Located in Nevada, not far from Lake Tahoe, Minden Mill Distillery is an estate distillery, meaning that its spirits are grown and produced on-site.

As a result, its whiskeys reflect the Sierra Nevada terroir. In addition, the distillery is open for state-of-the-art estate distillery is open to visitors for tours, tastings, and craft cocktails. In this edition of Five Questions, we talk with Minden Mill Master Distiller Joe O’Sullivan.

What was your gateway whiskey – the one that made you love whiskey?

The year I turned 21, I spent night after night talking with my friend Mike on the beaches of Cape Cod Bay in Eastham Massachusetts.  There were often a few nips of blended scotch between us, usually Famous Grouse. We talked for hours about movies and books and hip-hop while convincing ourselves that planes flying into Logan might actually be UFOs that no one had noticed. I’m surprised we never called Art Bell about it.  

What is your favorite part of the whiskey making process?

Distilling is an easy job to stay curious about. My favorite part of whiskey making is usually whatever detail is newest to me. When I started my career under Steve McCarthy, it was learning about flavors and enjoying the experience. After that, it was barrels and distilling,and later, how to communicate these complex ideas to guests of the distillery. Once all the surface-level stuff became clear, I started focusing on some of the more detailed aspects. For years I was obsessed with understanding the botany of different oaks, the actual structure of the wood itself and how it impacts extraction. I must have spent a  month discussing tylosis one summer, which I imagine was less enjoyable  to the tour groups! Lately, it’s understanding grain yield and the farming industry without getting intimidated.     

What trends do you believe are forthcoming in the spirits industry?

Simplicity. I think the industry will become a little more myopic in the upcoming years. Rather than wild finishes and grand profiles, I feel like we’ll see a retraction back to basics. Minden Mill is an estate distillery, so that’s probably tinting my vision, but I bet we’ll see a growing appreciation for flagship expressions that are done well while still being reflective of regionality – like our Single Malt. A return to the “that’s good whiskey” moments of spirits culture that rest between the more experimental periods. 

Other than your own brand, do you currently have a favorite bourbon, whiskey or other spirit?

I’m going to pull out an odd one on this because it’s not a spirit, but Korean makgeolli might be my favorite drink of all time. It’s an off-white, lightly sparkling rice wine that is slightly viscous and tastes like fermented pineapples. It’s chalky and unfiltered so the texture comes across as very creamy, but the flavor is light and refreshing. At this point I’ve convinced myself that it’s good for you for probiotic reasons. I love where I live, but I miss my H-Marts and my makgeolli. 

Neat, rocks or cocktail?

Rocks. Or more accurately, “rock.” I like a single cube of ice. I remember hearing an engineer talk about drinking scotch, and he summed up their preferred method as “giving up the cube.” Now, this guy was talking about a lot of ice, but I think the outlook is the same even if it’s just one cube. The concept is about water entering alcohol and how it changes flavor, appreciation, and urgency all along a vaguely predictable path. I like transformations like that. You can shake it if you want and speed up the matter, but it will all end the same. I enjoy that. So, for me it’s rocks all day.  

Read more: Five Questions with Tom and Matt from Oaklore Distillery

About Five Questions

Five Questions is a series on Fredminnick.com in which professionals in the whiskey business offer insights into trends, favorite spirits and more.