Castle & Cairn

The product of Boston Harbor Distillery  (DSP-MA-21015), Putnam New England Rye is an ultra high rye whiskey that joins a single Malt as being the distillery's main workhorses. Both base spirits are offered in a variety of finishes. They also make small batch gin, rum, liqueurs, and ready-to-drink cocktails. The namesake for this whiskey was Silas Putnam who built a factory, now the site of the distillery, that automated the manufacture of the hot-forged horseshoe nail. BHD was founded by Rhonda Kallman in 2012 with a focus on whole grain whiskey after more than two decades as a brewery founder and executive, first at the Boston Beer company of Sam Adams' fame and then again at new Century Brewing.   Front Label 🛒 Sourced:  $49.99 on their website - I got this tiny bottle in a Flaviar tasting set given to my by my dad.  🧪 Proof:  86 proof, 43% ABV - Always a bit interested in how they get these nonstandard numbers. 🎨 Color:  R3  - An orange yel...

The first bourbon distilled and bottled in Birmingham, AL in more than 100 years, this bottle comes from Dread River Distilling Company , founded in 2016 with distilling operations beginning in 2019. This is not sourced whiskey! The two founders met when Jeff Dugas, a practicing orthopedic surgeon, was performing surgery on then Auburn linebacker John Cubelic. At the height of the craft spirits movement, the two saw the opportunity to be the first local producer for the Birmingham market.  Dread River delivers a wide range of spirits including rum, gin, agave, and whiskey, all manufactured on their own equipment. Their impressive 24,000 square foot facility is also home to a well appointed bar, restaurant tasting room, and event space.  Dread River bourbon was able to score a Silver Metal in the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition while their Rye was awarded a gold. 🛒 Sourced: A gift from my Sister and Brother-in-Law - Dread River's shop has it for $52.99 - 750ml...

📚 Background: Hailing from Hye, Texas, Garrison Brothers has held a distiller's permit since 2006, the first issued for Bourbon outside the state of Kentucky. They are considered a "Craft" whiskey producer and are known for their experimental or limited releases. Texas gets HOT, as the graph below shows, and Garrison Bros are constantly battling an increased rate of evaporation, swagged as being as much as two or three times that of Kentucky. The angels are straight-up Bourbon robbing these guys.  Average Temp - Austin, TX vs. Bardstown, KY - weatherspark.com/ The upside of the increased swings in temperature is that the extraction of flavoring chemicals from the barrel occurs more rapidly We see this commonly in Indian Whisky where a similarly hot climate produces similar flavor impacts as twice the time in Scotland (would imagine Texas is likely somewhere in-between). 🛒 Sourced:  A buddy purchased for $79.99 at the distillery. The combination of premium ingredients a...

  📚 Background:   Released by Chattanooga Whiskey in commemoration of 12 years of operation, this annual edition is hand blended by Tim Piersant, the founder, from three whiskies: each one an aspirational representation of past, present, and future. Tim's signature can be seen on the neck of the bottle just above a nice "story" booklet detailing the blend components. All component whiskies are solera barrel aged though a fractional blending process in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages, with the average age gradually increasing as time passes. Chattanooga is known for its distinctive "high malt" style which involves using at least 25% malted grains in its mash bills. They also use a prolonged primary fermentation period of 7 days at lower temperatures as opposed to a typical 3 days at higher heat. This results in a toasty, almost-beery flavor profile in many bottles, though their experiments can range broadly in terms of ingredients used...

Chattanooga Whiskey - Downtown Experimental Distillery  Chattanooga Whiskey Company History Founded in 2011 with the goal of bringing whiskey distillation back to Hamilton County Tennessee, Chattanooga Whiskey Company started with sourced whiskey from Lawrenceburg Distillers of Indiana (LDI, now Midwest Grain Products or commonly "MGP" ) and became a grassroots spark point a year later under Tim Piersant and Joe Ledbetter with the "Vote Whiskey" movement.   Their efforts bore fruit in May of 2013 when Tennessee House Bill 102, “The Whiskey Bill”, passed with 57 House members in favor and 31 opposed. Governor Bill Haslam signs the bill  into law on May 16, 2013, making it legal to distill whiskey in all wet Tennessee counites. In 2015, Chattanooga Whiskey opened their currently functioning experimental location in the hip and happening part of downtown Chattanooga. The facility also hosts a generously sized tasting bar, basement barrel aging facility, and a small ba...