Our Story
In 2016, Graeme Wallace left his home in Scotland and moved to Colorado to pursue a life long dream. That was when his Hogback Distillery was established and his goal to make Scotch style whisky in the US got underway. The name Hogback was inspired by the Dakota Hogback Ridge that runs along the entire length of the Colorado Rockies.
For the previous 20 years, Graeme had been reviewing and writing about his native spirit – Scotch whisky. In the process, gaining experience at many of the world’s most famous distilleries and gradually building a comprehensive plan of how to make his own. Not only did he learn how to distill single malt whisky, he also learned the art of blending
Traditionally, the spirit for blended Scotch whisky was sourced from the mostly independent distilleries throughout Scotland. This is the model that Hogback followed in its early years; initially blending whisky from other US distilleries while allowing our own distilled spirit to slowly mature in mostly pre used Bourbon barrels.
To quote the adage, “The sum is greater than it’s component parts.” Blending whisky is a masterful craft and has the aim of making a more balanced, approachable and complex whisky. Hogback has now released a range of blended whiskies, each created to highlight the characteristics of a particular grain or bring them into harmony.
When it comes to distilling, we are primarily using malt barely that is peated in Scotland to create a spirit comparable to some of Scotland’s best known Single Malts. Fruity and medium peated. In addition to the Scottish malt, using pure Colorado spring water is central to achieve a soft, great tasting whisky with a good mouth-feel. Mostly maturing in used rather than virgin barrels, our first 100% malt whiskey was released in 2020.