Sonoma Distilling Co. makes use of cherrywood-smoked barley to make a bourbon and rye whiskey, which founder and whiskey maker Adam Spiegel says imparts a heightened sense of place.
Tommy Brunett, founding father of Iron Smoke Distillery in New York State, was smoking ribs in his yard sooner or later whereas having fun with a whiskey, when abruptly a thought occurred to him: “How do you mix these two American pastimes—nice American barbecue and nice American bourbon?,” the musician turned whiskey maker remembers asking himself. For roughly a yr and a half, he smelled like smoke as he tried to get his whiskey concept good. He was on the lookout for only a whisper of smoke on the end—not one thing that was overpowering or overdone. The tip consequence was Iron Smoke straight bourbon, made utilizing applewood-smoked wheat. The applewood is indigenous to the distillery’s area, and smoking the wheat provides an surprising dimension to the candy grain. “From the yard to now, it’s been fairly wonderful,” Brunett says.
Certainly, simply as smoke itself can drift wherever, Darek Bell, Corsair’s founder and distiller, thinks the probabilities for smoked American whiskey are countless. The way in which he sees it, drinkers typically default to age as an indicator of high quality, and that’s an space the place younger distillers can’t compete. However smoke provides a layer of intrigue and reframes the tasting expertise. Bell’s ardour for smoked American whiskey extends to date that he even wrote a guide on the subject. These distillers appear to have heeded Bell’s recommendation—utilizing wooden sorts, typically native to their area, to provide their whiskeys a definite smoky character. As Bell places it, “There’s nonetheless so much to discover.”
Cherrywood
Sonoma Distilling smokes wooden on-site in a one-ton smoker constructed into an outdated transport container. Founder and whiskey maker Adam Spiegel says that it’s a nuance they will supply as a grain-to-glass distillery, and one which infuses their whiskeys with an added sense of place. “We prefer it since you get a California cherry tree—a bit of of that native taste,” he says.
“The rationale I like working with smoked grains is that it modifications your notion of smoke,” he says. “Except you’re utilizing oak, wooden can really be a really vibrant, lovely, clear burn.” It additionally offers him an extra software when creating new whiskeys. “Typically, smoke is a pleasant taste modifier,” he provides. Some mainstream distillers, equivalent to Woodford Reserve, have additionally delved into cherrywood. Its 2017 Grasp’s Assortment Cherry Wooden Smoked Barley had 30% malted barley within the mashbill, all of it cherrywood smoked.
Sonoma Distilling Cherrywood Smoked Bourbon—47.8%, $50
Made with 67% corn, 20% rye, and 13% cherrywood-smoked malted barley. Sonoma Distilling additionally gives a cherrywood smoked rye.
Pine Barrens Cherrywood Smoked Malt—47.5%, $39/375 ml
From Lengthy Island Spirits, that is created from an English barleywine-style ale mash that makes use of 4 several types of malt.
Applewood
Iron Smoke Distillery in western New York state, simply outdoors of Rochester, leans into its geography by utilizing native applewood to smoke its wheat, giving its bourbon a mild, refined smoke profile. They smoke the wheat in a large smoker, identical to Brunett did when he was experimenting in his yard.
“You may have the recent field; the smoke goes over the grains, after which it’s out the chimney,” he explains. As a touring musician, Brunett says he’s had wonderful barbecue in states like Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and needed to deliver that taste profile to his whiskey with out overwhelming the drinker with smoke.
Iron Smoke Straight Bourbon—40%, $55
Made with 65% corn, 30% applewood-smoked wheat, 3% rye, and a pair of% unmalted barley. Additionally accessible at cask power (60%, $80).
WildWoods Applewood Smoked Single Malt—42.5%, $52/375 ml
From Jersey Spirits Distilling Co., which has additionally made a cherrywood-smoked whiskey. This 100% malted barley whiskey is aged in small barrels for just below 3 years.
Peachwood
Rick Wasmund, founding father of Copper Fox Distillery, has been surrounded by fruitwood for years. In faculty, he rented a home in the course of an apple orchard. When he moved to Virginia, there was an abundance of cherrywood on the property and 7 fireplaces to burn it in. “I used to be simply at some extent in my life the place I used to be on the lookout for some subsequent problem, and the concept popped in my head: What a few fruitwood-smoked whiskey?” Wasmund says. He went to Islay and discovered to create smoky whisky at Bowmore. The very first thing he made upon his return was a single malt smoked with apple and cherrywood.
Fruitwood smoke would grow to be a home model for Copper Fox, as Wasmund added a smoked rye and different smoked whiskeys to the lineup. “We began doing a single malt rye with sassafras smoke,” he says. “We obtained ahold of a peach orchard, and we cherished the essence of the peachwood smoke.” In order that they made that, too.
