Lone Oak Brewing Co. is branching out with the opening of its new alcohol distillery, Fallen Oak Distilling, in Olney, according to owner Charlie Miller. A grand opening celebration was held on Saturday.
The distillery is located on the same property as the brewery and farm at 5000 Olney-Laytonsville Road. It concocts, bottles and serves bourbon, maple bourbon, rye and vodka in small batches. Soon, gin also will be available, Miller said.
“It’s overwhelming … but very exciting and very cool that we get to expand what we can offer to our loved ones, our family, our friends and the community,” Miller told MoCo360 Friday.
Fallen Oak grand opening
At Saturday’s grand opening celebration, the distillery held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon with the Olney Chamber of Commerce and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, according to Miller. The distillery opened to the public at 1 p.m.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Miller and Fallen Oak co-owners – his brother Chris Miller and father-son pair Ralph and Ryan Mollet – planted an oak tree sapling grafted from a 250-year-old white oak tree that was on the property and inspired the name and logo for the brewing company. The tree, named the Lone Oak, was toppled by windstorms in April 2023, according to Miller.
“The tree actually gets to live, literally, live on … and then live on through the property in regard to what we’ve done in the new building,” Miller said, referring to the different ways the tree’s wood was used in the construction and decoration of the distillery building.
“The mantel we made out of wood from the Lone Oak, a couple of tables [are made] from the Lone Oak. We have a cross-cut slab of the trunk of the base of the tree hanging on the wall,” Miller said.
He also noted that Fallen Oak plans to make barrels out of wood from the felled tree to age bourbon.
A space for adults 21 and up
The Fallen Oak distillery is an adults-only space for people ages 21 and older that offers a tasting room, a heated porch, a private dining space, a loft area called The Perch and a 1920s-style speakeasy with a hidden entrance, according to a press release announcing the grand opening.
In the distillery, guests can purchase bottles of spirits; drink craft cocktails, beer, mocktails; and munch on “elevated” bar food, Miller said. Cocktails include a Smoked Maple Old Fashioned made with Fallen Oak bourbon and Apple Pie Martini using the distillery’s vodka.
Miller explained the Fallen Oak space is catered to adults looking for a kids-free environment where they can meet, go on a date night or host an event.
“If you want the family experience, you walk 100 feet to the left” to the Lone Oak Brewery, Miller said. Among the brewery’s amenities is a playground.
Lone Oak Brewing Company was opened in June 2020. All four owners have strong Montgomery County roots and Miller said he and his brother attended Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville. In addition, the Mollets’ Gaithersburg-based construction company, M&M Builders, built the brewery and distillery.
The owners launched the brewery on the 30-acre Lone Oak Farm with the concept of growing wheat, barley, corn and sorghum and using some of the harvested products to make their beers. The same concept applies to the Fallen Oak spirit production, Miller said.
The brewery has a taproom and porch, Snack Shack, three private event spaces and a field that gets filled with heated tents to get cozy in the winter. Ten acres of the property are used to grow grains as well as pumpkins and sunflowers.
Lone Oak’s cozy tents were highlighted in Bethesda Magazine’s Best of Bethesda as the “Best Way to Keep Warm with a Cold Beer” in 2022.
