The innovator of the warp speed aging process of whiskey in New Mexico is now spearheading the New Mexico Distillery Guild.
Scott Feuille has been selected as president of the guild. As the founder and head distiller of Taylor Garrett Spirits, Feuille found a way to accelerate the process to produce his Taylor Garrett whiskeys. The process allows Feuille to create his whiskeys in six days without ruining the quality. Taylor Garrett whiskeys are comparable to whiskeys aged for a decade. Feuille is also the distiller for Vara Winery & Distillery and has received numerous accolades for his spirits.
The guild formed in 2014 under the direction of then president Colin Keegan, founder of Santa Fe Spirits, according to Feuille.
“(Keegan has) kind of been a pioneer in everything that we’re doing in distilling in New Mexico,” Feuille said. “He was the first one here. And so now, we kind of took a little bit of a pause. We did some stuff during COVID, but obviously, that slowed everybody down. And so the former board’s terms were up. It was time to elect a new board.”
Feuille is excited about the new board membership. Chris Leurig, master distiller at Safe House Distilling Co., is vice president. Caley Shoemaker, co-founder and master distiller at Altar Spirits, is board secretary and treasurer. Skye Devore, co-owner and president of Tractor Brewing Company and Troubled Minds Distilling, handles legislative duties. Frank Holloway, owner of Hollow Spirits Distillery, is the events and marketing chair on the board.
“We’re just kind of doing a whole refresh on the distillers guild brand and what we’re trying to do is build awareness around New Mexico spirits, both within the state and on the national stage,” Feuille said. “… It’s a good group. And right now there’s between 25 and 30 active distilleries in the state. I think that would probably surprise a lot of people. But it’s a good strong core group. And some of those are the bigger distilleries. Others are a little bit smaller operations. But the more we do here in the state to get our image out, and especially around the nation, people (will) start coming here as a destination for spirits like they do for beer. It’s going to help everybody. So that’s really our aim and our goal.”
There are plans to build a New Mexico distillery trail.
“Colin started a lot of initial legwork on that, but we’ve never really followed through with getting it up and running,” Feuille said. “So we’re gonna push to build a New Mexico distillery trail, whether it’s a printed or perhaps an app-based trail, we haven’t really decided on that yet. But the ultimate goal of the distillery trail is to have that tourism exposure by partnering with the New Mexico tourism group and getting people to move around and go see the different distilleries in the different corners of the state.”
The guild has revamped its website, nmdistillers.org, and has several events planned to showcase New Mexico distilleries.
“We’re having our annual Lift Your Spirits week in conjunction with the Balloon Fiesta that culminates with a big event on Oct. 7 at the Balloon Museum,” Feuille said. “… It will be in the yard there in conjunction with the Balloon Glow and the fireworks display. It will be New Mexico distilleries showcasing their spirits in a really cool festival that the public can attend and sample what we’re making. And then we’ll have other events as well. There’s an event that we’re doing in conjunction with the New Mexico Brewers Guild and the wineries called the Enchantment Festival. That’s going to be Nov. 12 at Balloon Fiesta Park. And then we’ve got some other events planned at different locations around the state through the course of the year. We’re in the early stages of planning a spring event that will showcase spirits to the southern part of New Mexico. So we’re really just trying to get out there and show people what we’re doing as a distilling group.”
