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Shaping Success Treasure Valley | Andy Koenig - Building Koenig Distillery
Description
Andy Koenig has been building Koenig Distillery since 1999, but the story started years earlier with his family’s roots in Austria and the tradition of making fruit brandy at home.
In this episode of Shaping Success Treasure Valley, Andy and I talk about how Koenig Distillery grew from European-style fruit brandies into one of Idaho’s best-known local distilleries.
We get into the history behind the distillery, Idaho-grown fruit and potatoes, hand-built German copper stills, Seven Devils bourbon, the Koenig Whiskey Club, Caldwell Night Rodeo whiskey, and the launch of Bone Orchard Tequila.
Andy also explains what actually goes into aging and blending bourbon, why two barrels from the same batch can taste completely different, how Idaho’s changing liquor laws opened new opportunities for the tasting room, and why some products take years of planning before customers ever see them.
This is a conversation about building something local, sticking with it for decades and continuing to evolve without losing what made it special in the first place.
In this episode:
- Growing up between Idaho and Austria
- How Andy got interested in distilling
- The story behind Koenig Distillery
- Using locally grown Idaho fruit and potatoes
- Hand-hammered copper stills from Germany
- How Seven Devils bourbon is aged and blended
- The Koenig Whiskey Club
- Caldwell Night Rodeo whiskey
- Idaho’s new distillery cocktail laws
- Silo Saturdays and the Koenig tasting room
- The launch of Bone Orchard Tequila
- What Andy actually drinks when he gets home
Find Koenig Distillery and support local Treasure Valley businesses.
Shaping Success Treasure Valley shares the people, businesses and stories helping shape the Treasure Valley.
Chapters
00:00 — Andy Koenig joins Shaping Success Treasure Valley
01:44 — How European fruit brandy started the story
03:51 — Growing fruit locally in Idaho
05:41 — Starting the distillery right out of college
06:21 — Growing up in Austria and learning the language
09:39 — Making brandy the old-school Austrian way
11:42 — Hand-built German copper stills
15:09 — 27 years of distilling equipment
17:04 — Koenig’s most popular spirits
18:17 — The beginning of Seven Devils bourbon
21:49 — How Koenig sources and ages bourbon
24:18 — Inside the Koenig Whiskey Club
28:37 — Why every bourbon barrel tastes different
31:33 — How Andy blends barrels for consistency
35:17 — Caldwell Night Rodeo whiskey
37:22 — Whiskey Club finishes and special releases
39:41 — New Idaho laws change the tasting room
42:46 — Silo Saturdays at Koenig Distillery
43:28 — Why Koenig launched Bone Orchard Tequila
48:52 — What Andy Koenig drinks at home
50:40 — Closing thoughts
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