On the first weekend of December, hundreds of people wait for hours – some even for days – in a long, winding line outside Stranahan’s distillery in Denver, Colorado, before the doors open at 8am.
This year the line of people waiting to finally get inside Stranahan’s ran around three sides of the building, then back out and around another building across the street. People in camp chairs or laying on the ground bundled inside their sleeping bags turned into tents that led up to the front of the line: an RV where two men had been staying since the early hours of Wednesday morning.
This is the annual release of Stranahan’s unique American single malt Snowflake Whiskey, which is sold only one day a year. Just like snowflakes in nature, Master Distiller Rob Dietrich describes, no two batches of Snowflake Whiskey are alike. Last weekend, the 20th batch, named Quandary Peak after the summit in the Rocky Mountains, was released.
Close to 900 people waited in line outside Stranahan’s distillery in Denver, Colorado, over the weekend for the one day release of the 20th batch of the rare Snowflake Whiskey. Many people waited in line for several days just to make sure they got a spot in line. People are pictured waiting in line wrapped up in blankets and sleeping bags in camp chairs and even lying on the ground (left) before the doors opened at 8am on Saturday
The line outside Stranahan’s (pictured) was so long that it went around three sides of the distillery, then back out and around another building across the street. Just like actual snowflakes, no two batches of Snowflake Whiskey are the same. This year’s iteration of the Snowflake, Batch 20, is named Quandary Peak after the summit in the Rocky Mountains
The people who are dedicated to Stranahan’s enough to wait outside for hours and even days for Snowflake Whiskey have been dubbed ‘Stranafans’ for their devotion. Stranafans are pictured in line before the release on December 2
Every year since 2007, 46-year-old Dietrich (along with Stranahan’s founder Jess Graber in the early years) develops a new batch of Snowflake, which always begins with Stranahan’s Original whiskey that is finished in a variety of used casks from all over the world and for various amounts of time, blended by Dietrich himself.
Rob Dietrich, 46, (pictured) has been the Master Distiller at Stranahan’s since 2011, but has worked at the distillery since 2006. In 2007 he and Stranahan’s founder Jess Graber started making Snowflake Whiskies
‘I want to create something that people are going to be excited about to come back again another time,’ Dietrich told DailyMail.com. ‘You want somebody to come back and actually experience that again, because it’s always going to be different, it’s always going to be unique.’
This year’s Snowflake is a combination of cask finishes from three different rum casks, a Cognac, a Madeira, a Sangiovese and port casks. According to the distillery, Quandary Peak’s tasting notes include a nose of brown sugar, lambert cherries, spiced sweet apple, graham cracker and almonds, a palate of creamy bread pudding, honeyed almonds, briny maple syrup and luscious black cherries and a finish of amaretto cheesecake.
Dietrich, with his mutton chops and Stetson hat, has been working at Stranahan’s since 2006 and became the Master Distiller in 2011. His passion for distilling whiskey is obvious – he even has a whiskey lab at home – but when he and Graber started developing the Snowflakes, he had no idea it would become the event that it is today.
‘It was completely organic,’ he said. ‘That was kind of the crazy thing. We started releasing Snowflake and we found that we were busier than usual on those days that we released the Snowflake.
‘We would send out an email blast and say hey, we’re going to release our new Snowflake this year and people would just start showing up and it would just be a busy day… then we started finding people were actually waiting for us to open the doors – it might be just five or 10 people waiting. And then that line just kept getting bigger and bigger every year.’
The 20th batch of Snowflake Whiskey (pictured) is a combination of cask finishes from three different rum casks, a Cognac, a Madeira, a Sangiovese and port casks. Tasting notes include a nose of brown sugar, lambert cherries, spiced sweet apple, graham cracker and almonds, a palate of creamy bread pudding, honeyed almonds, briny maple syrup and luscious black cherries and a finish of amaretto cheesecake, according to the distillery
With 1400 to 1600 bottles per batch, the rare whiskey sells out the same day. In order to avoid any resentment at being turned away at the door, Stranahan’s has developed a ticketing system, where before the doors open at 8am, people in line are given one or two tickets (there’s a two-bottle limit per person).
There are exactly the same number of tickets as $100 bottles (this year there were 1600) and when the tickets run out, Stranahan’s puts up a ‘Sold Out’ sign at the end of the line.
This year, close to 900 people waited in line to get their own bottles of Snowflake, some even waiting for several days with heaters and tents to make the waiting easier. To pass the time, people ate and drank with the strangers (or old friends from past years) behind and ahead of them in line. This year there were also food trucks, a hospitality tent and two press tents in the parking lot.
