Boutique Whiskey; First barrels of Nashoba Single Malt will be tapped in August.

Byline: Karen Nugent

BOLTON - The rolling hills lined with fruit trees beside an elegant restaurant in a restored New England farmhouse are in stark contrast to the usual whiskey-making operation. There are no backwoods tubs filled with sour mash, a la Jack Daniel's. Nor is this the heather-carpeted hills of Scotland, the only locale where a single-malt whiskey can legally be called scotch.

Nevertheless, Nashoba Valley Winery will roll out its new single malt in August. Roll out, literally, as the first bottles have been aging in former wine barrels for the last five years.

Owner Richard A. Pelletier got the state's first farmer's distillery license in 2003, following the passage of a 2002 law that made it easier for farmers to get such licenses so they can make beer, wine and spirits from their crops.

Mr. Pelletier, 54, a Fitchburg native who was in the retail liquor business before he bought the Wattaquadock Hill Road winery in 1995, joins a growing number of microdistilleries in the United States. Although there are just a handful in Massachusetts - in Gloucester, Sheffield, in the Berkshires; and on Nantucket - Bill Owens, president of the California-based American Distilling Institute, called the state a pioneer in crop distilling.

"Massachusetts is a great state to open a distillery. It's very progressive - unlike those ignoramuses in the South who are still living in the dark ages," Mr. Owens said.

He explained that many states do not allow a farmer such as Mr. Pelletier to sell liquor directly to the public, and that Southern states in particular face opposition from conservative residents and fundamentalist Bible Belt churches.

Mr. Owens said the same negativity is not directed at wineries and small beer producers, pointing out that there are about 7,000 wineries in the United States and Canada; about 1,550 craft microbreweries; and yet only 165 artisan distilleries.

"It's paranoia (about hard liquor). There are no books about how to make rum, but thousands on how to make beer and wine. Distilleries have to glean information on their own and learn it themselves," he said.

But the craft distillery movement, Mr. Owens said, blends nicely with trends to go green by buying local.

"People want to know where those carrots are growing. And they want to meet the brewmaster. People want to meet the maker," Mr. Owens said.

Besides buying bottled wine, beer, brandy and gin made from produce at Nashoba, a 52-acre farm and orchard, customers can order drinks bottled there at its on-site restaurant.

Mr. Pelletier will tap two barrels of barley malt whiskey that have been aging since 2004. Last month, a sample extracted from a barrel produced a clear, light brown liquor which was aromatic and smooth - not at all like hooch or moonshine.

Mr. Pelletier, who first got the idea to make whiskey while camping near some older men who were sipping what he described as firewater, said aging whiskey in the used oak wine casks gives it a fruity hint, with a mature oak flavor.

The first two barrels will produce 600 bottles, each containing 750 ml of 40-42 proof whiskey. They will be sold online and at the winery for $49 each.

It will be marketed as a boutique whiskey to the cigar-and-scotch-loving crowd.

"They are more enthusiastic than the wine lovers, but less vocal than the beer guys," Mr. Pelletier said. "It's an older, upscale group."

Mr. Pelletier described the whiskey making at Nashoba as nearly the same as the way beers are brewed there.

"For all intents and purposes, the process of making beer, and the whiskey wash (a byproduct of beer) are the same processes. The temperature is different, and some of the grains are different. The whiskey wash is distilled after that," he said.

A grain, which looked like black birdseed and tasted like unsweetened trail mix, is milled at the winery and steeped in hot water, as with tea, for about an hour.

The liquid is then boiled, chilled and fermented, turning sugars into alcohol to produce beer.

Whiskey wash, left over from the beer, is put in a huge still, which distills 400 gallons of the wash into about 30 gallons of a clear spirit. Mr. Pelletier said about 90 percent of the product is lost as water during distillation, and the rest is condensed as a neutral spirit similar to moonshine.

The aged whiskey tastes like scotch, he said, and reflects subtle flavors of the different types of grains used - which he did not reveal.

Besides the two whiskey casks to be opened this year, there are five that have been aging since 2005 and will be tapped next year. There are 20 aging since 2006. Mr. Pelletier said he hopes to add 20 a year, for a total of 50 aging at any one time. The whiskey, called Nashoba Single Malt Whiskey, will be bottled at the winery, as are the other alcoholic beverages.

Barley and other grains are used to make whiskey at Nashoba, but apples, pears and other fruits from the orchard are used to make brandy, vodka and gin. Apples, Mr. Pelletier said, are especially plentiful and are used to make Foggy Bog, a cranberry and apple brandy. Dried apples are used in Nashoba's vodka.

"The craft movement is about having a dream," Mr. Owens said.

Contact Karen Nugent by e-mail at [e-mail].

ART: PHOTOS; MAP

CUTLINE: (1) Nashoba Valley Winery owner Richard A. Pelletier holds a glass of whiskey, which has been aging since 2004. The single malt will be released for sale in August. (2) Nashoba Valley Winery owner Richard A. Pelletier stands near a large vat used in making whiskey. Slated for release in August, the whiskey has been aging since 2004. (MAP) Craft distillers in Massachusetts

PHOTOG: (PHOTOS) T&G Staff Photos/TOM RETTIG (MAP) T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.