By JD Kettle | for The Citizen
IN the year since Alamosa Citizen first wrote about the restoration taking place in Mosca’s historic gymnasium, much has changed for the building itself and the eventual distillery that will call it home. Donning a new name, Dune Valley Distillery, work is still underway at the 1930s-era gymnasium and community hall that hosted the first Sangre De Cristo School.
The Dune Valley Distillery project has outfitted the Mosca gym with a new heating system, electricity, and water. Workers have installed innovative, renewable biogas technology and created two hotel rooms. All of this effort is in cooperation with local tradesmen throughout the Valley.
Future visitors to the Dune Valley Distillery can look forward to satiating their thirst for craft spirits, with the main staple being a potato vodka, honoring the San Luis Valley’s rich history of potato agriculture and the distillery’s partnership with White Rock Specialties just down the street. In addition to reviving the historic gym, the descendants of Anthony Carbone, founder of Cabone Wine Co. in Denver – which include matriarch Claudia Carbone; her sons Nick, Dave, and Mike Chambers; and grandson JD Kettle – have invested in bringing back the family’s legacy wine brand.
Visitors can come to expect a new outlet for local, regional food products, as the Valley Roots Foodhub, a branch of local non-profit SLV Foods Coalition, will open and operate a food store within the same building to provide locals and tourists to the Great Sand Dunes a convenient grocery outlet in the heart of the Valley.
With an opening in sight for 2023, the Dune Valley Distillery anticipates a warm welcome from the locals in Mosco and surrounding valley towns, as well as visitors to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Read our original story on the project HERE.
TOP PHOTO: Distillery equipment glows in a newly restored area of the old gym. Photo by Andrew Parnes.
JOIN US
Alamosa Citizen members get the Monday Briefing sent directly to their In boxes – plus a weekly newsletter on Thursdays that summarizes the top stories in the Valley. Member support keeps The Citizen free for all to read.