In the early morning hours before the Snowflake was released, a line of tents with people sleeping inside wound around the Stranahan’s distillery. Many people closer to the front of the line had been there for several days
This year’s Snowflake batch made 1600 bottles, which were sold out in the same day. People are limited to two bottles a person and each bottle costs $100
A security guard is pictured standing beside the line of people waiting to get inside Stranahan’s, though Dietrich said they have never had a problem at past releases. He said: ‘I’m knocking on wood when I saw this, but we’ve never had any trouble out there. There’s a comradery. Especially people in Colorado, you know? We like to be outdoors and they’re camping out for whiskey’
Some people got especially creative while they waited. In one part of the line, two people set up their own miniature theater: a white towel draped over their truck tire with a small projector playing Guardians of the Galaxy onto the ‘screen’.
Regardless of how they filled their time, these dedicated Snowflake Whiskey lovers have been dubbed ‘Stranafans’.
‘It’s like whiskey tailgating,’ Dietrich said. ‘You’ll see people out there grilling up brats and ribs or cooking up a big pot of chili. Last year there was a guy out there in a gorilla suit. People like to have some fun. I’ve never – I’m knocking on wood when I say this, but we’ve never had any trouble out there. There’s a comradery. Especially people in Colorado, you know? We like to be outdoors and they’re camping out for whiskey.’
After an almost-incident several years ago where people were upset at being turned away at the door, Stranahan’s has developed a ticketing system. Before the doors open at 8am, people in line are given one or two tickets (pictured), which correspond to the number of bottles they can take. The number of tickets corresponds with the number of bottles and when the tickets run out, the distillery puts up a sign saying ‘Sold Out’
These two people got creative as they waited for the doors to open. They’ve set up a white sheet on the tire of a truck with a small projector playing Guardians of the Galaxy onto the screen
To pass the time waiting in line, people eat and drink together. Dietrich compared Snowflake releases to tailgating, saying: ‘It’s like whiskey tailgating. You’ll see people out there grilling up brats and ribs or cooking up a big pot of chili. Last year there was a guy out there in a gorilla suit. People like to have some fun’
However, the first two men in line this year were not from Colorado, but Wisconsin. Mike Kirchhoff and Dereck Heydn arrived at Stranahan’s with their RV on Wednesday around 5.30am. The two friends had been driving for 16 hours from Janesville, Wisconsin – about 1,000 miles away – with the goal of being among the elite group of the first 10 people in line. Instead, they ended up being the first ones there.
‘Last year we just missed being in the top ten,’ Kirchhoff said. ‘We were numbers 11 and 12, so we wanted a shot at getting in the top 10, hopefully number one. But if somebody had already been here, that would have been fine too.’
In fact, by being the first two people in line, they beat out Russell Cowdin, who has been first in line for several years and claims ‘cult celebrity status’ at Stranahan’s.
‘The people in Stranahan’s and the people in the top ten, people who have been here for five, six releases, they know who I am and what I’ve done,’ the bearded Cowdin said waiting in line for Saturday’s release. ‘I was the first one to bring a tent. I was the first one to bring a heater. I was the first one to bring food.’
When he started developing the Snowflake Whiskies, he never expected the releases would become what they are today. He said: ‘It was completely organic. That was kind of the crazy thing. We started releasing Snowflake and we found that we were busier than usual on those days that we released the Snowflake. We would send out an email blast and say hey, we’re going to release our new Snowflake this year and people would just start showing up and it would just be a busy day.’ People are pictured waiting in line in the early morning before the release
Dietrich added: ‘Then we started finding people were actually waiting for us to open the doors – it might be just five or 10 people waiting. And then that line just kept getting bigger and bigger every year’. People are pictured bundled up and waiting in line ahead of the release on Saturday morning
Even this adorable dog is taking a break from just standing and waiting in the line for the Snowflake Whiskey release
Early Saturday morning – a few days after he had arrived on Wednesday night – Cowdin was a bit disheveled and slightly loopy as he recounted his past experiences waiting in line for Snowflake Whiskey – once he waited in line in 18 degree weather, another time someone made chili from scratch right there in line.
Cowdin even claims he was the first person who decided to start waiting the night before a release instead of getting to the distillery in the early morning the day of. That year, it just happened, was the first year Stranahan’s started numbering their Snowflake Whiskey bottles.
‘I literally have the first numbered Snowflake bottle and ever since then it’s kind of been a can-I-maintain? Like, alright, did it once, I want to do it again. I’m going to be the first guy in line from now on.
