UnCapped: Tenth Ward Distilling talks Holiday Speakeasy Market and the Rye Revival

Nov. 8—In this episode of the UnCapped podcast, host Chris Sands talks with Tenth Ward Distilling Co. founder Monica Pearce about the upcoming Holiday Speakeasy Market in Frederick and the Rye Revival in Baltimore, plus everything going on these days at Tenth Ward. Here is an excerpt of their talk.

UnCapped: Today I'm joined by Monica Pearce, founder, owner — and distiller, right?

Monica Pearce: I can distill, if needed, but we have a distiller and a fantastic team right now.

UnCapped: You've moved on from needing to do that.

Pearce: Right.

UnCapped: We are hosting a Speakeasy Market in December, if you want to go over that real quick.

Pearce: Yeah, and I'll give some little sneak peaks into what we're gonna do. Our front of house facility is located in downtown Frederick, where we have a cocktail bar and tasting room and also a beautiful event venue. In that venue is where we'll be hosting the annual Holiday Market, but this year, we're gonna do something a little different. We're hoping to keep this on theme and trend every year, because it's always around Repeal Day, so we decided to do a Prohibition Repeal Day Speakeasy theme for our Holiday Market this year, which makes it a little more fun. We can encourage support for the craft beverage industry as well. We can get a few breweries, distilleries, wineries and other beverage folk, whether it be people who produce cocktail mixers, glassware, kombucha, things like that, and that's why we decided to reach out to UnCapped podcast to co-host it and work on it together. Maybe we'll do some live podcast recording or some promotional stuff while we're there.

UnCapped: We'll do all kinds of cool stuff.

Pearce: There will also be some local artisans, gift baskets — anything from cheese to flowers. We might even have a live T-shirt screen-printing from the Special Tees.

UnCapped: I enjoy watching that process. It definitely makes the apparel purchasing process even more fun, when you get to see them made on demand.

Pearce: Side note, if you buy them a drink, they might let you print your own.

UnCapped: Little hack.

Pearce: Yep! The Dapper DJs will be playing '20s-era music. I highly encourage people to dress up. We'll be dressed up.

UnCapped: The first time I ever experienced them was at a Repeal Day party. It must be a decade ago now, when the brewery laws were revamped, and breweries could serve beer in their taproom — like, sell a pint to drink in the taproom — Flying Dog threw a Repeal Day party and had a whole Repeal Day, '20s-themed party to welcome people back into the taproom.

Pearce: I remember a whole bunch of Repeal Day parties were supposed to happen in 2020, as a Roaring Twenties theme, and there was gonna be a bunch of Prohibition-themed stuff happening them, but sadly, because of COVID...

UnCapped: Something got in the way. Totally off topic, but do you have any idea how much a COVID vaccine costs now if your insurance doesn't cover it?

Pearce: No, I just figured they were still free.

UnCapped: No. Because we're not in the state of emergency anymore, they are not, and it's something like $400 if your insurance doesn't cover it.

Pearce: Wow. ... I remember, because we have a wedding venue, 2020 was also a very highly coveted wedding date — 10/10/20, 10/20/20 — and all of those weddings sadly had to get canceled because we could only have a capacity of, like, 20 people at a time. That was a bummer.

UnCapped: Another thing we should talk about real quick, because you're involved with this, is the Rye Revival. If you are at all into rye whiskey ...

Pearce: Or just supporting Maryland — Maryland farms, Maryland craft beverage scene ... it's pretty neat. Brief history of Maryland rye, pre-Prohibition: that was a large good that was manufactured here in the state. There were hundreds of distilleries — registered and not — making rye ... because you would just have guys back in their barns, making rye.

UnCapped: If I remember correctly, it's because rye was what was prevalently grown in Maryland, and that's why it became what we used here to make whiskey.

Pearce: Correct. Rye was grown mostly for feed, but then, of course, it made a great whiskey.

UnCapped: The best, I would argue.

Pearce: We also made bourbon before it became a thing in Kentucky. The exciting thing that happened this year, that we've been lobbying for, is that the state of Maryland officially and legally designated rye whiskey as the state spirit. A number of distilleries have been manufacturing it and working to promote the product, but now we're gonna have assistance from the state, which is cool — with the goal, in my mind, to start to rival the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

This excerpt has been edited for space and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at fnppodcasts.com/uncapped. Got UnCapped news? Email csands@newspost.com.