Introducing Wormtown Distilling
'Brewstillery' debuts vodka, rye, cocktail menu today
This month, nearly two years after announcing its distillery, Wormtown Brewery finally had everything in place to premiere its first two spirits and begin mixing up taproom cocktails.
Everything, that is, except for the spirits themselves.
The bottles were packaged and ready, but Wormtown didn’t have any employees free to pick up the cases from Boston Harbor Distillery, the spirit maker it partnered witth for a vodka and rye whiskey. Completing the arduous project to establish Worcester’s first distillery — or brewstillery, as Wormtown has coined — now hinged on a round trip to Dorchester.
Unwilling to sit idly through another delay, Wormtown President and General Manager Kim Golinski hopped in a van and drove out to collect the cases herself. The precious cargo secure, the drive back to Worcester was one of the most harrowing trips she has ever made.
“I had to deal with gusts of 45 mph wind. I’m all the way to the right, with all the 18-wheelers, going 45 mph on the highway,” Golinski said. “It was such a release when I finally pulled into Wormtown.”
Today you can visit the Shrewsbury Street taproom to purchase a bottle of Wormtown Distilling’s Vernon Hill Vodka ($30) or Webster Square Rye Whiskey ($40), or order one of the half-dozen cocktails featuring the two spirits.
We — and Wormtown — have waited too long for this.
Nearly eight months ago I wrote that Wormtown Distilling was but a month or two away from rolling out its spirits. That was before the brewstillery had to manage unexpected safety stipulations from the Worcester Fire Department, as it navigated the many federal licensing hoops on the path to getting a distillery license. Through all the delays Wormtown remained undaunted and never did anything half-assed just to reach a milestone.
“In the face of all challenges and the unforeseen circumstance, the team at Wormtown is incredibly resilient,” Golinski told me. “They pivot and they see every negative challenge as an opportunity. We even talked about delaying the release until the first of the year. But, we though, ‘Why would we do that?’ We knew we could do this.”
To recap, Wormtown isn’t currently distilling in Worcester on a commercial scale. Its 5-pound still, for now, will mainly put out small batches or allow co-founder Ben Roesch to tinker.
Wormtown Distilling, to start, partnered with Boston Harbor Distillery to source its spirits. With the rye, the team at Wormtown worked closely with Boston Harbor to select from barrels that had already been aging; it’s common for new distilleries to contract with older, established distillers, especially for brown liquors like whiskeys and bourbons that need time to come together. And the partnership was likely a one-off.
“They fulfilled a big gap we had in our dream,”Golinski said of Boston Harbor. “I’m not sure they want to partner again in the future. With their business model, I don’t know they can support it. But we have plenty to keep us busy. Our little still will be more for smaller items, probably not for sale to the public.”
Wormtown Distilling will soon offer a bourbon, gin, rum and pre-bottled espresso martini, as well as homemade bitters.
Although produced in Dorchester, the vodka and rye came by way of a careful selection process that allowed Wormtown Distilling to find the spirits that most closely reflected its tastes.
A whiskey fan, Golinski has come to love the spiciness of the rye. The rye has enough spice to stand out in a cocktail, she said, but it’s complex enough to pour on its own. Wormtown tasted through samples from 22 barrels, ending up choosing a blend of three.
You’ll note Wormtown’s marketing team named its vodka and rye after neighborhoods in Worcester, which will be a running theme for future distillery releases. The border around the label, too, is a nod to the city, mimicking patterns on the doors of the John W. Higgins Armory.
“We wanted something classic and clean and a little bit outside of what Wormtown usually looks like,” Golinski said. “We wanted to remain in touch with the heritage of the city. The team did a great job of being able to keep that connection.”
Wormtown’s cocktail menu uses the vodka and rye in both expected and unexpected ways. I’ll leave the list here. If you’re curious about where some of the names came from, remember the brewstillery is in the home of a former car dealership.
