The Spirit of St. Louis StilL 630 and spirit production at the confluence of storytelling and customer feedback WRITTEN BY AARON KNOLL PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID WEGLARZ
60
“I
mean, craft distillers in the United States and abroad are doing absolutely phenomenal things,” said David Weglarz, distiller and owner of St. Louis-based StilL 630, while describing the emotions he felt when hearing their Confluence American Gin won “Best of Class” at the 2023 American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition. “And just to be in the conversation with some of our heroes is more than I expected.” Founded in 2011, StilL 630 opened its doors in early 2013. Situated in a space that used to be a Hardee’s fast food restaurant in downtown St. Louis. Nestled between an interstate highway and an old elevated rail line two blocks from the river, the location itself is evocative of St. Louis’s long history as a center of trade, a history that Weglarz and StilL 630’s spirits pay homage to every day.
Confluence Gin Confluence Gin starts from a base of 190-proof neutral wheat. The botanical bill is tightly curated; working from a foundation of juniper and coriander, they further include pink peppercorn, galangal root, and locally farmed horseradish. The botanicals, save for the juniper, are macerated for a full twenty hours before filtering and redistilled on a handmade, Missouri-built 150-gallon pot still. “The Confluence was a name that I had squirreled away when we first launched our gins. Just north of the distillery is the greatest confluence on this continent where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers come together,” Weglarz added, showing his passion for the outdoors, “I've paddled on both and paddled up by the Confluence, and it's pretty awesome.” Just as the rivers form a natural confluence, the gin began
W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M