Denver Inc.: Colorado whiskey maker taps first cask it produced

Saturday, May 13, 2006

After aging for two years in oak casks, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey is likely to be sold out in much less time.

Local liquor stores can't get enough of the super-premium stuff.

"We just don't have enough product to put in all the stores that people would like," said Jess Graber, majority owner and manager of Stranahan's. "We have commitments for a lot of our inventory."

Graber held a launch party at his Denver distillery Thursday to celebrate the tapping of Barrel No. 1, the first cask produced back in April 2004. By law, whiskey must age two years in oak casks before it can be sold commercially.

The wait was worth it.

"It feels like we've actually accomplished something," said Graber. "It feels wonderful."

The distillery produced 1,000 cases of the aged whiskey in 2004. Graber anticipates that 3,000 cases of the 2005 product will be available.

The whiskey is selling in select stores in the Denver area for a suggested retail price of $54.95.

The story behind the whiskey is the stuff of legend. When businessman George Stranahan's barn went up in flames seven years ago outside Aspen, Graber was a volunteer firefighter who responded to the fire. After the blaze, Graber and Stranahan got to talking and discovered they had a mutual interest in the alcoholic beverage business. The idea began brewing there.

Stranahan, co-founder of Flying Dog Brewery, is a major investor in the whiskey business. The distillery relies on the nearby brewery to get its mash, a mixture of hot water and crushed grain that is an early step in the production of beer.

Thinking back to the fire at his barn, Stranahan, who attended Thursday's party, clearly is proud of the new venture that sprang forth from the ashes.

"It's a good story," Stranahan said with a smile. "And it's a good ending."

Liberty's new tickers

The L is gone.

When Liberty Media Corp. swapped its New York Stock Exchange shares for two tracking stocks traded on the Nasdaq this week, the company lost the one-letter ticker symbol it coveted for so long.

Way back when - spring 1999 to be exact - Tele-Communications Inc., in the throes of merging with AT&T, had asked the NYSE for the symbol, knowing that the company's programming arm, Liberty Media, would be spun off.

The spinoff was completed in August 2001. The L finally went to Liberty Media in January 2002, after Boston-based Liberty Financial Companies Inc. went private.

With roughly 2,800 companies listed on the NYSE, it's obviously a rare and wonderful thing to be one of the less than 1 percent that gets to use a one-letter ticker. No such privilege on the Nasdaq, where ticker symbols are four or five letters.

The new tickers are the so much less cool LINTA and LINTB for Liberty Interactive Group and LCAPA and LCAPB for Liberty Capital.

No word on the name of the new winner of the L ticker.

Assistant Business Editor Jane Hoback and Deputy Business Editor Gil Rudawsky write about local business talk that doesn't necessarily end up in quarterly reports. They can be reached at business@RockyMountainNews.com.