Howell Construction Completes Arvada Distillery for The Curated Barrel Project — and Colorado Whiskey Gets Its Next Chapter
A new distillery has taken shape in Arvada, Colorado, and the man behind it has a resume that reads like a greatest-hits record for Rocky Mountain whiskey. Howell Construction has announced the completion of a new distillery built for The Curated Barrel Project — the highly anticipated venture led by Jake Norris, one of the most consequential figures the American craft spirits movement has ever produced. The finished facility marks a turning point not just for Norris personally, but for Colorado’s fast-maturing distilling landscape, and it signals the kind of next-generation production model that the broader industry has been watching closely.
Norris is the founding master distiller behind Stranahan’s Whiskey and Laws Whiskey House, two brands that essentially defined what Colorado whiskey could be. His return to the state’s distilling scene in an ownership capacity represents something genuinely significant — a craftsman who spent years building other people’s legacies finally pouring the foundation for his own.
The Man Who Built Colorado Whiskey — Twice
Understanding what the new Arvada distillery represents requires understanding what Jake Norris has already built. Norris is recognized as one of the pioneers of the craft distilling revolution, and through his work at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and Laws Whiskey House, he designed and distilled the whiskies that define the craft whiskey category. That’s not marketing language — it’s an accurate accounting of his contributions.
At Stranahan’s, Norris didn’t just help launch Colorado’s first legal whiskey distillery in modern times; he invented one of the most imitated release formats in American craft spirits. As the pioneer who developed and launched Stranahan’s celebrated Snowflake program, Norris was the first to employ additional cask maturation as an annual event-driven release — a model that scores of distilleries across the country have since borrowed, adapted, or outright copied. That program turned a bottle release into a cultural happening, with collectors camping out and prices skyrocketing on the secondary market…