LOVELAND — A new Loveland distillery is looking to become the Samuel Adams of craft distilling by using Colorado Rocky Mountain spring water to make vodka and gin.
Spring44, Northern Colorado’s newest distillery, will start production locally in March and open a tasting room to the public in May.
Co-founder Jeff Lindauer, 50, said he is looking to make an impact in the $3.4 billion premium spirits market that is 98 percent import now.
“It occurred to me that there was an interesting white space to build a great American brand, and that is what we intend to do. We have a world-class team on board,” Lindauer said.
Part of that team includes Spring44 board member Tim Wolf, former CFO of Coors Brewing Co. Lindauer already has started outsourcing production of his vodka, honey vodka and gin to Oregon while he starts installation of the bottling line in the Loveland facility Tuesday.
The 7,000-square-foot Loveland distillery, at U.S. 287 and Carpenter Road, will have an annual production capacity of 250,000 cases and is projected to create about 250 jobs by 2014.
The heart of Spring44 lies in a spring in Buckhorn Canyon near Pennock Pass on 160 acres of land owned by Lindauer’s family.
The remote piece of land surrounded by national forest is accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles, and Lindauer uses a modified Ford F-250 pickup called “Tinker Bell” to transport the spring water to the distillery.
Lindauer said he did his homework on the industry, spending three years in development with a master distiller from Denver before hitting the market in June 2011.
Spring44 is available in Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and New York.
