Overview: Powdermen Spirits Company has transitioned from a Simsbury hobby operation to a larger facility in Windsor, Connecticut. The father-son team behind the brand utilizes an accelerated aging process for their bourbons while maintaining a focus on heirloom grains.
The Full Story
The micro-distillery started about 10 years ago in Simsbury at a “hobby-scale,” Vince Lucca said, but recently moved to Windsor, doubling its size. The team consists of son Vince Lucca and his father Frank Lucca, who are both explosive engineers turned distillers. This message was sent via Greenwich Time. The business originated from a moonshine hobby started approximately 10 years ago.
The brand name “Powdermen” is derived from the founders’ professional background in the explosives industry. While the two had talked about partnering in this venture, his father’s friend died before it could happen, Lucca said. But his father didn’t want to do it illegally because it would risk his reputation of his blasting and drilling company Terra Dinamica LLC, which does contract work for demolition, mining and construction projects, Lucca said. Instead, he wanted it to be a legitimate business.
The move to 625 Day Hill Road, Windsor has increased the distillery’s footprint to 4,000 square feet with an upgraded still system. The retail outlet is expanded and there is a new tasting room for customers to sip their bourbon and corn whiskey. They expect to host a grand opening Aug. 22.
Production & Profile
Bourbon whiskey distilled at Powdermen Spirits Company in Windsor, Conn., gets its classic amber color from charred oak barrels, according to Vince Lucca. The micro-distillery has grown with its first full-time employee and has 20 accounts among bars, restaurants and package stores in the state, producing 50 barrels a year of bourbon and corn whiskey. They distill spirits when construction is slow in the winter.
Both their whiskey and bourbon are corn whiskeys made with heirloom grains – 90% corn and 10% multi-barley they buy from Thrall Farm in Windsor, an old family farm founded in 1645. They call their method “from grain to glass.” Flyrock Corn Whiskey is the first product Powdermen Spirits Company produced. The flavor profile is a hybrid between a white rum, vodka and tequila, Lucca said.
Brand & Industry History
The father-son team behind the brand utilizes an accelerated aging process for their bourbons while maintaining a focus on heirloom grains. Frank Lucca learned how to make corn whiskey in the backwoods of North Carolina from a fellow “powderman” he met through the explosives industry, his son Vince Lucca recalled. His father, an explosive engineer, became fascinated by making whiskey and turned it into a family hobby about 10 years ago, sparking his craft liquor business, Powdermen Spirits Company.
What This Means
The pair of engineers have also created a new accelerated aging process for bourbon. “We’re able to release bourbons that are only a few months old that taste good as compared to most distilleries that would be in the neighborhood of four or five, six years before they have something they want to release,” Lucca said. Still, they are aging some barrels for four to 10 years to create a more flavorful, complex and smooth liquor.
The micro-distillery has grown with its first full-time employee and has 20 accounts among bars, restaurants and package stores in the state, producing 50 barrels a year of bourbon and corn whiskey. Powdermen offers a “craft your own barrel program” where customers can come in and work with the Lucca men “to distill your very own barrel, made from your personally selected grains.” Customers can brew and cook grain mash to produce a 2.5-gallon barrel in a process spanning two days.
Consumer Takeaway
They sell their bourbons at “barrel proof” – 107 proof, which means they have not been cut with water, according to Lucca. Factors of temperature and timing – especially patience – are also key to distilling: “Nothing really can be truly rushed and have it come out well,” Lucca said. The strong taste can be tamed by adding a little water or an ice cube, he added.
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