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M&M Builders and Contractors
“You can have the best beer and the best spirits, but if you don’t have an experience, there’s nothing there.”
A Brewing Passion: Fallen Oak Distillery
Garden State Tile Co-President Stephen Fischer, Jr. recently met with Ralph Mollet, Ryan Mollet, and Pooja Gulati—three members of the project team for the newly opened Fallen Oak Distillery—to discuss design, sustainable farming, and farm-to-bottle brewing. Located on the Lone Oak Farm in Olney, Maryland, across from the farm’s award-winning brewery, the distillery’s use of reclaimed materials and nature-inspired finishes helps create an indelible connection to the surrounding landscape and local community.
The Vision: Malting & Mashing
As partners in their award-winning Maryland-based construction business, M&M Builders and Contractors, father and son Ralph and Ryan Mollet, focus primarily on building custom homes. But when brothers Chris and Charlie Miller met the Mollets, they knew they had not only found the right builders for their new farm/brewery project but discovered new collaborators for the entire concept. “When we were approached to build this brewery, we jumped in with both feet,” says Ryan.
Since the Millers and Mollets opened the brewery in June 2020, it has won numerous awards for its craft beers, and the Montgomery County business continues to grow in new directions. “In a natural progression, we went from the brewery to the spirit side of things,” says Ralph, with the intent to grow as much of the ingredients on-site as possible on the 28.66-acre working farm. “We want to take everything out of the land and put it on your plate or in your glass,” says Ralph, including crops such as barley, corn, berries, hops, and honey. “From a restaurant standpoint, you always hear farm-to-table. Well, we are ground-to-glass.”
Named after a centuries-old oak tree on the farm that fell last year, the new Fallen Oak Distillery creates whiskey using estate-grown and malted grains that are then fermented and distilled with the farm’s freshwater aquifer. While no longer standing, the Lone Oak remains the symbolic heart of the farm. Reclaimed wood from the tree has been repurposed for tables, signs, and mantels on the property, and a cross-section of it is displayed as a piece of art in the distillery’s speakeasy, along with a gallery of vintage photographs of it in all its glory.
The Design: Fermentation & Distillation
“We really dovetailed together on the design,” says Ryan, describing the barn-red-clad distillery as having a “sophisticated farm vibe.”
The four partners knew from the beginning they wanted the new distillery to follow the same architecture as the existing brewery. “We did a lot of road trips and tried to make a laundry list of items we had in mind for the distillery,” says Ralph. “The four of us individually are not always right, but collectively we are always right.” M&M brought local firm Claude C. Lapp Architects onto the project team, with whom they had collaborated on many custom homes through the years.
The Mollets turned to another partner from their residential work, Michelle Kniceley, Architectural & Design Rep at Garden State Tile, to help select tile to complement the sustainable practices on the farm. The surfacing offers the lowest carbon footprint of any flooring choice, has zero VOCs, and can help contribute to LEED points.
For the distillery’s tasting area, the team picked lighter wood tones and shades of white and gray to foster a bright, fun atmosphere, including inserts of Abacus tile on the bar front and wood-look Larice Tabula flooring. Switchable LED lighting allowed the team to play around with the color temperature and lumen output. “We wanted the tasting area to be bright and have large windows and garage doors to bring in as much natural light as we could possibly get,” says Ralph.
Moving into the speakeasy—accessed by pulling a particular book on a bookcase to reveal a hidden passageway—they went for a moodier, more intimate feel with the lighting and the finishes. “There we are using more of the darker grays and the blacks and some of the hunter greens to play off of that same atmosphere,” says M&M interior designer Pooja Gulati. The speakeasy side is intended to feel “like a D.C. cocktail lounge kind of vibe,” explains Ryan.
Choosing tile also allowed the team to incorporate the earth tones and textures of the surrounding farmland into the design without sacrificing the easy cleanability and high durability required in a hospitality environment. “It’s Fallen Oak Distillery, so we have brought some of that natural oak feeling without having real oak floors,” says Pooja. The walnut-hued More Collection, for example, gives a sophisticated look to the speakeasy’s seating area, while the 3 Barrel oak-inspired collection offers a warm, casual feeling to the distillery’s upstairs loft area flooring.
The textured wood-look porcelain, along with other Garden State Tile products such as small hexagon mosaics, thin brick veneer, and beveled subway tile, helped bring the “wow factor” to the project — even in the bathrooms. On the speakeasy’s bathroom wall, black Uptown subway tiles accompany a bold floral wallpaper, while on the floor, Uptown white and black 2’’ x 2’’ hexagon mosaics create a bordered pattern. “We knew their products were going to make us stand out,” says Ralph.
