Honey House Distillery at Honeyville

The story

Ten miles north of downtown Durango on Highway 550, the Animas Valley flattens out into an unexpected agricultural strip. Honeyville spent decades operating as a straightforward family homestead, packing wildflower honey, whipped spreads, and fruit jams. But Kevin Culhane eventually pushed the operation past sweet preserves and built Honey House Distillery directly alongside the honey bottling line.

Distilling honey is tricky, expensive business compared to running standard grain mash. Honey House starts with a base of raw Honeyville honey and honey wine (mead), running it through stills to yield a distinct lineup of spirits: a clear vodka distilled directly out of honey wine, a botanical gin, honey bourbon, and a straight bourbon whiskey cut with local wildflower honey.

The space sits squarely at the intersection of a working processing facility and an offbeat tasting room. While workers bottle jars of honey on one side of the floor, you can step up to the tasting counter on the other to work through high-proof spirits and mead flights. It is an operation completely built around the hive, right down to the live colony buzzing behind glass inside the shop.