Tenth Ward Distilling Turns 10
Founder Monica Pearce looks back on ten years of change, the return of Tenth Ward’s first spirit, and a Maryland distilling scene that has grown up alongside it.
“Change is the only constant.” That’s how Monica Pearce describes the first ten years of Tenth Ward Distilling Company. “I can’t tell you that there’s ever been a year where I can actually project what the next year is going to look like.”
When Tenth Ward opened in Frederick in 2016, Monica was learning almost everything as she went, from finding a space to get started to navigating permitting and compliance. “There just weren’t that many folks that had paved the way at our size around this area yet.”
“We’ve gone through it all in the past ten years.” Tenth Ward opened during the craft brewing boom and grew alongside Maryland’s emerging distilling industry. Then came COVID, supply chain shortages, tariffs, changing consumer habits and the rise of ready-to-drink cocktails.
For Tenth Ward, even that last one started almost by accident.
From Cocktails To-Go to Cans
“The boom happened for us because of COVID.” Tenth Ward began putting cocktails into small to-go containers. Monica’s assessment of the early packaging is straightforward: “They were super not cute, but they worked for sales.”
From there, the team started looking at what people already liked at the tasting room. “We were like, okay, well, what are our most popular cocktails at the cocktail bar? Let’s see if we can can them.”
It took some figuring out. “We also learned a lot from that too. Not everything translates from the glass into the can.”
What started as a response to COVID became another part of Tenth Ward’s business. For the 10th anniversary, though, Monica went back to something from before almost all of it.
The Cult Classic Comes Back
“This was our very first spirit that we ever made,” she says of Caraway Rye. “If you were to look at it like cult classic movies, for example, this would be the cult classic of Tenth Ward.”
Made with malted rye, malted barley and caraway seed, Caraway Rye was unusual from the beginning. The addition of caraway also means it cannot legally be labeled whiskey.
Tenth Ward eventually stopped making it. People who tasted it tended to understand it, but getting someone to take a chance on an unfamiliar bottle at a liquor store was harder.
The calls never really stopped, though. “I can’t tell you how many people have called about it, have hunted down the bottle in liquor stores.” Every so often, someone finds a few bottles sitting “on an odd shelf in a liquor store in the middle of nowhere.”
“They’ll buy all of them, and they’ll call us and let us know.”
For the anniversary, Tenth Ward brought Caraway Rye back in two versions: a white expression based on the original spirit and a lightly barrel-finished release for Bottle Club members. The appeal is still how difficult it is to compare Caraway Rye to anything else. “It tastes like something you’ve never had before.”
Ten Years of Maryland Spirits
“Back then, everybody knew the difference between an IPA and a lager.” Spirits were another matter. “The average customer or guest of ours still would argue that bourbon had to be made in Kentucky.”
Over the next ten years, Monica watched more distilleries open and the people walking through her doors become more familiar with what Maryland producers were making. “There has been a lot more consumer experience and education around the product that we make. People start to enjoy it more. They understand it more.”
That growth hasn’t produced a single idea of what Maryland rye should taste like. Individual distillers historically had their own recipes and approaches, and that same variety is taking shape across the state today.
Connecting those producers through the Maryland Rye Trail has been a long time coming. “This is something that I’ve wanted from day one, and I’m so excited that it is coming to fruition.”
What Comes Next
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Monica laughs when the conversation turns to the next ten years. “I’m working on my five-year. I don’t know.”
She does know what she’d like to see more of: longer-aged whiskey, more rye distilleries, different styles of rye and more people coming to Maryland specifically for Maryland rye.
“We all make very different styles of rye,” she says. “I want more and more people to come to Maryland just to try rye, and to go to all of the distilleries and try their favorite.”
That’s an invitation worth taking her up on.
Caraway Rye is a pretty good place to start. It’s back at Tenth Ward for the 10th anniversary, and there are plenty more interpretations of Maryland’s state spirit waiting at the next stop.
Explore the Maryland Rye Trail and find your next cult classic.