Twisted Cow Distillery Of LI Owner: 'We Are Not Afraid Of Flavor'

EAST NORTHPORT, NY — John Pawluk is a distiller on a mission.

Pawluk, 51, opened Twisted Cow Distillery in his native East Northport in November with the goal of creating alcohol with flavors that people can enjoy — a missive that he said flies in the face of what he called the "big alcohol" industry.

Pawluk produces spirits using very traditional recipes with a very untraditional approach, he said.

"We are not afraid of flavor, and we inherently keep flavor in our spirits," Pawluk told Patch at the distillery's 14 Hewitt Square headquarters.

The big difference between what Pawluk and other craft distillers do to separate themselves from "big alcohol," he said, is making a "tremendous effort" to remove the pungent-smelling acetone compound from his vodka, along with other impurities.

Larger vodka manufacturers, Pawluk said, either cannot or choose not to remove acetone from their liquors. It makes a big difference that results in Twisted Cow Distillery's vodkas' mouthfeels being super long, delicate, and flavorful, according to Pawluk.

"It cascades over your tongue like a melting piece of butter."

Pawluk currently sells two vodkas: a rye and a wheat. He also makes an apple pie cider spirit and has plans for agave and rum spirits, as well as a rye whiskey and a bourbon.

The distiller began researching the craft of drink-making around 10 years ago. Pawluk brewed beer once and quickly realized he lacked the patience for it. Distilling, he said, is a lot more forgiving and detail-oriented than brewing.

"My personality just blended with distilling a little better. It’s just the way it works. Some people like making Italian food, some people like making steaks."

Pawluk enjoys being able to change things with his liquors if he makes an error in the process.

"There’s a level of fearlessness I personally get where I feel I can make a mistake and turn it into a positive opportunity as opposed to just incurring a loss," he explained. "I can change things around. There’s flexibility that I have that suits me as a person better. It’s kind of like a marriage: You find someone you emotionally, physically and mentally kind of gel with, and you can rely on each other like no one else. There’s a level of comfort you have living in that environment. It’s the same with this. It fits my personality."

Pawluk gave an example of a mistake he could fix. If, while distilling molasses, he brings too much back-end flavor into it, he can clean it up by charcoaling it, filtering it, mixing it with raisins, or barreling it. He has options, and there is always a solution. But one thing is fixed: Pawluk only uses natural ingredients.

Distilling is both an art and a science, Pawluk said. The two compliment each other. The distiller's motto is "technology distilling tradition." His equipment is science-based, and he said he uses technology to "distill some of the folklore out of the tradition and focus on the truth."

Pawluk uses a square still, as it offers him more control than traditional round stills. The temperature of the outdoor climate also plays a role in the boiling point of ethanol, Pawluk said. He grinds his grain coarsely, as it offers more flavor than find grinds.

The art, he said, is how distillers like producing liquors.

"It’s the emotional component to it. All the richness, looking for the nuance, the ‘What if I try this? What if I try that?’ There’s a level of science that gets you 90 percent of the way. And then there’s your personal emotional tie. I call it the art."

There's a science to barrel aging liquors, Pawluk said. But the art is based in élevage, a French cognac theory where one takes two dissimilar barrels and blends them in different ratios.

Pawluk does not know what his favorite part of the distilling process will be, but currently, it is being a part of a community for the first time: a club of distillers and a cog in the Northport-East Northport business scene.

The Twisted Cow owner finally gets to work in his hometown. For more than 20 years, he commuted to New York City for his financial job.

"I was a transient. I would get on a train early, come home late, hopefully see my kids, but most weeks not, and then you started all over again," he said. "Now, I get to be a part of a community, interact with other businesses and a ton of people. And I’m selling what we do one person at a time when they’re in the tasting room. I think that’s the part I enjoy. I really enjoy making something good, and I’m very prideful about what we make, and we do the best what we can. That’s the Cub Scout motto, 'Do your best.'"

Twisted Cow is not trying to set itself apart from other small Long Island distillers, Pawluk said. It is trying to be a member of the community. If anything, he believes small distillers have a united opponent.

"If anything, we’re competitors to, in my opinion, the miseducation of big alcohol saying certain things should have no flavor or certain things should be done this way, when we’re all forging our own pathways," Pawluk said. "It’s an incredibly collaborative community. We’re not competitors. The other distillers on Long Island, I look at as friendlies, when our challenge is to teach people that big alcohol vodkas that are mass-produced aren’t really all that good. They’re branded, but they’re not really that good."

Pawluk's approach to teaching those lessons is to make a "super terrific" product with local ingredients. His grain all comes from a farm in Sagaponack. His apples come from down the road. Everything he uses is grown environmentally-conscious, he said.

"Everything is done pridefully in how we make things: the things we procure, the barrels, our grains, the process, the equipment, the labeling. Every label has a story behind it. From the time you walk in the door, everything is purposeful. If you come on a tour, it starts with flavor. We’re a flavor generator. It happens to be in alcoholic beverages, but we focus on flavor, the generation of flavor, the diversification, the broadening and enhancing flavor."

When the business first opened, it was named Tipping Cow Distillery. A trademark infringement call forced Pawluk to pivot and find a new name. His inspiration for the alteration came during a phone call with his attorney.

"A little frustrated and tired, and I said, ‘I’m all twisted up ov-’ and I stopped mid-sentence, and it came out," Pawluk said. "I asked if we could do Twisted Cow. It kind of stuck. I actually like it better now. Things happen for a reason. I’m a believer in that. But this worked out really well. I’m really happy with it."

Twisted Cow Distillery is currently unable to sell its wares online because of "antiquated" rules in New York, Pawluk said. All direct sales are made in the tasting room, though the distillery sells its liquors to local restaurants, as well.

For now, East Northport is the place to go for Pawluk's liquor. It was either that or Northport Village, but anywhere else was never an option.

"Why would you want to work someplace that’s not your home? It doesn’t make sense. I did it for so long. Having the opportunity, it was a non-starter."

Twisted Cow Distillery plans to host tours on a regular basis "soon," Pawluk said. The distillery also offers pre-packaged foods like pretzels, chips and popcorn. Some restaurants also deliver food to patrons in the tasting room, as well.

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