Wyoming
How Wyoming Whiskey Conquered the Wild West
Kirby, Wyoming, population 76, is a virtual no man’s land. There’s a literal ghost town just across the highway, and nearby Thermopolis, population 2,725, seems gargantuan by comparison. The closest city, Casper, is two hours away. If desolate were a place, it’d be Kirby. It’s the last spot where one would expect to find high-quality whiskey.
This remoteness drew former attorneys Brad and Kate Mead, who now operate a 350-head historic cattle ranch just outside the town of Jackson, to Kirby. They originally intended to use the 1,000 acres to isolate their cattle and prevent disease during the winter months.
But as the land sat unoccupied, the Meads decided to do something completely unexpected and open Wyoming’s first whiskey distillery. They enlisted the help of David DeFazio, a lawyer who had worked at their firm, and together vowed to make a spirit that honored the land it came from.
“Everyone who comes to Wyoming understands that nothing is easy here,” says Wyoming Whiskey master blender Brendan Cook. “You have to make a conscious decision to do something. We’re not in whiskey country or bourbon country. There was this willingness and desire to make something happen in a climate that isn’t prime territory for it. And that desire was to make America’s next great whiskey.”
Harsh Extremes Yield Unique Results
Wyoming’s harsh climate is a major factor when it comes to making the distinctive spirit, and it’s critical to how the whiskey is barrel-aged. While places like Kentucky or Tennessee have a fairly mild climate with no major temperature extremes, Wyoming’s seasonal swings can fluctuate dramatically — but the whiskey makers use this to their advantage.
“What we’re able to do as blenders is picture the warehouse as a spice cabinet and think, ‘I want a little of this one, this one, and this one,’ to make something that gives us a variety of flavors,” Cook says. “The temperature swings in Wyoming are quite extreme: We see temperatures of 117 degrees at the top of the warehouse and 60 degrees at the bottom. We have huge temperature differences within a small space, but that allows us to get different flavor profiles depending on where the barrel is picked from,” Cook says.
Unlike its milder counterparts, Wyoming’s climate stays consistently cold from October to April, preventing the warehouses from really warming up at all. Wyoming Whiskey calls this the “dormancy period.” It gives the spirit time to mature and age without the heat that causes cask expansion and contraction during summer months.
“We measure our five-year-old bourbon with summer as its birthday,” Cook adds. “That’s when we see the mature characteristics come from the cask. That’s definitely unique to this part of the world.”
A Taste of Wyoming
To make whiskey, you need water. And finding a viable water source in Wyoming is no small feat. Water from nearby Thermopolis, home to the world’s largest natural hot springs, wasn’t an option because of its high mineral content, which would calcify in the still. Instead, the co-founders were able to tap a 6,000-year-old underground limestone aquifer a mile underground.
“The Meads and their partner, David DeFazio, decided to stay true to Wyoming — to build something from the ground up and celebrate that. It’s about building a sense of community and doing the difficult thing because it’s right. We could source ingredients from somewhere else, but we decided to use our surroundings,” says Cook.
Ingredients like non-GMO corn, winter wheat (they use a variety called “Yellowstone”), barley, and winter rye are sourced from farmers based in Byron, Wyoming, just an hour and a half away. These grains were chosen for their sugar and starch yields, and the variety of corn cultivated matures in 91 days, which is critical for Wyoming’s high elevation and short growing season.
“It truly is like a taste of Wyoming from grain to glass,” Cook says.
Whiskey’s Softer Side
Wyoming Whiskey’s pursuit of perfection carries on through its distillation process. The team uses a combination of two yeasts — one that’s high-yield, as well as a proprietary yeast that produces alcohol with a slightly fruitier flavor.
After being distilled in a Vendome Copper & Brass continuous column still, the whiskey is put into oak barrels and aged for a minimum of five years in one of their six rickhouses. The temperature swings in the warehouse create the bourbon world’s most unique aging environment. The summer heat pushes the whiskey into the barrel’s charred oak, while cooler temperatures force the spirit to contract — almost like inhaling and exhaling — resulting in layers of flavor.
“We have these great caramel, vanilla, and orange notes, then some dark, dried fruits, and big cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger flavors,” Cook says. “When we’re putting a small batch together, we want that creamy orange vanilla with a little bit of grounding notes from the dark dried fruit. There’s this dichotomy of an incredibly extreme environment but a very soft, delicate, and rich spirit, where you might have expected it to be harsh.”
Heading Out West
The folks behind Wyoming Whiskey know how exceptional their state is, from its majestic mountains to its sweeping high plains. Preserving the Wyoming way of life is integral to their craft, which is why they’ve created Wide Open Spaces, a partnership that has worked closely with the National Park Foundation, Yellowstone Forever, and Grand Teton National Park Foundation to help preserve Wyoming’s landscapes.
Each chapter in the series pays homage to Wyoming’s landmarks. The latest release, The Grand and National Parks No. 3, celebrates the Snake River and Grand Teton National Park, home to a 40-mile-long mountain range and native wildlife like bison and bears. Proceeds help support the Grand Teton National Park Foundation’s mission to preserve natural and cultural resources for generations. It’s just one of the many ways Wyoming Whiskey shows respect and reverence for its home.
For those who happen to be near Kirby, Wyoming Whiskey offers distillery tours, as well as tastings at its satellite location in Jackson Hole. For those unable to make it out west, you can explore Wyoming Whiskey’s expressions online.
