We named Split Rock Distillery for a dirt road we travel often—the shortcut between our two homes. It’s the only shortcut we’ve ever taken to bring you Maine’s first organic spirits.
When we founded Split Rock, we promised ourselves we would handcraft our spirits the right way. That meant the long way: authentic, small batch grain to glass, selling no spirit not our own.
We spent evenings and weekends building a distillery and tasting room by hand in an old barn on historic Route One. We sourced organic grains and fruits from the fields of farmers we count as friends. We demanded organic sugars and drew waters so pure locals still harvest winter ice. We refined our fermentations again and again to showcase the unique signatures of our still. And through it all, we gathered knowledge, inspiration, a helping hand and an honest opinion from other distillers, family and friends, and every stranger fairly met.
There is a real split rock on Split Rock Road and we still drive past it almost every day—a rough plug of granite, cracked open long ago by time or skill (or a little of both) to reveal an unexpected smoothness within. That is the spirit of Split Rock.
—MATT AND TOPHER
We named Split Rock Distillery for a dirt road we travel often—the shortcut between our two homes. It’s the only shortcut we’ve ever taken to bring you Maine’s first organic spirits.
When we founded Split Rock, we promised ourselves we would handcraft our spirits the right way. That meant the long way: authentic, small batch grain to glass, selling no spirit not our own.
We spent evenings and weekends building a distillery and tasting room by hand in an old barn on historic Route One. We sourced organic grains and fruits from the fields of farmers we count as friends. We demanded organic sugars and drew waters so pure locals still harvest winter ice. We refined our fermentations again and again to showcase the unique signatures of our still. And through it all, we gathered knowledge, inspiration, a helping hand and an honest opinion from other distillers, family and friends, and every stranger fairly met.
There is a real split rock on Split Rock Road and we still drive past it almost every day—a rough plug of granite, cracked open long ago by time or skill (or a little of both) to reveal an unexpected smoothness within. That is the spirit of Split Rock.
—MATT AND TOPHER
We invite you to follow us on Instagram, @splitrockdistilling, for a peek behind the scenes, at exciting projects, events and new cocktail inspirations! Feel free to add to the conversation by hashtagging #splitrockdistilling or #splitrockcocktail!
To our Family, Friends, and Community:
Behind every barn there is a barn raising. Each and every time we walk through the doors of our own red barn, we are thinking about everyone who lifted us up along the way.
From the very beginning, every time those doors opened a friendly face walked in and asked how they could help. Our friends and family provided the tools and materials we needed, the expertise we didn’t have, the ideas and solutions that eluded us, the encouragement and support that sustained us. It was dirty, frustrating work sometimes, and yet no one ever flinched.
We never had to ask. This community we love so much just gave.
And so we did ask for some help to thank them. Artisan and metalworker Matthew Harkins handcrafted the names of everyone who lent a hand from copper, like our still, and branded each one into the salvaged boards of the barn they built. All those names are right behind the bar. We’re adding to them every day. And now everyone who raises a glass of spirits in the Split Rock tasting room (and we hope there are so many!) toasts the friendship and goodwill that raised this barn. Family, friends, community. Those are our rocks.
Our Commitments
When you commit to using good, wholesome organic ingredients, it turns out that you can do a lot of good.What goes into each glass of Split Rock organic spirits?
Certified organic food grade corn, wheat and rye. Certified organic raw sugars. Certified organic wild Maine blueberries, organic herbs and aromatics.
Waters pulled up through granite from the purest and cleanest estuary in the Northeast—the Damariscotta River, washed clean twice a day by the tides of the Great Salt Bay. Waters so abundant and so pure the locals still harvest winter ice.
We looked at all this goodness, and we knew we couldn’t let anything go to waste. It wasn’t enough to distill Maine’s first organic grain to glass whiskeys, rums, vodkas and gin. We had gone from farm to table, so we went back to the farm.
Our nutrient-rich mash is feeding the heirloom pigs on High on the Hog farm, fattening them round as whiskey barrels. The organic cows of Rainbow Farm and Straw Farm eat our grains along with their grasses. A local lab found so many minerals and nutrients in our water slurry that it’s sprayed as compost on the rolling fields of organic produce at Dandelion Spring Farm.
Our labels are printed on post consumer waste papers. Our bottles are recycled and re-used. Our bar is made of salvaged wood. Every chance we get to reduce, re-use or recycle, we take.
That’s the spirit of Split Rock.