Having secured the title as Charlottesville’s first distillery in 2015, Spirit Lab Distilling blazes a new trail as the first distillery to offer customers a hands-on experience with whiskey making. Inspired by Spirit Lab’s one-day Whiskey Distilling Crash Course is a three-hour afternoon workshop designed for participants to closely engage with the distillation process.
Leading the workshop is Spirit Lab owner and head distiller Ivar Aass. Aass walks customers through the basics of distilling whiskey while encouraging them to make critical decisions along the way that result in their own unique batch of single malt whiskey. To commemorate their hard work, each customer walks away with a personalized 750-milliliter bottle of the spirit they crafted during class.
Aass also announced plans to introduce a gin distilling workshop that invites patrons to tailor-make a London dry gin from a collection of curated gin botanicals. “We get tons of questions about how we make our unique, high-quality whiskey and gin, so we’re excited to get people involved in the process in such a unique and memorable way,” says Aass. “Imagine getting to spend just a couple of hours on your 40th birthday making whiskey, or saying thanks in a special way to your groomsmen or bridesmaids by giving them this gift.”
In addition to wedding parties, the distilling experience is ideal for birthdays, special events and team-building exercises. Each workshop is limited to groups of 10.
Spirit Lab Distilling is located at 1503 6th St., Charlottesville.