From the harsh conditions of the 44th state, the distillers at Wyoming Whiskey have done the impossible and caught lightning in a bottle, capturing the intrepid spirit of the West.
This article is sponsored by Wyoming Whiskey.
If the Wyoming House and Senate approve its budget changes, then the chambers’ Joint Conference Committee will have helped the University of Wyoming dodge a $40 million cut, while also limiting the Wyoming Business Council to one year’s funding instead of the standard two.
The Joint Conference Committee adopted numerous changes to the state’s two-year budget draft, but didn’t formally advance the document to the House and Senate chambers. The committee meets again Monday and may do so at that time.
Then, the House and Senate can vote on whether to adopt that draft by a simple majority.
First, UW
Starting in January, the Joint Appropriations Committee majority had sought to deny around $20 million in exception requests the University of Wyoming made, while imposing a $40 million cut to the university’s block grant.
That’s about 10% of the state’s grant to UW but a lesser proportion of the school’s overall operating budget.
The Senate sought to restore the $60 million.
The House sought to keep the denials and cuts, ultimately settling on a bargain to cut $20 million, and hinge UW’s retention of the remaining $20 million on its finding and reporting $5 million in savings.
The Joint Conference Committee the House and Senate sent into a Friday meeting to negotiate those two stances chose to fund UW “fully,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily in the state Capitol after the meeting.
But, $10 million of UW’s $40 million block grant won’t reach it until the school charts a “road map” of how it could save $5 million, and reports that to the Joint Appropriations Committee, she added.
“A healthy exercise, I think, for them to participate in, while the Legislature still allows them to receive full grant funding,” Nethercott said.
“I’m hopeful people feel confident the University is fully funded,” she continued, as it’s “on the brink of receiving a new president, having the resources he or she may need to continue to steer the leadership of the University, our state’s flagship school into the future.”
Hours earlier in a press conference, House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said the Legislature has been clear that UW should avoid “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or DEI programming, and that it’s the position of the House majority that the school should tailor its programming to Wyoming’s true business needs – so UW graduates will stay in the state.
Within an earlier draft of the budget sat a footnote blocking money for Wyoming Public Media — a publicly funded media and radio entity funded through UW’s budget.
That footnote is gone from the JCC’s draft, said Nethercott.
Wyoming Business Council
The Wyoming Business Council is set to receive roughly $14 million, confined to one year, for its internal operations, said Nethercott.
“Both chambers have decided to only fund the operations,” Nethercott said, “not all the grant programs.”
She said that’s to compel the Legislature to revisit the concerns it has with the agency, then return in the 2027 legislative session with a vision for its future.
The Business Ready Communities program is “eliminated,” she said.
JCC member Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, elaborated further.
Of the appropriation, $12 million is from the state’s checking account, plus the state is authorizing WBC to use $157,787 in federal funds and nearly $1 million from other sources.
“We’re going to take it up as an interim topic in appropriations (committee) and how to rebuild it and make it work the way we think it should work,” said Pendergraft. But the JCC opted to fund the Small Business Development Center for two years, along with Economic Diversification Division for Manufacturing Works, and the Wyoming Women’s Business Center, Pendergraft noted, pointing to that language on his draft budget sheet.
Pendergraft made headlines last year by saying he wanted to eliminate the Wyoming Business Council altogether.
But Nethercott told the Senate earlier this month, legislators have complained of that agency her entire nine-year tenure.
She attributed this to what she called communications shortfalls that may not be intentional. She cosponsored a now-stalled bill this year that had sought to adopt a task force to evaluate WBC.
The Wyoming Business Council’s functions range from less controversial, like helping communities build infrastructure, to more controversial, like awarding tax-funded grants to certain businesses on a competitive application process.
Wyoming Public Television
Wyoming Public Television, which is not the same as Wyoming Public Media, is slated to receive the $3 million it lost when Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Nethercott said.
It will also receive its usual $3 million from Wyoming.
The entity will not receive another $3 million it had sought to upgrade its emergency-alert towers, said Nethercott, “because we received information from them… they have another source to pay for the replacement and maintenance of the towers.”
Like the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Public TV’s functions range from less controversial to more controversial.
The entity operates, maintains and staffs emergency alert towers throughout Wyoming.
Wyoming Public TV also produces entertainment and informational movies. Its state grants run through the community colleges’ budget.
State Employees
Nethercott noted that the JCC advanced to both chambers an agreement to pay $111 million from the state’s checking account to give state employees raises.
Those raises would bring them to 2024 market values for their work, she noted.
Because that money is coming from the state’s checking account, or “general fund,” and not its severance tax pool as the House had envisioned, then $111 million won’t impact the $105 million investment another still-viable bill seeking to build an “energy dominance fund” envisions.
That bill, sponsored by Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, seeks to lend to large energy-sector projects.
Biteman told Cowboy State Daily in an interview days before the session convened that its purpose is to counteract “green” compacts investors have adopted, and which have bottlenecked energy projects.
Wyoming’s executive branch is currently suing BlackRock and other investors on that same assertion.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.
WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026
Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)
Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic
Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.
Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)
Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)
Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)
Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)
Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)
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WyoPreps Girls Basketball Week 1 Scores 2025-26
CLASS 4A
Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)
Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)
Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)
Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026
4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
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