Hamilton Distillers

After 25 years making gallery-quality custom wood furniture, Arroyo Design took its last orders in August, and will work until next May to wrap up those remaining pieces before shutting down. But that’s not to say owner Stephen Paul is taking a breather of any kind. In fact, partnering with daughter Amanda Paul, he’s already on to the next adventure: Hamilton Distillers. Whiskey, to be exact.

“My wife and I are scotch drinkers, and we got to thinking, ‘why don’t we make this ourselves?’” Stephen says, elucidating the path to becoming Tucson’s only distillery. Naming the operation after Stephen’s mother’s maiden name seemed a natural choice, since Arroyo Design had been named after wife Elaine’s maiden name. But from furniture to booze? Amanda explains this is not such a stretch for her father, “Before furniture, he was a science teacher and it really comes down to chemistry. He’s really having fun with that aspect of this whole thing.”

Learning to malt their own barley, researching in Scotland and creating a batch of single-malt whiskey using a small copper-pot still, all resulted in a prototype so successful it won investors over with one taste. Now a shiny 39-gallon copper still imported from Portugal sits, patiently awaiting phase one of this family effort, set to begin in December. After aging only a year and a half, product should be ready for tasting by mid-2013. Stephen explains the science behind such a short amount time: “We’ll be using small, 5-gallon oak barrels to age, so the ratio of barrel surface area to volume of spirit is greater, thereby speeding up the process.”

The distillery will start out with four or five craft spirits, made and aged for market testing in a handful of local restaurants. In fact, until trademarking is complete, details on the products are extremely top secret. That makes sense considering they are developing a spirit that’s proving difficult to classify since, research so far has confirmed, nothing like it has ever been made.

Though not live as of press time, the website will be HamiltonDistillers.com.

Getting Licensed
“A distilling license is basically a liquor license,” Stephen Paul clarifies at the photo shoot. “You have to first get approved by the city before you can go to the state.” Being the first to apply for a distilling license in Tucson, Amanda Paul said it was a long process that took about eight months. Hamilton Distillers is one of three distilleries in Arizona.