A Decade of Spotted Bear Spirits
The local craft distillery has doubled its staff and has grown to distribute vodka, gin, agave and whiskey across the state and in northern Colorado while curating specialty cocktails at its tasting room in downtown Whitefish over the last 10 years
By Maggie Dresser
A decade ago, when Lauren Oscilowski launched Spotted Bear Spirits, she started distilling vodka in a 1,000-square-foot space adjacent to the tasting room in downtown Whitefish. In the company’s earliest stages, she used a Portuguese alembic still, a horse trowel from Murdoch’s, used heating elements from Home Depot and retrofitted a double boiler to produce handcrafted spirits.
“We were small and nimble, and we quickly outgrew the space so in 2019, we transferred all of our production over to a new 5,000-square-foot facility with beautiful equipment,” Oscilowski said.
Ten years after Oscilowski quadrupled her production size, she’s now distilling a range of spirits including gin, whiskey, agave and coffee liqueur, which she distributes to restaurants and liquor stores across the state and in northern Colorado. Her staff has doubled and she now has eight bartenders, a sales department and she’s retained her head distiller, who has been with the company since it launched.
Infused with nine different botanicals, Spotted Bear’s house gin ranks No. 1 as the distillery’s top selling product, which has a bright citrus and piney juniper flavor.
“It really is a true craft gin,” Oscilowski said.
All of Spotted Bear’s spirits are made with locally sourced products, including local grain in the single malt whiskey, mint from Passmore Farms in Creston in the schnapps, while peppers from Wicked Good Farm in Whitefish are infused in the agave. Local huckleberries, too, make a regular appearance in the spirits.
“There are a lot of huckleberry products on the market and a lot of them don’t use real huckleberries,” Oscilowski said. “We do – which is why ours has that bright purple color.”
While Oscilowski says Spotted Bear is typically viewed as a cocktail bar, she says the heart of the business is manufacturing. But her staff continues to curate an “ever evolving” cocktail menu at the downtown location.
After years of rotating the menu, a year-round cocktail list last year was established with staples like the salt and pepper martini, which Oscilowski says has historically been the most popular drink made with grapefruit juice, lemon juice, raw syrups, bitters and can be made with gin, vodka or agave.
Classics like Old Fashioneds are also popular while the trendy Espresso Martini has become a favorite, made with cold brew, coffee liqueur, ginger, and cardamom.
Bartender Rebecca McQuary has also curated a signature mocktail menu including drinks like the DJ Spinderella, made with grapefruit, lemon, simple syrup, bitters with a salt rim and pepper grind.
The Spa Day special is a savory cocktail that includes tonic water with olive juice, which McQuary describes as a salty, bitter, bubbly and refreshing.
“People associate us as a cocktail bar, but that’s just a piece of it,” Oscilowski said. “We’re a distillery manufacturer and we use local products as much as possible. We want people to come have a cocktail, enjoy it, see how to mix the spirit and then bring home a bottle.”
Northwest Montana Distilleries
Spotted Bear Spirits
503 Railway Street, Whitefish
Hours vary. During winter, the tasting room is open Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Summer hours are noon to 8 p.m. daily.
Glacier Distilling Company
10237 U.S. Highway 2 East, Coram
Open daily from noon to 6 p.m.
Whistling Andy Distillery
8020 MT Highway 35, Bigfork
Hours vary