A whiskey-fueled renaissance
JACKSON TOWNSHIP — One is a financial adviser, the other is an antique dealer. Both show a zeal bordering on a religious fervor when describing their joint enterprise, distilling a hand-crafted rye whiskey.
Ernie Scarano said he got his first taste for distilling spirits while traveling through Missouri. After a lot of reading and research, he made the first batch of “Old Homicide” rye whiskey in 2005.
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had without laughing,” Scarano said, “when I saw the first drips coming out of the still and tasted it. It’s good stuff.”
The company’s signature product is marketed by Scarano and partner Darrin Critchet with the tagline, “It’s To Die For.” It is aged four years in charred white oak barrels brought in from Minnesota. They also distill an un-aged rye whiskey called “Whiskey Dick.”
Critchet and Scarano share a common vision for a new niche tourist draw that craft-level distilleries, which will be possible when an Ohio law takes effect in March, could create in the region.
“Like the wineries have done, that is what distilleries are looking to do,” Scarano said. “If they come here, they’re going to spend money here.”
The difference between mass-produced whiskeys you can buy at the store and their products, Critchet said, is in quality and taste.
“We try to use all the best ingredients,” he said. “It’s a sipping whiskey.”
Scarano said only a portion of the liquid in most name-brand whiskey bottles actually comes from distilled corn or rye mash traditionally called whiskey. Often, he said, more than half of the final product is grain alcohol, which kills the taste and causes a burning sensation as the liquor travels from lips to stomach.
Though there are recipes that keep the whiskey’s flavor fairly consistent, each barrel they create will taste slightly different and even differ in proof, a measure of alcohol content.
“We want each batch to taste different,” Critchet said.
While taking a break from readying an antique barn on Hayes Avenue for use as the distillery, his eyes sparkled with pride as he described the various flavors in “Old Homicide,” including butterscotch and vanilla tones. The tastes come in several waves, Scarano said, as taste buds communicate with the brain and absorb the various contents of the caramel liquid.
“It’s all done with our own hands,” Scarano said. “There is no expense spared in time or money. This is not meant to be shot. We want this do go down really slow.”
This is not Scarano and Critchet’s first attempt at whiskey-making.
After obtaining a license to distill for their smaller facility along Sandusky County Road 62 near Gibsonburg, a batch of “Old Homicide” dripped from their still in 2010. That product is aging, and won’t be ready for consumption until June 2014.
The pair entered into a lease in January with the owners of the barn on the south side of Hayes Avenue, between Sandusky County Road 108 and Ohio 590. The company also has applied to Ohio’s Liquor Control Commission for licenses to distill, bottle and sell the final product.
The business, Ernest Scarano Distillery, is named in honor of Scarano’s father, Ernest, who died in 1988. Scarano, a local haberdasher, fought in the African theater of World War II, landing with the Western Task Force at Casablanca in November 1942.
It may surprise some that in a state with such a rich heritage of distilling locally grown corn and other grains, there is a grand total of three businesses that distill alcoholic spirits.
Before Gov. John Kasich signed House Bill 243 into law, Ohio permitted only three micro-distillery licenses for the entire state, one each in Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties. The new law, which takes effect March 22, eliminates that limit and opens the state up to entrepreneurs with a passion for making liquor.
Critchet said if the licensing process goes smoothly, the business could open its doors on Hayes Avenue by this summer.
Scarano said whiskey will be distilled in one portion of the barn and stored in bonded aging rooms — which once served as grain bins — until it is ready to be tasted. He said a separate location will be created as a retail shop, and an adjacent hay loft eventually could be renovated into a space for private parties.
Though the license hasn’t been approved yet and the profitability of selling a craft whiskey in the region remains to be seen, the business partners are hopeful about the future.
“You know, we used to make stuff here in Ohio,” Scarano said. “We can’t make car parts, but we do make whiskey. And we seem to have a talent for it. It’s a labor of love.”
