and tank cleaning, is automated with an iPad. mixology director, Lucas Huff. He provided This reduces the opportunity for human error. the spiel and the aforementioned stories. At And the precision programming reassures the the end, he whipped up cocktails that were consistency of the artfully crafted recipes. entirely new experiences for my palate, but They want you to experience the taste of ingre- with essences that were familiar—Nevadan. dients that were grown as part of the landscape Huff is Nevadan; he’s from Minden, of northern Nevada—and it’s actually there. specifically. He graduated from Douglas High You don’t have to have be a graduate-level School. Like kids from small towns do, he connoisseur of took off to figure spirits to taste the out what else this flavors of home. world had to offer. There’s a qualTruthfully, Chris ity assurance lab Bently didn’t spend on-site. Typically, his whole upbringing these processes are in Minden, either. He contracted through lived in the Bay Area. a third party, but He’s traveled the KassaDee Herring world. They’re both runs the lab at back now. Bently Heritage. It Huff’s journey Lucas Huff, Events and Mixology Director is full of scientific delivered him a short vials, machines and way up the road to data represented in Truckee, where he techy visualizations cut his teeth in the illustrating the compounds that make up the high-end service industry; then over to the thumbprint of every batch. Bay Area, where he became a certified wine The remaining production buildings on sommelier (no small feat). Eventually, he site include a malting facility, where grain is met a patron who asked him, “Have you processed before delivery to the distillery in ever heard of this place called Minden, the creamery. The combination of mechanics Nevada?” The guy told Huff there was and biology happening in there is entirely distillery burgeoning, and Huff put his name over my head, plus that building wasn’t open in the running to work the tasting room back during my tour. in his hometown. There are also two barrel-aging facilities. Huff’s story is like most things in Some of the barrels are old sherry casks filled Nevada—a combination of hard work and with vodka to generate the signature Sherry happenstance. The same is true for the spirits Rested Vodka. (I’ve never heard of anything at Bently Heritage Distillery. Chris Bently like this. It tastes like those rich, booze-filled could have built a luxury distillery anywhere, chocolate-covered cherries you get around the but he built it here as a way of attempting to holiday season.) Other barrels are filled with preserve the aromas, tastes and character of spirits that will still be years in the making our piece of this state. From one Nevadan to before they’re released. This includes the the next: It’s spot on. Ω single malt whiskey, the bourbon and the rye. On my visit to Bently Heritage Distillery, Learn more about Bently Heritage Estate Distillery here: I was paraded around by the events and www.bentlyheritage.com.
“Ever had an old fashioned, and it tastes like a sugary shot? That’s not how it should taste.”
05.23.19
|
RN&R
|
15