‘And the next release I came in Friday morning, early Friday morning and then I came in late Thursday night and it just keeps getting earlier and earlier. And I – this year I came in Wednesday night at about 10 o’clock. I worked a full day, went home, packed up, drove over here and these guys had been here for 16 hours before I got here.’
Mike Kirchhoff (pictured) drove from Wisconsin and was the first person in line for the Snowflake release. To avoid conflict and to differentiate, the first 10 people in line are numbered on their hands
This man was unable to line up for the release in time to get a ticket, so he decided to wait outside the entrance, hoping to trade one of his bottles of the 19th batch from last year (Crestone Peak) with this year’s batch
Though he was a bit upset at not being the first in line – it’s become something of an obsession for him – Cowdin was still gracious. Thursday morning, when it was still only the first three in line, they all went out to breakfast and Cowdin treated Kirchhoff and Heydn.
‘After having been number one for so long, Russell was a bit off-kilter when he found out there were people already in line and he was still at work and so he was grumpy,’ Kirchhoff said. ‘So he got here and we get to talk with each other and we’re fast friends.
‘Russell’s been great,’ Kirchhoff added. ‘But boy, to hear him tell the story of the whole day after he found out he wasn’t going to be first in line, it was hilarious to hear him tell it. It was just the funniest thing ever.’
The first year Russell waited in line for the Snowflake Whiskey was in 2010 for the 12th batch, after his wife had seen something about the release online. That year he heard that the first 10 people in line got free Stranahan’s swag, so he decided to try for it at the next release, but didn’t make it to the top 10 until the release after that.
Kirchhoff and his friend Dereck Heydn (right) drove 16 hours from Janesville, Wisconsin, because they wanted to be among the first 10 people in line for the Snowflake. When they arrived at Stranahan’s with their RV on Wednesday around 5.30am, they were the first two in line
When Kirchhoff and Heydn were the first two in line, they beat Russell Cowdin (pictured), who has been first in line multiple times and is considered something of a legend at Stranahan’s. He claims he was the first person to arrive the night before the release back when people just came early on Saturday mornings and he was also the first person to bring a tent to the line
While most people bring tents the the Snowflake release, Kirchhoff and Heydn brought an RV, which they said was much more comfortable than sleeping in a tent or just on the ground, which Kirchhoff did at his first release with his wife
That was the year he decided to start waiting in line on Friday night when he got the first-ever numbered bottle of Snowflake Whiskey, which started his obsession with low numbered bottles.
‘I have a collection of eight bottles of Snowflake and six of them are very low numbers. I have three number ones, I have a number two and a number three. And that was my goal, to have low bottle numbers in my collection and just be the first guy.
‘It’s an obsession is what it is. You can call it passion, but really I’m obsessive and I like to have full collections, full sets of like one of each. So I’ve had to tone it down because I can’t afford to buy a bottle of every batch of Stranahan’s. If I had the money I would.’
But Cowdin doesn’t attend releases only for his collection. He also appreciates the comradery of everyone waiting in line together.
‘I always bring some food and whatever alcohol I’m willing to clear out of the liquor cabinet to donate to the community, to make it a community event. ‘Cause that’s what brings people together, is food and drink and fire. Bring people together on a cold night and give ’em some food and some beverage and you have built an instant community.’
Once the doors are opened at 8am, the line is brought through the distillery where Stranahan’s makes their American single malt whiskey before they reach the point where they can pick up their bottles of Snowflake
Along the route of the line inside the distillery, Stranahan’s set up a bar where people could buy specialty cocktails while they waited in line
People who walked through the line for their Snowflake Whiskey were invited to sign a barrel, which is something the distillery did two years ago, according to Kirchhoff, who said he appreciates that tradition. This man is passing the time in line inside the distillery by riding a barrel with a saddle on it
That sense of community among the ‘Stranafans’ is something Dietrich tries to uphold every year. During releases, he signs every person’s bottle and shakes their hands. He even stays overnight at the distillery the night before and typically goes down the line to shake people’s hands and chat, starting as early as 2am.
This year, because of the sheer number of people, which Dietrich attributes to the warmer weather, he decided to wait until about 4.30am to greet the people waiting outside.
‘I’m a whiskey nerd, so I wanna keep that feeling alive with everyone,’ Dietrich said. ‘I’m always excited about our whiskey community here in Colorado.
‘I’ll do maybe three or four rounds around the block starting from about two o’clock in the morning all the way through til six or seven. I’ll talk to the people who are awake and then I’ll come back around, see who else is awake. And it’s just to keep people excited.
