Jake Norris Returns At The Head Of New Distillery And Project

Jake Norris was the first head distiller at both Stranahan’s and Laws Whiskey House, making him a seminal figure in the nuts and bolts of Colorado craft whiskey. Now he is launching a third distillery, based in Arvada, Colorado. But before bottles begin rolling out for this larger endeavor, Norris will debut a specialty side project releasing next month.

Norris is following the time-tested path of releasing a sourced or contract-produced brand onto the market, establishing the company while construction, initial production and maturation of the first in-house batch takes place. This brand is called The Curated Barrel Project. The initial offering will be a 7 year old base high rye bourbon recipe developed by Norris and distilled in Statesville, NC, at Southern Distilling Company. After that, The Curated Barrel Project will consist of seven more quarterly releases, taking place across the span of two years. Bottles will be available for purchase exclusively online via CBP’s web shop with the option to add tickets for a pairing dinner at the distillery, and purchased bottles will be sent directly to consumers.

The first release in the series will take place on April 2, 2026 with an online sale beginning at 10 a.m. MT. Anyone who purchases a bottle will have an opportunity to add-on tickets to attend a special whiskey pairing dinner featuring a series of local celebrated chefs, taking place approximately a month after each release at the distillery.