If you google Adam Bachman II, you will find the normal items – a social media page, some photos of him playing music, some others with the same name – but if you scroll down a bit more you will even find an IMDb page. 2015 biochemistry alum Adam Bachman is a man of many trades, music, distilling, business and more.
When Adam Bachman was an undergrad at Clemson, he built stills from scratch and began producing his own spirits in the woods – the start of his distilling passion. After graduation, Adam went on to be the head distiller at Six & Twenty, a distillery located in the upstate.
“We made all sorts of things from gin to bourbon to vodka. It was a good learning experience for me not just in production but in business practice as well.”
Now Adam is the production manager/head distiller at the Chemist located in Asheville, NC. Adam started at the Chemist when they were only making limited whiskey that he notes as subpar. This led him to start a whiskey program that would be consistent and high quality.
“I developed the single malt whiskey. It has 3 different malts that bounce off one another’s flavor profiles to give a more complex whiskey. It’s distilled in copper pot stills, which is pretty traditional. I also developed a unique rye whiskey for them that should be released sometime next year.”
Adam’s day-to-day at the Chemist can look different, between brewing, distilling and working in the rickhouse, which are warehouses used for storing barrels of aging whiskey. However, everyday Adam is putting the knowledge gleaned from his time in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry to use.
“Mashing, fermentation and distillation of alcohol are all biochemical and chemical processes all relate back to biochemistry. You could take it all the way to the genetics of how grain is being engineered and produced for this industry.”
In 2020 Adam was contacted by producers of the tv show Moonshiners: Master Distiller, a reality show where three competitors faceoff each week in a series of challenges focused on making a specific type of spirit. For the episode Adam competed in titled, High Proof Cherry Bounce, the distillers were tasked with making a 300-year-old spirit called Cherry Bounce, a favorite drink of George Washington, nearly lost to time.
“It was a very interesting experience to see show tv works. There were a lot of smoke and mirrors type deal but it was still a very cool experience to do.”
If you can’t find Adam at the distillery, you’ll probably find him practicing or on the stage playing music. He plays resophonic guitar and pedal steel with an artist named James Tucker, as well as with several bluegrass bands in the Asheville area.
Adam’s future plans are to continue to purse his two passions in life: distilling and music, eventually opening his own distillery one day.
“It would be an adventure to be a business owner as well as the main operator.”
