RoughStock Distillery, the only legal craft distiller in Montana — ever, is about to unveil its first batch of single malt whiskey.

The facility, located in Bozeman and run by fourth-generation Montanans Bryan and Kari Schultz, has been in operation for two years.

Their whiskey is made from Montana-grown and -malted barley, water from freshwater streams fed by snowmelt, and aged from six months to two years in new, charred oak barrels.

RoughStock’s 250-gallon copper pot still was custom designed and manufactured by Vendome Copper and Brass Works in Louisville, KY.

The owners plan to produce 3,000 cases a year, with the intent to ratchet up production to 5,000 to 6,000 cases annually.

When you ask people about their feelings towards vodka you tend to get a pretty generic or unenthusiastic response like; “It’s OK”, “I’ll have it as a mixer”, “Vodka’s Vodka”, and so on. That is unless you ask someone that has had the good fortune to drink some CORE Vodka made by Harvest Spirits of Valatie NY.

CORE Vodka is the result of a collaboration between Tom Crowell, a brewery owner, and Derek Grout, 3rd Generation of Golden Harvest Farm. Harvest Spirits is holder of the first Farm Distillers License, they pursued this license to allow for farmers to make more money from their crops. You see… Golden Harvest Farm has an apple orchard and grows a lot of apples, you might even be able to say too many apples. So whats a (smart thinking) farmer to do with crop availability in excess of the demand? Not to mention crop that might be stored too long etc. That’s right you guessed it – distill it and make some tasty vodka.

CORE is a triple distilled small batch vodka that is truly something unique and a delight to drink. It is such a treat to be able to go and visit a small operation like Harvest Spirits and talk directly to the people making the product. They do everything on site; fermenting, distilling, bottling, hand labeling & numbering. In one visit to the distillery you can see where the entire process takes place. That’s pretty neat.

I feel it is important to note here that even though CORE is distilled from apples, this is not an ‘Apple Flavored’ vodka. This is a crisp, clean, and exceptionally smooth vodka that when drinking finishes with just a touch of sweet that is a reminder of the apples that are at its core. After introducing CORE to many of my friends it just spread like wildfire, and told their friends, and their friends, it was amazing soon everyone in or close to my circle was buzzing about CORE.

So look for some CORE at you favorite liquor store, and if they don’t have it – tell them to call the guys at Harvest Spirits and get it. I am sure you will enjoy it and be sure to share with your friends too. By the way, while you are sharing with your friends, make yourself look extra smart by looking up the info about your hand-numbered bottle in Harvest Spirits really cool online distiller’s notebook.

Further Info about CORE and Harvest Spirits:
http://www.harvestspirits.com/ << Harvest Spirits main site
http://www.harvestspirits.com/core_vodka.html << CORE Vodka page

P.S. Be sure to check out their “Work in Progress” page .. there is a VERY interesting project in the works that I plan to re-visit the distillery for and cover in a later story. {Hint: Woodford Reserve}

Some great news came my way last week, the great folks of Tuthilltown Spirits were having the Grand Opening of their new tours, tasting room, and retail store. Suddenly my holiday weekend, that didn’t have any special plans, now had something REALLY exciting in store. And the Tuthilltown Distillery is only a little over an hour drive from me.

I gave them a call and got myself and my wife a reservation for a late afternoon tour. This turned out to be an excellent way to go as when we got there our tour was done by none other than Ralph Erenzo, one of the two partners that started Tuthilltown Spirits and a head distiller. I was definitely excited to have a tour by one of the owners and off we went. It is so interesting to see a small operation like this one up close, you get to see and hear the love and enthusiasm the staff have for their process and product.

First stop is the fermentation room, some people don’t like the smell, but to me the smell of the yeast going to work and doing its thing is always an enjoyable aroma. Tuthilltown currently has a pretty broad range of spirits they produce. Their spirits line currently consists of two Vodkas, un-aged corn whiskey, rye, baby bourbon, four grain bourbon, single malt whiskey, and rum. Their entire line of products is spectacular but I absolutely love the Baby Bourbon and Four Grain Bourbon.

Next up are the stills, Tuthilltown currently uses two copper pot stills from Germany for its distillation processes. One large 200 gallon still and a smaller 100 gallon still. These two machines are a thing of beauty and Tuthilltown’s distillation room is a lovely site.