Copper Fox Peachwood American Single Malt—48%, $54
Made with peachwood-smoked malt, aged in used bourbon barrels with peach and oak wooden chips.
John Emerald John’s Alabama Single Malt—43%, $45
A portion of the grains within the 100% malted barley mash are smoked with peach and pecan wooden.
Hickory
Some distillers introduce smoke to their whiskey as a way to dry malted barley, however Kevin Suttman, president of Seven Brothers Distilling Co. in Ohio, says they do issues a bit of in a different way with their Hickory Smoked whiskey. “It begins with a bourbon-esque base,” he says, noting a mash of corn and wheat, “And the magic actually is within the ageing course of. We began off with used barrels and end it with hickory smoke, really injecting the smoke.”
Suttman received’t disclose the total course of, however Seven Brothers makes use of vacuum distillation and experiments with totally different manufacturing strategies. “This isn’t going to be one thing that’s conventional whiskey with a bit of smokiness,” Suttman claims. He additionally advises those that don’t like smoke to remain away, however the whiskey has most definitely discovered its viewers. “It’s really a singular American taste,” he says. “Should you like an actual smoky barbecue-type taste, you’re going to like this whiskey.” As for any pairing recommendation, he says it goes nice with tomato juice and greens. “It makes an superior Bloody Mary.”
Jack Daniel’s has had its second with hickory, with its Tennessee Tasters’ Hickory Smoked expression matured in new charred oak barrels and completed with charred hickory staves to impart a smoky taste.
Deerhammer Tough & Tumble Hickory Smoked Corn—42%, $34
Created from 100% Colorado corn that undergoes a day-long chilly smoking course of earlier than it’s aged in bourbon barrels.
Seven Brothers Hickory Smoked—40%, $32
Domestically sourced Ohio gentle crimson winter wheat and yellow corn are infused with hickory smoke utilizing a custom-crafted vacuum nonetheless.
Mesquite
Whiskey makers within the American Southwest are utilizing mesquite to outline the flavour of the area, although as Santa Fe Spirits founder Colin Keegan reveals, the precise smoking for his or her whiskeys takes place at Briess Malt in Wisconsin. Only a few distilleries malt their very own grain, and for Santa Fe and others, Briess is a worthwhile useful resource. “We’re type of importing our personal terroir, so to talk,” he says, although Santa Fe makes some extent of insisting that Southwest timber are used when drying the malted barley.
Santa Fe Spirits is among the many few whiskey makers producing mesquite-smoked single malt in a means that’s just like how scotch whisky makers add peat. For Santa Fe, which means 100% malted barley double distilled in a pot nonetheless, with smoke launched in the course of the malting course of. “To us, mesquite could be very Southwest,” Keegan says.
Colkegan American Single Malt—46%, $60
An American single malt smoked with mesquite. Two-thirds is aged in refill bourbon barrels, one-third is aged in virgin white American oak.
Ranger Creek Rimfire Texas Single Malt—43%, $30/375 ml
A scotch-style whiskey smoked with Texas mesquite and aged in Ranger Creek’s personal bourbon barrels.
Whiskey Del Bac Dorado American Single Malt—46%, $60
Created from 100% malted barley that’s smoked over a mesquite hearth. The whiskey is then aged in 15-gallon new oak barrels.
A number of
Like different small distillers, Painted Stave in Delaware launched an unaged corn whiskey akin to moonshine, however proprietor Mike Rasmussen needed to push the model even additional. “I needed one thing that was going to be for summertime—lighter, possibly in citrus-driven cocktails or Highballs that embraced a bit of little bit of the American barbecue flavors—and mesquite and apple are two of these nice woods which can be utilized in American barbecue. So these resonated very strongly with me,” he says.
Painted Stave’s Diamond State Bottled in Bond corn whiskey is simply that, evoking summer time nights sitting round a campfire with buddies, whiskey in hand. The mash of 80% corn and 20% apple and mesquite-smoked barley seeks to stability candy and smoky flavors. “I believe that there’s loads of play with corn whiskey and smoke as a result of it could actually create loads of neat stability that sometimes isn’t in that product,” he says. “I find it irresistible.”
Andalusia Stryker Smoked Single Malt—50%, $55
A malted barley mash is smoked within the Texas barbecue custom with oak, mesquite, and apple woods. Aged in char quantity 4 new American oak. No. 20 on Whisky Advocate’s 2021 High 20.
Corsair Triple Smoke American Single Malt—40%, $50
Three smoked malts—cherrywood from Wisconsin, beechwood from Germany, and peat from Scotland—give this whiskey complexity and stability. Pot distilled and aged in new charred American oak.
Diamond State Bottled in Bond Corn—50%, $35
From Delaware’s Painted Stave Distillery, which additionally makes a pot nonetheless whiskey utilizing German-style malt smoked with beechwood.
