On Oct. 25, Locke + Co. Distillery co-founder Rick Talley will meet with Grand Fire Protection District Chief Brad White to deliver a donation check and commemorative gifts to each of Grand County’s five fire stations.

The donations come from sales of Big Blaze Bourbon, a whiskey created by Locke + Co. using aspen wood harvested from trees burned in the East Troublesome Fire.

The distillery donates $3 from every bottle sold to the Grand County Fire Protection District No. 1 to support the county’s Fire Assessment and Mitigation Program, which assesses Grand County properties for fire risk, helping firefighters locate higher-risk areas to manage future emergencies.

Big Blaze came out of the idea that distillers could make a good thing of a devastating event, Talley said. “This community lost so much in that fire, and we wanted to help protect it from future ones.”

Speciality whiskey produced from burned aspens

Locke + Co released its first batch of Big Blaze Bourbon in 2024. The small batch sold out quickly in Grand County and raised just over $1,500 for wildfire mitigation.

Now, the distillery is releasing a second, larger batch, distributed statewide with the goal of raising more than $4,500 for Grand County’s fire programs. The second batch will be available in early November.

“We were able to harvest a lot more of the East Troublesome aspen last year,” Talley said. “Because those trees are five years old now, they’re starting to degrade and get bug-infested, so we collected as much as we could. We’ll have enough for the next five years of Big Blaze releases.”

The distillery worked with private landowners in areas burned by the 2020 fire to hand-cut standing dead aspen trees. The wood is then dried, cleaned and cut into discs for aging whiskey. The process uses only the inner wood to avoid the outer wood’s bitter flavors.

“The flavor profile with the big blaze is a little extra smoky with that next naturally burned aspen wood,” Talley said. “As the fire was burning, you know, there’s so much smoke in the air. Aspen trees are very soft, porous wood, so that gives it an extra smoky component.”

Family ties to the land of East Troublesome

Talley grew up in Denver, but his parents own property on Shadow Mountain Lake. The East Troublesome Fire spread within a mile of their home. Because he could have lost such an important place, he felt personally tied to the fire’s impacts.

“We know the community and how much was lost in that fire, and so I have a very personal connection to a place that I’ve been growing up going to my entire life,” he said. “I have so many wonderful memories of walking the wood boardwalk in the town of Grand Lake.”

The ability to give back to not only the town of Grand Lake, but to the entire Grand County community with this whiskey was incredibly rewarding, he said.

Talley credited the local community with helping make Big Blaze possible. TJ Bass, food and beverage director at Winter Park Resort, connected Locke + Co. with landowners willing to allow tree harvesting and helped bring Big Blaze to bars around the resort, including Lunch Rock and Sunspot Lodge.

“That was huge for us,” Talley said. “Winter Park has big whiskey sponsors, so the fact that they were willing to make room for a small, local distillery that’s giving back to Grand County meant a lot.”

Whiskey’s flavor hints at a smoky fall season

Talley says Big Blaze’s subtle smokiness makes it especially good for fall cocktails. His top recommendations include a classic old fashioned, an apple cider bourbon cocktail or a hot toddy.

“The smoky aspen flavor goes perfectly with apple and cinnamon this time of year,” he said. “On our website, we even have recipes for an apple cider old fashioned and a hot buttered bourbon.”

Talley said the mission behind Big Blaze Bourbon goes beyond whiskey.

“Colorado will always have fires but this one was especially devastating … without the bravery of each member of the numerous fire stations that battled this fire, so much more loss would have occurred,” he said. “Also, we are very grateful to the land owners who jumped at the opportunity to help us harvest aspen from their property. Without their help, we could never have created our Big Blaze Bourbon.”

Big Blaze Bourbon is available at select retailers and bars across Colorado. For more information, visit their website.