‘I think the biggest thing is that I always appreciate and am humbled by the, just the support and community that we’ve created around, not only just around the Stranahan’s brand, but around the Snowflake. And I never take that for granted. I always make sure that I’m trying to take care of that community.’
People were also given these special posters to commemorate the release of the Quandary Peak Snowflake Whiskey as they walked through the distillery
Of course, the most important way he does that is by continuing to make new, unique batches of Snowflake. In the beginning, when Dietrich and Stranahan’s founder Jess Graber developed the first batches of Snowflake, they started with the distillery’s original single malt whiskey that had already been aged in white American oak barrels with a number three char, but had the batches finished in different barrels such as Hungarian white oak or port.
Those first Snowflake iterations were single barrel finishes, but as Dietrich continued to develop them, he decided to ‘marry’ together barrels to create specific flavor profiles. The distillery has about 60 different barrels that are cask finishing with different flavors and for various amounts of time.
Dietrich takes several months to work through the samples. He takes them home with him to his whiskey lab, nosing the samples and marrying together different flavors until he finds just the right combination. The Snowflake is his masterpiece, a work of art, and it can’t be rushed.
‘It takes a little while and you can only do so many samples in a night because your palate starts to get a little blown out, so that’s why I just allow myself a couple of months to build a batch.
‘Even if I build a batch and I find that it’s amazing in the first month, I might still mess around with a few other batches. I might say okay, this is the one, but I might try a few other things. To me it’s like whiskey art. You just keep painting until you know it’s done.’
Which, like a true artist, he just knows when he knows.
‘I had a batch that I was working on and I thought, man this is so good, but there’s just – it’s just not right. There’s something missing and I finally, I found one sample that just, that was the final ingredient. And that’s when I knew it. As soon as I tasted it, I was like, well done. This is – this is perfect.’
Because the more recent iterations of the Snowflake Whiskey are made from combinations of different cask finished whiskies, Dietrich takes several months to figure out just the right combination to make each new Snowflake. He is pictured at the Snowflake release
After people go through the line and get their bottles of Snowflake, Dietrich (right) signs their bottles with a silver marker. He is pictured with Kirchhoff, who was the very first person in the line of close to 900 people
He still gives himself some time so he can be absolutely certain it is perfect. He waits another few days before he makes any final decisions.
‘If it’s amazing every single time you keep coming back to it, then I know that I’ve completed the batch.’
This year in particular, Dietrich made his absolute favorite and while it sounds like a cliché, he actually means it this year. He’s never recreated another batch of Snowflake before because of how complicated it would be, but he said he would actually consider making another batch of Quandary Peak.
‘I would have to really plan ahead to [recreate a batch] because each of those cask finishes are different ages… [Quandary Peak is] hands down my favorite that I’ve put together so far. I would already want to recreate this. I was thinking about it today, actually, how I’d do that.’
If he did decide to recreate batch 20, he would likely have plenty of Stranafans excited to line up outside the distillery for days just to get some, especially this years’ top three: Kirchhoff, Heydn and Cowdin.
The first ten people in line, or the ‘Top 10’ (pictured), are given special gifts. This year they also did a toast with Dietrich (center). Kirchhoff (second from the right) said the people dedicated to getting into the Top 10 should be called ‘StranaManiacs’
Though he was given the first bottle of the batch, Kirchhoff (center) decided to give it to Cowdin (right) in exchange for one of Cowdin’s bottles because he has been collecting as many low-numbered bottles of Snowflake Whiskey that he can and since Kirchhoff and Heydn (left) beat Cowdin to be first in line
After they finally made it through the line, got their bottles of Quandary Peak and their top 10 gifts, Kirchhoff made one more gesture of friendship to Cowdin by trading his number one bottle of Snowflake Whiskey for Cowdin’s higher number.
‘He’s always very focused on having the first bottle and he’s got a collection and I know he really felt bad that he missed out on being first in line and so I thought it would be a nice thing to do,’ Kirchhoff said. ‘I traded him my number one for his number nine. I felt that was a good gesture, a tip of the hat to the legend who’s been first in line so many times.’
That gesture of kindness won’t stop Kirchhoff and Heydn from trying to be in the top 10 again next year when Batch 21 is released, though.
‘I will absolutely be back next year. No question. The only question is when and we’re not going to answer that question because I don’t want to give it away,’ Kirchhoff laughed.
‘I think it’ll be a real horse race next year to be in the top 10, so we’ll see.’