After making our way past the stills we moved on to learn about the “real genius” part of their bourbon making process and why the Tuthilltown family of aged spirits have such a unique flavor profile. You see in most cases making bourbon takes a long time in the aging process taking up to several years before even knowing how your product is coming along and what its going to taste like. The thinkers and innovators at Tuthilltown tried something different. They ordered small charred new white oak barrels in 3, 5 and 7 gallons. During the aging and tasting process they discovered that using smaller barrels required only about 40 days per gallon to get the flavor they wanted and therefore the spirit in the 3 gallon barrels could be ready in roughly about 120 days. This is the genius that makes the Tuthilltown bourbons what they have become today, an outstanding world-class level spirits that is in demand locally, nationally and even world-wide with a footprint in several European countries.

Ralph was kind enough to share with us some information about the fact that taking this route, while it does produce a fantastic product in a much shorter time frame, is not however the most cost effective method to get the job done. This was a decision and gamble that needed to determined if worth making for the product to become what it is today. I for one am glad they took the gamble and made the decision to make their bourbon this way. And if you get the opportunity to drink some of their fine products you will appreciate it as well. In the end we learn that all Tuthilltown bottles are hand-dipped in wax, labeled one at a time and individually hand numbered. Ralph also told us that shortly they will have a new section on their website that will allow you to see the ‘notes’ associated with any particular bottle you have.

After the tour was over it was a short walk to the tasting room and retail store which allows visitors to taste the products that are made right there on the premises. Not only that but the store is also stocked full of their bourbons and a ton of other interesting distillery items and t-shirts. Yours truly left with an awesome “DISTILLERYMAN” t-shirt and a “Hudson Real American Whiskeys” etched nosing glass.

This was definitely a 4th of July to remember! Thanks again to all the staff at Tuthilltown Distillery. The tour, tasting, and shopping were a blast! I hope to make it back there a couple times this summer.

For more information on Tuthilltown Spirits:
http://www.tuthilltown.com << Be sure to join the email list & check the events page.
http://twitter.com/tuthilltown << Their Twitter Feed

Coming home to presents in the mail is so much fun! A little while back I was a winner of a trivia question posted by one of the people I follow on Twitter. Justaddbourbon has these random (bourbon related) trivia questions every once in a while, and if you’re a winner you get some cool swag from Justaddbourbon.com. Just Add Bourbon.com is a site that promotes all the great things there are to do and see down in lovely Bourbon County. Please visit their website if you are interested in a trip down to Kentucky or just to read about it.

Because I had forgotten, it was a total surprise when the stuff was waiting for me when I got home the other day. It was a fat package of goodies and information, info about Louisville, The Kentucky Bourbon Trail, The Urban Bourbon Trail, and stuff like a Bourbon County “I’d rather be drinking Bourbon” can cozy, Mint Julep soap, and a really cool “BRBN” oval car sticker. Pretty cool right? Yeah.

So a big thanks to my Twitter friend Justaddbourbon, the fine folks behind Justaddbourbon.com and the people of the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. While I’ve been interested in visiting Bourbon Country for a while now – seeing and reading all this information has only made me more excited to go.

Summer is, above all else, swimming season.

And while some dive into glistening infinity pools and others choose the salty waves of the Pacific, you prefer immersing yourself in something a bit…boozier.

Welcome Rickhouse, a new bar literally made of bourbon, brought to you by the guys behind Bourbon & Branch and Cask, pouring some of the world’s rarest whiskeys starting Wednesday.

Perhaps the best thing about Rickhouse, named for the place where bourbon is stored for aging, is that even before you step through the threshold, you’ll smell the hooch. Two steps in and you’ve got whiskey in your pores, as literally every surface—from the ceiling (made of staves from 300 barrels imported from Kentucky) to the walls of the back bar (shipped from a Prohibition-era nunnery in the Ozarks that was distilling for “medicinal purposes”)—oozes bourbon.

Walk through the crowds at the front bar, past the fireplace and copper doors to the smaller bar in the back, and order a drink—anything from a shot of the Russell’s Reserve you were eyeing at Cask to a bottle of wine (they’ll sell it to you at the price you’d find at a store and waive corkage) to a pint of Napa Smith beer.

But ultimately you’ll want to get the Pisco Punch, served in a punch bowl meant to serve four.

No diving…

From:

http://www.urbandaddy.com/

http://tinyurl.com/nc5lst