Rob Sergent: Distilling a life in Utah.

• Author: Haraldsen, Tom
• Position: Around Utah: Spotlight

The first thing Rob Sergent observed when he arrived in Park City six years ago was the beauty of Summit County. The second thing he envisioned was the place where he could combine his passions of family, fresh air and community involvement with his desire to start a business.

So when Sergent and his wife, Sara, decided to open Alpine Distilling in 2016, Park City proved to be the right place.

"My father is a certified dentist and he's also a distiller," Sergent says. "My family settled in Kentucky in the 1700s, and distilling has been a part of our history for generations. But the main reason I wanted to distill professionally was the chance to stay at home, be with my family and help teach my children the value of hard work."

Sergent spent 15 years working for Johnson & Johnson, and before that with the NFL, traveling extensively. He remembers that at one point, "my 11-year-old said that he thought what I did for a living was pack a suitcase."

Enough was enough. Sergent returned to Kentucky for some training with master distillers, and he and Sara started plans for Alpine Distilling in 2015. The company has quickly developed an international reputation for its crafted liquors.

Spirits International Prestige (SIP) awarded its Platinum medal in 2016 to Preserve Liqueur, Alpine's premiere product, and a gold medal in 2016 to Lafayette Spiced Flavored Bourbon. This year, SIP presented Traveler's Rest Single Malt Whiskey with a gold medal and Persistent Vodka with a silver medal. To earn SIP awards for all four products in the first years of their existence is almost unprecedented.

Sergent credits the water as a key factor in Alpine's products. He says the Park City facility was chosen specifically for the water supply, which comes from an under-mountain aquifer and arrives at a perfect temperature from Silver Creek...