Colorado bourbon, NoCo Distillery’s Bourbon II, spotted in “Star Trek: Picard.” Here’s how to get a bottle.
The days since April 7 have been something of an unofficial “Star Trek” convention at NoCo Distillery, according to co-owner and master blender Sebastien Gavillet. Fans have flocked to the Fort Collins spirit maker and inundated Gavillet’s phone and email inbox in hopes of purchasing a bottle of whiskey that was featured on last Thursday’s episode of the “Picard” spinoff.
“It was a scene at a bar. One of the actresses, the bartender, asks (character Raffaela “Raffi” Musiker) what she wants and for about two seconds you see the bottle there,” Gavillet said. “Then she says ‘club soda.’ I wish she would have said bourbon.”
According to Den of Geek, the bourbon’s placement is a nod to Raffi’s history of substance abuse and the scene shows how she avoids relapsing. The whiskey in question is NoCo’s Bourbon II and though it wasn’t Raffi’s beverage of choice, its cameo was enough to ignite Trekkies’ thirst – and the spirit isn’t even out yet.
According to Gavillet, who is also a winemaker, one of NoCo Distillery’s regulars works in product placement and several years ago asked to feature one of his wine bottles with a futuristic-looking label. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted production on the TV show. The collaboration was tabled, Gavillet said.
Roughly six months ago, another product placement opportunity arose, this time for a whiskey. He has previously had other products placed in TV shows, but none has garnered such a fervorous response.
“It has to do with the amount of time that it stayed on the scene,” he said. “Also many of the people who want the bottle used to live in Fort Collins and no longer live there. They got excited about it and wanted to get relatives to go buy it.”
The mash bill includes corn, rye and barley, which NoCo then triple distills for a “cleaner and smoother” flavor profile with notes of citrus, nutmeg, oak, caramel and vanilla, Gavillet said. In the coming months, he will blend the bourbon and move it into secondary new American oak barrels for an additional three months of aging before bottling and hosting a release party near the end of the year.
Like all of NoCo’s spirits, Bourbon II is a small-batch release with less than 500 bottles that will be available for purchase around the $100 price point. Because of the level of interest, fans need to fill out a form on NoCo Distillery’s website and be entered into a lottery for the chance to buy a bottle.
“I believe in quality over quantity,” Gavillet said. “Our goal is to have a cult following just like ‘Star Trek’ does, where (fans) know whatever product they buy from us is good or we won’t release it.”
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