavorful oils that give the gin its unique taste.

Canadian Whisky can only be produced in Canada and is therefore sourced from Canadian Distilleries to be blended with our local water and merged into our specialty products.

Willie’s Stockman’s Rye Whiskey is a proprietary blend of our Rye Whiskey and Canadian Whisky. Willie’s Devil’s Brigade Whiskey is a proprietary blend of our American Bighorn Bourbon and Canadian Whiskey in the proportion 60% / 40% respectively to honor the First Special Service Force that was 60% American and 40% Canadian.