Talnua Distillery revitalizing a nearly extinct whiskey style

By Jay McKinney

The events that led to the opening of Talnua Distillery in Arvada are so serendipitous that a movie producer might want to take note. The main characters would be husband and wife Patrick and Meagan Miller, who were introduced to a historic style of whiskey while on their honeymoon in Ireland. While sitting in a Galway pub watching rugby, the newlyweds were treated to the first batch of single pot still whiskey produced in decades when a representative of a liquor company walked in with a case. The bartender enthusiastically educated Patrick and Meagan about the whiskey’s past, and they were enamored. 

“He gave us our first taste of it, and we just fell in love with it,” Meagan says. “Every year after that, when we’d vacation, we’d bring home suitcases full of pot still whiskey that we couldn’t get here in America.” 

The chance introduction to single pot still whiskey became a defining moment in their relationship, and they became determined to help revitalize the nearly extinct style. The couple went back to Ireland about once a year to do research and try to educate themselves, sampling traditional Irish single pot still whiskey. 

Their passion was undeniable, and they began distilling in their home while keeping their day jobs working in the oil and gas industry. After a company downsize that would’ve forced the couple to move to Texas, Patrick and Meagan started to ponder other career options. The desire to stay in Colorado and freedom to start fresh prompted Patrick to take an immersive two-week course at Breckenridge Distillery. Then he landed a job working at Stranahan’s distillery. The experience helped him understand commercial distilling. Meanwhile, he and Meagan continued to perfect their recipe at home.  

They faced challenges, and their weekends were occupied with trial-and-error efforts. They struggled to find unmalted barley, the defining characteristic of the style. And like all great creations, they continued to experiment with the ratio of ingredients and began to learn the intricacies of the distilling process. 

“The first time we did a triple distillation, it was just distill, distill, distill and we ended up making an oaky vodka. It was terrible,” Meagan jokes. “Patrick probably spent a good work week of hours going through different documents from Trinity College in Ireland to try to discover and find out exactly how the Irish were doing their triple distillation.” 

The work paid off when another serendipitous encounter happened in November 2016 . A landlord who owned a building in Arvada ended up with distilling equipment when his former tenants closed their distillery and moved on. Not knowing what to do with the equipment, he contacted Stranahan’s to ask if they would be interested in purchasing it. 

As fate would have it, Patrick was the one who took the call about the equipment, and he knew right away that this could be the perfect opportunity to launch his own distillery. Although he connected his manager with the landlord, Patrick mentioned he was also interested in the equipment and would call when his shift ended. 

In the back of their minds, Meagan and Patrick had dreamed of opening a distillery but were not ready to roll with their plans. However, it seemed to be a now-or-never type of opportunity and they convinced the landlord to let them use the equipment and space to launch their own distillery, while making him a part-owner. 

That arrangement helped ease the start-up costs, and they began producing whiskey in 2018. By 2019, Talnua opened to the public and it is now the only distillery in the world outside of Ireland that is dedicated to single pot still whiskey. The name is derived from the Irish-Gaelic words Talamh, meaning land, and Nua, meaning new. It encapsulates their mission to bring the old-world style of distilling to the new land.  While they haven’t been back to Ireland in a few years, they are looking forward to going back and continuing to grow the style. 

“We’ve made new relationships with other distilleries,” Meagan says. “We have a project that we’re working on with the Boann Distillery (in County Meath), so I think a lot of our time will be spent there, but through this we’ve also made a lot of new friends.” 

So what exactly is Single Pot Still Whiskey?

The style dates back hundreds of years and evolved out of a contentious relationship between Great Britain and Ireland. During the 1600s, Ireland was producing more than 80 percent of the world’s whiskey. However, it was not a sovereign nation, and the British imposed a series of taxes on malted barley to blanket tax the production of whiskey and hinder the Irish economy.   

To avoid the tax, Irish distillers began using raw (unmalted) barley in their recipes. Raw barley was viewed as feed for livestock and thus taxed at a lower rate. Malted barley speeds up the fermentation process and reduces the overall time it takes to distill. The un-malted alternative takes longer to produce. This is the defining feature of the style, which by definition must use at least 30 percent raw barley. 

The raw barley typically provides more spice than malted barley and it also has grassy and earthy notes. Another characteristic of the style is the whiskey’s silky mouthfeel that makes it extremely smooth to drink. Despite its favorable reputation, the style’s production has ebbed and flowed throughout history for several reasons. After a period of no production, single pot still whiskey was introduced back into the market in 2011. 

As one of the few distillers that produces single pot still whiskey, the Millers have followed the Irish technical file, which is a document that defines specifications for all Irish Whiskeys and is overseen by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Despite following this technical file, they have also created a distinct style of their own. 

“The Irish are sort of married to the Irish technical file and they can’t be as innovative as we can be here,” says Meagan. “We’re setting the standard for how we want to see it be created in America as a category.” 

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.