Today we’d like to introduce you to Jace Marti.
Jace, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The idea for Black Frost Distilling happened while standing in the middle of a barley field. It was the culmination of one idea that ended up starting a new one. I was working for Schell’s Brewery, and created a goal of growing 15% of all the barley malt we would use within 15 miles of the brewery. After years of trying, I finally convinced my high school friend to grow a field of barley for us. It was a few weeks before the inaugural harvest, and we were taking it all in enjoying a few beers as the sunset. Nate asked me what else we could do with barley, and I said whiskey. It was at that moment that our journey began. It would be a few years before the wild idea would turn into a serious discussion. We took a trip through the bourbon trail and visited as many distilleries as we could, and started working on our business plan seriously after that. Whiskey is deeply rooted in tradition, and we saw it as an opportunity to do something different and unique. Knowing that we had the ability to either grow our source everything we needed to make whiskey entirely from the state of Minnesota, we decided to build the concept for our distillery around northern terroir. Terroir is a French term more commonly associated with wine, but felt we could adapt that to whiskey production. We wanted to intentionally box ourselves in, and see where we could go with it. We bought a great old building in downtown New Ulm in late 2019 and things were moving right along when Covid hit. It set us back two years while the world turned upside down, but we were able to finally get started with construction in January of this year, and opened the doors to the public in August.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha, absolutely not. Covid threw a huge wrench into our timeline and set us back nearly two years. The silver lining of that though, was spending more time to really fine-tune our business plan. It also allowed me the time to experiment with a lot of different yeast strains and trial fermentations, which I think will ultimately be one of the things that will really make our spirits unique. That being said, our production process is as far from cookie-cutter as possible. We have a custom-built mash cooker, uniquely sized open-top wooden fermenters with no cooling, and utilize a set of yeast strains that nobody else in the world is using commercially. There have been some real trying times in these first few months we have been open to making sense of what was all happening in the fermenter and figuring out what adjustments to make. It’s a lonely feeling knowing there is nobody else to talk to or troubleshoot things because there isn’t anyone doing things like we are. I do feel like we have gotten past the initial hiccups, and that the path we have chosen is the right one.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am one of the co-founders of Black Frost Distilling, and am in charge of distillation. At Black Frost, we specialize in northern terroir-focused bourbon, rye, and single-malt whiskies. Everything we use to make our whiskies we either grow ourselves, or source locally in the northland. My business partner Nate and his family grow all the corn, rye, wheat, and barley. We selected specific varieties of grains based on their flavor characteristics and that also grow well in our specific region. We have all of our small grains malted, a process that amplifies the flavors on the grains, which we are able to do right here in Minnesota. All of the barrels we use to age our whiskey are made from Minnesota grown oak, which is made into barrels in Minnesota as well. Ultimately, the whiskies we release will have a unique and distinct sense of place, and we hope that is something that will resonate with people.
How do you think about happiness?
Making things is what makes me happy. I worked in a brewery my whole life before making the switch to whiskey. Making something that people can enjoy is something I take pride in. Even when I’m not doing that commercially, I’m doing it at home. I love to cook, make bread, vinegar, and all sorts of other things my son calls “weird stuff.” It drives my wife crazy, and I’m thankful that she at least tolerates it somewhat ha.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blackfrostdistilling.com
- Instagram: @blackfrostdistilling
- Facebook: @blackfrostdistilling
Image Credits
Black Frost Distilling
