Spirit in small batches: Denver's Leopold Bros, distills vodka, gin, whiskey and other liquors under 14 different labels.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: VINE Arts & Entertainment

In 2002, brothers Scott and Todd Leopold launched an in-house distillery at their eponymous microbrewery in Ann Arbor, Mich.--making everything from vodka and gin to vermouth and triple sec--because of Wolverine State laws requiring brew pubs to make every alcoholic beverage sold on premise.

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Their Leopold Bros, spirits emerged as a focal point of the business, and in 2008, Todd and Scott stopped brewing beer and closed the pub to return home to Colorado and focus strictly on small-batch spirits.

An environmental engineer, Scott handles the business side of the distillery. Todd is the mad distiller. An enthusiastic and creative craftsman, he uses plenty of fresh fruit--in the case of his blackberry liqueur, four pounds of berries per 750-milliliter bottle.

"I'm trying to make sure I don't spoil Mother Nature--I want to be as gentle as possible with the fruit," Todd says. "I strain it--I don't filter it. It makes it much more flavorful." Fruit grown in Palisade is showcased in a peach liqueur and a peach-flavored whiskey.

Todd went to brewing school in Munich and later studied distilling in Kentucky. He cut his teeth distilling professionally in the Austrian and Swiss Alps, where every resort town has its own distillery. They brought that tradition back to Colorado with them in the form of Three Pins Herbal Liqueur, a spicy, citrusy apres-ski delicacy.

Scott's background as an environmental engineer meant that the brothers' Ann Arbor operation was the planet's first environmentally sustainable brewery--a tradition he has carried on in Denver.

While vermouth and triple sec are no longer among the offerings, Denver-based Leopold Bros. is unlike many micro-distilleries in that it makes 14 different labels--vodka, gin, whiskey, numerous liqueurs and a very traditional--and critically adored--absinthe verte.

Leopold Bros. Absinthe Verte is made with an old-world style recipe, based on a grape liquor and flavored and colored with fennel, anise and of course wormwood. "This is the way absinthe was produced 100 years ago," Scott says.

Todd describes perfecting the flavor as a "challenge," but nonetheless "a lot of fun," noting, "There's so much history behind the spirit. I was respectful to the people who are really serious about it."

Absinthe, only re-legalized in the U.S. in 2007 after a...