HELENA — This week is National Agriculture Week, and Gov. Greg Gianforte marked the occasion by touring a Helena distillery that uses Montana-grown ingredients to make its products.
Gianforte visited Gulch Distillers’ manufacturing facility and tasting room in downtown Helena Tuesday. He sampled the company’s Burrone Fernet, a bitter herbal liqueur.
(Watch the video for a closer look at Gulch Distillers' links to Montana agriculture.)
Gulch produces its spirits using Montana wheat and barley. They use locally grown fruit to flavor products like apple brandy.
Co-owners Steffen Rasile and Tyrrell Hibbard say Montana agriculture is at the root of what they do.
“We love this state, and however we can help tell the story of Montana – and for us, it's putting that flavor and those stories into a bottle and helping to experience Montana in a different form,” Rasile told MTN. “Being able to use Montana-grown agriculture products and value-add that into a spirit has been a very rewarding process for us.”
Gianforte’s administration has put an emphasis on “value-added” agriculture, where companies use raw agricultural commodities to make new products. Last year, the Montana Department of Agriculture granted Gulch Distillers $25,000 through the “Growth Through Agriculture” program. Rasile says that money helped them move their tasting room and bottling system into a new location – leaving more room for distilling at the original location and allowing them to increase their production.
