Andrew Koenig, the spiritpreneur who went from making award winning Brandy and Grappa to Whiskey and Vodka. Check out his story below and learn a thing or four.
Andrew tell us about yourself. How did you find yourself immersed in the world of spirit distillation?
AK: Our Father grew up in Austria, came to the US in the early 60’s. When I was in middle school, our Dad took the family back to Austria where we lived for 3 years to give my brother and I a different perspective, and to learn his native language. During that time, we experienced small farms that had a few fruit trees in their properties, from that they distilled Eau De Vie or Fruit Brandy where liquor laws enable anyone to distill in small batches for their own use. It always left an impression on me, and after studying Pomology and Agribusiness in college, I decided to return to Austria where I worked at a distillery in the Austrian Alps for 2 years as an apprentice, where I learned the art of distillation and the distillery business. Later on, we established fruit trees on the farm where the distillery now is, and constructed the distillery.
What was your vision for Koenig Distillery.
AK: My original vision was to originally produce the finest Eau De Vie from the fruits available in the Snake River Valley.
What spirits expressions do you currently produce, and how are they all different?
AK: After producing 8 award winning Eau De Vie brandies and Grappa, we decided to jump into Potato Vodka production using Famous Idaho Potatoes. We then added a Huckleberry Vodka a few years later from handpicked huckleberries. 2 years later we started aging bourbon and rye whiskey for 4 years, which we released in 2014. Our latest release this year is a Peach Vodka made with our own estate grown peaches, which just went to select markets this week. So, in total, we have about 10 different products currently.
What exactly does your job entail?
AK: do all of the fermentation, distillation and business management. My wife does the creative artwork and label design work, we also have several part and full time employees that aid with bottling, labeling, shipping and odds and ends.
What have been the main challenges involved in setting up a new distillery?
AK: The biggest challenge for us was always keeping cash flow up, and convincing consumers to try local craft products over large well-known brands, while still keeping quality high at all costs.
Where or who do you feel is the driving, innovative force behind our craft distilling industry right now?
AK: I feel that the craft distilleries who are producing enough volume and quality are driving the interest in craft products.
For quite sometime now, American whiskey has taken off, what with the expanding number of artisan distilleries and the return of rye to popularity. What’s behind the boom?
AK: I think the boom is fueled by changes in consumer behavior, whiskey in general is taking away consumers from beer. We are also seeing a lot of women under 30 taking interest in whiskey, which was unforeseeable 10 years ago.
What are your maturation conditions like?
AK: Our maturation conditions are a challenge in Idaho, where it is very dry. In our barrel houses, we try to simulate the climate that is in bourbon country, which is high humidity and high fluctuations in temperature over the years to push the liquid in and out of the wood as much as possible.
What three words do you want people to associate with your spirits?
AK: Quality, quality and quality.
What – in your opinion – makes the spirits produced at your distillery unique?
AK: We use all local, some estate grown fruit for our Eau De Vie, we use Idaho Potatoes for Vodka production, and we use the best grains and oak from bourbon and rye country to make the best products possible.
What are your hopes for the distillery 5 years from now? What do you want to be known for?
AK: We want to be known locally as a high quality producer of traditional products
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
AK: Not that I can think of right now, let me know if you have any other questions, I appreciate you taking the time to interview me! Thanks! Andy
