Smooth sailing for local distiller | Oconomowoc Business News

OCONOMOWOC — Rough waters may signal a storm or difficult sailing for most people, but for Kerry Shaw Brown, that turbulence means his barrels of liquor will be developing an even more nuanced flavor profile.

Brown, always fascinated by how things are made, discovered that spirits of olden times transported in boats used to have a more complex flavor, often difficult to replicate in the modern age when liquor is made in a big building and shipped by land. That rocking of the boat, Brown discovered, allowed the liquor to become more infused with the flavors of the wooden barrels. He first replicated the process using his boat house on Fowler Lake in Oconomowoc and then specially made machinery.

What began as a hobby for Brown has quickly become a growing business: Unbound Spirits.

Seven years ago, Brown began to experiment with making his own bourbon after finding many of his favorite labels were in short supply after the Asian market discovered American bourbon and started to buy the better quality bottles. After having worked with several distilleries over the years as a brand content developer, including Maker’s Mark and Castle & Key, he was able to obtain an understanding of how alcohol is blended and crafted.

“I love knowing how things work and so I managed to talk to a couple of other people who have been in this industry for a while,” he said.

“When I explained to them the thoughts of what I wanted to do … maritime weather conditions, transporting barrels on boats, I learned that could really increase the character of these bourbons exponentially,” he said, as compared to having the barrels sit in a warehouse.

That led him to do some experimenting of his own. Having grown up around boats and water, including in Oconomowoc, Brown decided to see if he could use his knowledge to benefit his bourbon. He said he used smaller charred oak barrels that he placed in floating coolers and in a wooden 1920 Thompson rowboat in his boathouse on Fowler Lake. When they were ready for drinking, Brown performed a blind taste test with some friends and other high-end bourbons and his friends “all picked mine in the blind taste test.”

With his background in brand development, Brown created the labels and began to sell and distribute his product about three years ago with the support of his fiancée and partner, Gay McPherson.

Unbound Spirits now offers several products that are distributed throughout Wisconsin and are served at some Lake Country restaurants. Brown said he hopes to move into more markets by the end of summer, including Manhattan and South Carolina.

Because he makes the spirits in small batches, should a store or restaurant run out, it might be a month before it can get restocked. Brown creates about 1,000 to 1,100 bottles per batch, which are named after the weather conditions that played a part in their making.

The flagship brand of Unbound Spirits is The Maelstrom, a blend of different straight bourbons, which is re-casked in custom-made toasted and charred American white oak in three different char levels. “Then it is subjected to the wild swings of maritime weather conditions during a period of unpredictable winds and temperature changes. For months on end it is transformed by the turbulent and unrelenting forces of the Great Lakes,” reads a description on the Unbound Spirits website.

“The result is an incredibly complex and smooth sipping bourbon with a very long finish,” Brown said.

Unbound Spirits also makes a bourbon that is suitable for sipping or mixing: Holdfast, which is a double-oaked alliance of two bourbons. The lineup at Unbound Spirits also includes Icebound Vodka made with heirloom corn and red soft winter wheat and Les Terribles, a straight bourbon whiskey finished in French cognac and Armagnac casks. The name Les Terribles is in reference to the name French generals gave to the men of the Wisconsin 32nd Division in World War 1 for their bravery and tenacity. Brown’s great-grandfather Albert Bentley Brown was a medic in those battles and received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Cross of France for his valor.

When creating the Maelstrom, Brown said he was looking to create something with a lot of complexity. When it came to the vodka, he also was seeking something a little more complex than what was on the market. So instead of using one ingredient, such as potatoes or corn, he utilized corn and wheat. He said Icebound Vodka has plenty of flavor and can be sipped or enjoyed with a squeeze of a blood orange or used to create a finessed martini.

Unbound Spirits bourbon and vodka are now made in Algoma in close proximity to Lake Michigan instead of on Fowler Lake in an old boathouse. The bottles start at around $39 to $49.

Brown operates a tasting room in Algoma and hopes to open one in Lake Country in the future. Like the Unbound Spirits label images, the Algoma tasting room pays homage to explorers and adventurers.

Brown also has partners in the business, including Martin Pazzani, a former marketing executive who had spent a career in the spirits business, and Randy Roets, a former executive of Sazerac.

“This was an unexpected turn that I got into this,” Brown said, adding he was encouraged by the “great response we got from people in Wisconsin with how we approach things.”