With a winery for every 100 residents, Palisade is a pretty happy place. but Peach Street Distillers sits at ground zero of the joy. more

There is a clear separation of powers at Leopold Brothers: Todd Leopold handles the distilling, and Scott Leopold focuses on the business.

Diversity of product is a strength. Todd has masterminded everything from absinthe verte to blackberry liqueur, stemming from the brothers' old microbrewery in Michigan, where the law dictates that you can only sell what you produce in-house. So Todd started making everything from gin to triple sec, before they shuttered the place and returned home to Colorado in 2008 to go into the distilling business full-time.

The move has paid off with swift growth, and Leopold Brothers is now on the cusp of groundbreaking on a brand-new distillery on a four-acre site in northeast Denver, slated to open in mid-2014. “We'll be able to double our capacity,” says Todd. “We're going two stills to seven.” Not only that, the distillery will use 90 percent less water than the industry norm.

He credits Colorado's microbrewery pioneers for setting the stage for the state's current distilling boom. “The beer industry is so mature here,” he says. “The heavy lifting was already done by Hickenlooper, Kim Jordan, Brian Dunn, and a host of others.”

4950 Nome St., Denver
www.leopoldbros.com