The Village Distillery - Maison De La Vie, Ltd. was founded by Stephen Gould in early 2008 specifically to produce premium hand-crafted herbal liquors and liqueurs using the best available herbs, spices and botanicals, and made with the same type of artisan production processes utilized by distillers making premium products in the mid-to-late 1800s.

The heart of Masion De La Vie is Mr. Gould’s world-class research library containing hundreds of rare books on distillation and related products and processes, some dating back to the 1500s. Most of the collection dates from the late 1700s to the early 1900s, though there are a few titles that are much older, or newer.

Along with the library Maison De La Vie currently has four antique stills at our pilot plant in Golden Colorado and a fifth that is operating in France currently. Our stills date from the early to mid-1900’s.

Maison De La Vie uses environmentally friendly packaging and business practices as much as possible. We source as many materials as we can from local producers (reducing shipping and the related carbon footprint), and are working with local wineries to utilize some of their cast-off materials in our production and packaging processes.

Maison De La Vie’s French produced product is not contract-distilled. Rather we select and procure the materials, we own the still and we do the distilling. The owners of the distillery we are working with allow us to do so due to other business ties. The Absinthes will be produced using the exact same recipe and materials in both countries. Only the Absinthes will be produced in France as well as the United States.

We produce Absinthe, Cocktail Bitters, Gin and Specialty Liquors / Liqueurs.

Management Profile:

Stephen A. Gould

Stephen Gould has worked as a saucier, a bar tender, a brewer, a corporate executive with extensive international trade and supply chain management experience, and as a university professor.