A Conversation with 291 Colorado Whiskey’s Michael Myers

Courtesy of 291 Colorado Whiskey

The journey Michael Myers began more than a decade ago may not be near completion, but it’s definitely found an upward trajectory.

Fresh off the whiskey brand he founded, 291 Colorado Whiskey, winning Brand Innovator of the Year for 2023 from the Icons of Whisky, Myers was in Kentucky and sat down with FredMinnick.com to talk about that journey, where it is currently and where it is headed.

“It’s just incredible validation of what we’ve built,” Myers said of winning the award. “It’s validation of my team and how hard they work for 291.”

And this isn’t exactly a mega-distillery we’re talking about – making winning such an award all the more validating. Starting 13 years ago when Myers, a former fashion photographer in New York, designed his own still and built it out of old copper photogravure plates.

After moving to Colorado Springs, he designed his whiskey based on what he learned from videos and reading material, essentially teaching himself how to distill and blend the kind of whiskey he wanted – and that whiskey he envisioned was something rugged. Something big. Something born of the American west. And that’s what it has continued to be. As Myers puts it, when making whiskey, he envisions something that an old west cowboy might have swilled in a saloon.

And even aside from that original still – which is still in operation – Myers sees his former and current careers as being intertwined in a way, creatively and otherwise.

“The darkroom and distilling for me are very much the same thing,” Myers said. The difference is that he was well studied in photography when he became a professional. As for whiskey, one might say he knew just enough to be dangerous.

“When I came to whiskey, I was not going to not know what was right or wrong, just, ‘Does it taste good? That’s what I did,” he said.

Read the rest of the story at FredMinnick.com.