Golden Moon Distillery

Golden Moon Distillery is the Golden, Colorado craft distillery founded in 2008 by Stephen Gould — and one of the most editorially significant historical-revival operations in modern American craft spirits, with a brand identity built almost entirely around the painstaking recreation of pre-Prohibition spirit categories that had effectively disappeared from American shelves by the mid-20th century. Located in downtown Golden (a foothills town directly west of Denver, best known as the home of Coors Brewing) at 1111 Miners Alley, Golden Moon occupies a small storefront-and-production space in Golden's historic Main Street commercial district that's part working distillery, part small-batch tasting room. The Stephen Gould production philosophy is distinct from the broader American craft distilling scene. Where most modern craft distillers focus on bourbon, rye, and the standard American whiskey categories, Gould has spent two decades resurrecting forgotten pre-Prohibition liqueur, gin, and amaro categories using period-accurate botanical recipes, traditional Mediterranean and European distillation techniques, and historical reference materials Gould has personally collected and translated. The result is a product range that drinks closer to a 19th-century European apothecary's portfolio than to anything in mainstream American craft spirits. The flagship product range covers Golden Moon Gin (a juniper-forward London Dry-style gin built around 12 botanicals), Golden Moon Genevi…