The Future: Maturation & Bottling
The distillery celebrated its grand opening in early November, serving several whiskies and a vodka, with plans to introduce a gin product made with local botanicals next. The owners have also cloned the farm’s namesake fallen oak tree and plan to replant it so it can be part of the farm once again.
On the building side, the owners hope to improve the visitor experience by enclosing the existing pavilion and adding a stone patio and an outdoor fire pit. “We’ve created what we think is a wonderful community vibe, where your kids can come out, and you bring your dog, you get a grass stain, you have fun, and you just disconnect,” says Ryan. “We want the guests to come in and really enjoy the space and see how it evolves from there.”
Fostering that community spirit is crucial to his father as well. “Anybody can go home and buy a nice bottle of bourbon or a four-pack of beer, but if you don’t have that experience and atmosphere, it’s all for naught,” says Ralph. “This is what we are creating—that experience.”
“From a restaurant standpoint, you always hear farm-to-table. Well, we are ground-to-glass.”
The Sources & Materials
Garden State Tile
Tile for speakeasy, tasting area, upstairs lounge, and bathrooms
Client:
Lone Oak Farm
Architect:
Claude C. Lapp Architects, LLC
Builder:
Ryan and Ralph Mollet of M&M Builders and Contractors, LLC
Interior Designer:
Pooja Gulati of M&M Builders and Contractors, LLC
Speakeasy Bar Flooring
Available in five colors, the Capsule collection’s Stellar Monochrome Deco pattern delivers a graphic delineation to Fallen Oak’s speakeasy bar seating area. The 8’’ x 8’’ Capsule porcelain tile features a cement-look in an array of encaustic designs and sizes that achieve a premium handcrafted look.
The speakeasy’s main seating area is defined by the 8’’ x 32’’ More wood-look tile collection from GST in the dark Noce color. Contrasting with the geometric bar area flooring, this moderately grained, wood-look porcelain series is available in five natural hues and six plank sizes. A grip finish option makes it suitable for both interior and exterior walls and floors.
Speakeasy Bar Backsplash
Capturing the handcrafted aesthetic of traditional zellige tile, the Saratoga ceramic wall tile collection from GST is available in a glossy 2.5″ x 8″ subway tile format with six earthy and botanical-inspired color options. Saratoga’s irregular edging and light-catching shade variation brings an artisan appeal to the backsplashes in the speakeasy, where it is installed in a herringbone pattern in the Botanical Green color in six inserts along the back of the bar.
Speakeasy Feature Wall & Fireplace Surround
Antik Thin Brick Veneer from Arto
Antik 2’’ x 8’’ Thin Brick Veneer features a tumbled, broken edge for an authentic reclaimed feel while being lighter and easier to install than full-size brick. The ½’’-thick veneer in the Used Red color was used as a fireplace surround and to create a feature wall in the speakeasy adorned with the Fallen Oak logo.
Speakeasy Bathroom Walls + Flooring
UPTOWN CANVAS WHITE & RETRO BLACK MOSAICS
RETRO BLACK 4″ X 16″ SUBWAY TILE
For the speakeasy bathroom floors, these 2’’ x 2’’ hexagon matte porcelain tiles create a mosaic with a white background and black border. They coordinate with matte black 4’’ x 16’’ subway tiles chosen for the bathroom walls, which sit below a colorful floral wallpaper, creating a glamorous space to match the moody atmosphere of the speakeasy.
Tasting Area Bar Front
Used to create two inserts along the front of the tasting area bar, the Abacus flat matte ceramic wall tile collection is produced in two different 3D linear tactile surfaces — a bold tuck and crease pleated design and a softer fluted version that was selected by the team. The 3” x 12” tile can be applied vertically or horizontally on walls.
Tasting Area Bathroom Walls
For the tasting area bathroom wall, the Uptown Collection from GST features the timeless look of classic ceramic subway tiles reimagined with a contemporary color palette and new trim pieces. Here, the beveled light gray glossy 4’’ x 12’’ tiles are paired with wallpaper in a blue and white chevron pattern that keeps with the open and light feeling of the tasting area space.
Upstairs Loft/Lounge Area Flooring
The 8” x 48’’ 3 Barrel collection from GST is a three-part wood-look collection developed in separate oak typologies, including unique planks, mosaics, and decorative pieces with distinct coloring and shade variations. It was specified in the distillery’s upstairs loft area flooring in the Class Nut colorway.
