This creation of Whiskey Del Bac started from a profound sense of place and a love of the Sonoran Desert. It came from an idea that its founder, Stephen Paul, had to dry malt over a mesquite fire instead of a peat fire. Growing up in the Sonoran Desert and dearly loving this place, the notion of making a single malt whiskey that was truly from this desert really captivated Paul. 

American Whiskey: When did your involvement with the ASWMC begin?

Stephen Paul: I only found out about the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission in late 2016 and immediately joined. So, after the founding nine members, I think we were number 11 or 12 to join. When I started out I was so out of the loop about distilling. Then I joined the board after most of the heavy lifting had been done. I have a ton of admiration for the original nine founders who had the vision to band together and petition the TTB to designate ASM as a legit category.

AW: How did the distillery’s journey into creating American single malt begin? Was creating ASMW in the plans from the beginning?

SP: It’s kind of funny that, in the beginning, I had no idea that others were doing the same thing. In my naivete, I had no clue even about the extent of the craft distilling movement that was underway. What happened was my wife and I had a long-time furniture design company that specialized in mesquite wood. The trees develop internal cracks while they’re growing, due to the unforgiving climate they’re in. They don’t typically grow straight, and they have a bunch of other challenges.

Mesquite is well known in the US for the flavor it imparts to food when you cook over it. We were always Scotch drinkers and one evening in 2006 we were barbecuing and drinking Scotch and she said “Why couldn’t you dry malt over a mesquite fire instead of a peat fire?” A couple of months later, I bought a tiny five-gallon still and started the long learning curve of making single malt whiskey and malting — knowing nothing about distilling or malting.

So I made a lot of really bad whiskey on that little still. But it started to taste better over time, and in 2012 I bought a 40-gallon still. That coincided with our daughter Amanda moving back to Tucson from having been in NYC for ten years and realizing I was making decent whiskey by then. She made me get legal on all the required levels, and we formed the company. Amanda is my co-founder. So, off that 40 gallon still, we released Whiskey Del Bac to the local Tucson marketplace in late 2012, where it got a very warm reception. In 2014, we got investment to put in the 500-gallon system we have now, with a 5,000lb-capacity malthouse. We malt all our own barley for our “mesquited, not peated” American single malts.

AW: What would you say is the key differentiator for your American single malts in the market?

SP: One cool thing about American single malt producers is that many are producing their whiskeys with regional influences or

unique angles.

Given that our ethos is totally based on the Sonoran Desert, and the aroma of mesquite smoke is a signature of so many aspects of living here, from our desert campfires or walking through your neighborhood on a winter night when people are burning mesquite in their fireplaces, to the ever-present barbecuing in our year-round climate. While our “mesquited” single malts are inspired by the peated Scotches of the Islay region, mesquite smoke is softer on the palate, and doesn’t give you those medicinal, iodine notes that peat does.

AW: Have you noticed an uptake in interest in ASMW since the ratification was announced?

SP: Ratification has increased our exposure in the press, with lots of requests for articles and interviews. It’s great to see how the buzz about ASMs has accelerated. We see a lot of people who are staid bourbon drinkers discovering how friendly to their palates our American single malts are.

Head back to this very spot, every Wednesday, for the next instalment of Quick Fire Questions.