Mount Washington Distillers is newest craft spirits producer in NH

GILFORD — When you think of a chemical engineer, images might come to mind of someone doing crazy experiments with dangerous chemicals in beakers and flasks, all the while building large, complex contraptions. That is exactly what it’s like inside Mount Washington Distillers for founder David Wadsworth, except instead of dangerous chemicals, it’s liquor, and the large contraption is a 45-foot-tall mechanism with lots of copper lines, stainless steel tubes and big tanks.

Wadsworth retired from his job in petroleum engineering in 2020. But instead of enjoying the traditional retirement, he had a different plan in mind.

“I wanted something very interesting to do and something that's not necessarily easy,” Wadsworth said. “Playing golf, you know, OK, I'm a terrible golfer. But building a distillery and working with my friends," he said, "is much more interesting.”

Mount Washington Distillers was started in 2015, but without a permit or land. It wasn’t until 2018 that Wadsworth started building the site of the distillery and began producing. But Wadsworth’s dream to make spirits started by using his neighbors as taste testers. Sales director Jackie Fountain is one of his neighbors, and she said he's been talking about building a distillery for the past few years.

“We would get together and do whiskey tastings,” Fountain said. “And then he started making his vodka, using us as test bunnies and others in the neighborhood.”

Eventually, Wadsworth asked Fountain for help with his new business, and she became sales director after a worthwhile career as a stay-at-home mom for her three children.

According to Wadsworth, Mount Washington Distillers is the 13th distillery in the state. The American Craft Spirits Association says there are 2,290 craft distilleries in the United States, which is up 11% from the just over 2,000 distilleries in 2019. According to Visit New Hampshire, there are over 90 breweries in the state and the Brewers Association estimates there are 9,709 breweries nationwide. So why are there so few distilleries compared to their beer counterparts? According to Wadsworth, it is much easier to open a brewery than it is to open a distillery.

“The barriers to entry for a distillery are 100 times greater than for building a brewery or winery,” said Wadsworth. “You can go to the state and get a permit to build a brewery or winery very easily. To build a distillery you require federal permit. It takes roughly a year, [and] at least 6 inches of paperwork to do it.”

Despite the greater restrictions on distilleries, it doesn’t seem to be stopping their growth in the U.S., and the demand is on the rise as well. Despite New Hampshire not having as large of a craft spirits industry as say, Kentucky or Tennessee, Wadsworth said he saw a desire growing for spirits, which is why he moved back to the Lakes Region to start his business. It also happens that the clean, pure water from Lake Winnipesaukee is just what he needed to start distilling good spirits.

“The craft spirits industry has just started to take off in the United States,” Wadsworth said. “Now when you go into the liquor stores, you see lots and lots of different bourbons and different vodkas and different rums and gins. And so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to fit that niche.”

Recently, there has also been an appeal for supporting local businesses. Wadsworth believes that is where he may have an edge over larger commercial liquor brands, and why it is worth paying a premium to purchase craft spirits.

“You know, this whole thing about having everything made overseas and shipped in containers across the Pacific and then by train to New Hampshire doesn't really appeal to my children. They like the idea that if they buy tomatoes, they buy them from a farm in their area. And so, craft spirits is the same idea. It's all local.”

This year, White Mountain Distillers is distributing spirits in 27 of the state's 70 state liquor stores, including the largest markets such as Portsmouth and Salem.

In the near future, Wadsworth has plans to continue his expansion into other stores and hopes to add onto his facility. He wants to add a tasting room, a gift shop, an outdoor deck and some essentials like office and meeting spaces.

But when it comes down to it, the ultimate goal for Wadsworth is to enjoy the craft and have fun running this business.

“I feel very gratified that spending my whole career working in engineering allowed me to do this. If you’re going to do something like this, you need to have fun doing it. It’s a very competitive business, it’s not easy. I don’t know if it will succeed or not, I hope it will. [But] if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing perfectly.”