The nearby town of Salida got a jump on building quality bike trails, Eckstein adds — ones that draw plenty of out-of-town interest. The owner of the twelve-year-old distillery says that while Deerhammer always contributed to fundraisers, charities and bottle donations, he really had a desire to do something more beneficial to the community. Deerhammer has successful distribution all across Colorado, as well as in California and Missouri, but Buena Vista locals know it for its downtown taproom.
Inspired by a successful project that nearby Poncha Springs brewery Elevation Beer executed — raising money for Browns Canyon National Monument — Eckstein teamed up with Eddyline Brewery to produce a whiskey to raise funds that would help build new trails in Buena Vista.
"The owners, Brian England and Mic Heynekamp, who now runs Eddyline New Zealand, they mountain-bike a ton," he says. "So we just came together, and it made sense."
Volunteers from BVSC help empty cans of beer that will later be distilled.
Eddyline Brewery Instagram
Eddyline’s large capacity was helpful in the process, as was its brief oversupply of its flagship beer, Crank Yanker IPA. The two producers decided to distill Crank Yanker, then put it in barrels for several years before selling the resulting whiskey to the public.
The excess beer was already in cans, which made the process more labor-intensive. Volunteers from local partner Buena Vista Singletrack Coalition spent time opening cans and filling totes at Eddyline. Those totes were then transported down the street to Deerhammer, where they were twice distilled and then put into barrels.
“We got the project going about four and a half years ago,” says Eckstein, adding that the first batch of whiskey was released in 2022.
The fourth batch of Trail Forge will be released at Deerhammer on Thursday, October 18. In fact, every batch has only been available at Deerhammer and Eddyline’s respective locations. “We want to raise as much money as possible for the trails,” says Eckstein. “And we can do that by selling it directly.” All proceeds from the sales go toward the trails.
The project has raised about $30,000 to date. The most recent trail, the roughly 2.5-mile connector called Crank ’n’ Hammer, was completed earlier this summer. It is a part of the Midland Trail Network, an increasingly comprehensive network that is starting to draw out-of-town visitors in addition to appeasing the locals.
“You need so much approval these days,” says Eckstein. “It [also] takes years to build and costs so much money.”
As for the whiskey, the reception has been strong, and it’s been well received among beer drinkers, too. Eckstein says if you take away the hops in the process, the result would be a very classic American whiskey. “But with the hops, the flavor is totally flipped on its head,” he notes.
It’s a very herbal whiskey that has some interesting brandy-like notes and fruit characteristics. The barrels add a nice layer of oak sweetness into the mix. Given the age and difference in barrels, no two batches are alike. “It’s going to keep evolving with every batch,” says Eckstein. And Buena Vista trail users will continue to reap the benefits.
