ironton distillery
Cultivating a Garden of Spirits WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARRIE DOW
Photo provided by Ironton Distillery
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usinesses are like plants. You have to nurture and nourish them to get them to grow. You have to prevent pests and add fertilizer. While it takes work, it also takes patience and a bit of luck because you don’t know what the weather will bring. Ironton Distillery Co-founder and Owner Kallyn Peterson and her partner Robbie Adams planted the seeds of a business several years ago. Peterson tells me they had always wanted to own something in the food and beverage industry, so Adams, a former brewer, and Peterson, a former marketing manager, settled on distilling. They WWW.ART ISANSP IRITMAG.COM
cultivated a business plan and purchased a building in Denver’s up-and-coming River North (RiNo) area, a place known for its creative culinary and artistic scene. Then they hired Laura Walters from Stranahan’s as their head distiller. Things were blossoming. Then the winds changed. As they readied for construction, Peterson became friends with the owners of Ironton Studios & Gallery, a historic warehouse next door that had been converted into an art gallery with separate artist studios. “I would bring people here all the time,” said Peterson of the gallery space, which
features an outdoor seating area and multiple gardens. “[I’d] tell people that this is what I want our space to look like.” The building was co-owned by Jill Hadley Hooper, a nationally recognized artist who co-founded Denver’s RiNo Arts District in 2005. “[Hooper] knew I loved the space and approached us to see if we wanted to move here,” said Peterson. “Otherwise they would have had to sell to a developer who would have just scrapped it. The artists would have had to disperse and this beautiful space would have disappeared.”
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