Laws Whiskey House is a Denver distillery where Al Laws filled the first barrel on July 4, 2011.1,2,3 It makes whiskey from four grains: corn, barley, rye, and wheat, including a four-grain bourbon and a 100% rye.4,5,6 Bill Friel, Barton's retired Master Distiller, guided Al Laws as he started it.1
In 2009 Al Laws toured Barton 1792 in Kentucky, where Friel agreed to guide his planned distillery.1 Al Laws set up in a former distribution warehouse, began distilling in 2011 and directed the first 16 spirit runs with advice from Friel.1
In March 2017 Laws began filling a second warehouse on Cherokee Street that could hold up to 10,000 barrels, up from 1,600 at the distillery.9 In June 2018 First Beverage Group, a Los Angeles private equity firm, put in a seven-figure investment, with plans to step up production.10 In July 2020 Laws finished the first phase of its first real expansion, adding four 1,000-gallon fermenters.2 The next phase planned a 2,000-gallon pot column hybrid still from Vendome Copper and Brass Works.2 In December 2024 it opened the Whiskey Sanctuary, a 4,000-square-foot visitor building next door to the distillery.4,11
In 2025 some of its heirloom wheat, barley, and rye was malted at Colorado Malting Company.4 The mash fermented in open tanks for between three and four days.4 A 2,000-gallon stripping still did the first distillation, before a 500-gallon spirit still.4,6 An earlier account described a custom-made, four-plate pot still.4,6 It used Eldorado Springs water to make the whiskey and to bring it down to bottling strength.4,6,11 It had two warehouses, concrete buildings with controlled airflow, holding about 2,200 and 3,800 barrels.4,5 Laws says Colorado's conditions shape how its whiskey rests and matures in the barrel.4,5
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