Exploring Exotic Spirits at Stoutridge Distillery & Winery

It looks like we will finish 2023 visiting just over 180 craft beverage establishments. A recent sampling of the unique portfolio at Stoutridge Distillery & Winery was one of the highlights of the year. The establishment was founded in 2006 by Stephen Osborn and Kimberly Wagner who converted a historic farm they had purchased five years earlier to a licensed winery. The farmhouse dates back to the mid-1800s and was originally built by Italian immigrants. In 1902, Vincenzo Marino purchased the property and produced wine commercially until his death in March 1919. But, because of Prohibition and neglect, the farmhouse and vineyards were in ruins by the turn of the century. 

The winery started producing natural (without sulfates or other chemicals) wine using locally grown fruit and using a state-of-the-art, gravity-flow system. In 2017, they expanded into distilling small-batch spirits, and not only distilling, but malting and kilning the grain. In fact, "Stoutridge is one of eight distilleries in America to do its own malting and the ONLY Distillery in the U.S. with a traditional Scottish style kilning floor."

During our visit I was tempted to start with their wine particularly since they source interested native and hybrid grapes such as Frontenac, Noiret, DeChaunac, Seyval, and Niagra, as well as a N.Y. Riesling. But then I saw their spirits portfolio of approximately 75 expressions comprised of Rye Whiskey, Malt Whiskey, Corn Whiskey, Bottled-In-Bond Whiskeys, Brandy, Whiskey-Brandy blends, Grappa, Eau de Vie, Vodka, Gin, Fernet & other bitters, Absinthe, Mastic, and Liqueurs.  Where to start? We decided to skip the whisky, vodka, and gin in order to plow into the exotic. 

Vincent Grappa: A traditionally made grappa, distilled from the skins of Hudson Valley grapes fermented for two months. This method produces incredible aromatic intensity (think of perfume) from both the concentrated natural oils of the grape skins and the myriad fermentation flavors. Named after Vincente Morano who made wine on our site from 1901 to 1919.  We purchased a bottle of this spirit because I felt out of all the expressions we tried, it seemed to hold a sense of place combining the wine and distillery operations. It's also a very agreeable grappa with a full mouthfeel and textured finish. 

Slivovitz: 100 proof plum brandy from locally harvested fruit. We use five kinds of plums in making this spirit to maximize it’s complexity. Slow distilled at high proof captures the complexity but yields a clean spirit that’s very smooth even over-proofed.  With an affinity for Eastern European Palinka, Rakija, and Slivovitz we were instantly attracted to this spirit and the plum character starts immediately and the nose and continues until the long, slightly rugged finish. 

Kirschwasser: 100 proof cherry brandy (kirsch) from locally harvested fruit. We use four kinds of cherries, harvested at varying levels of ripeness in making this spirit to maximize it’s complexity. Slow distilled at high proof captures the complexity but yields a clean spirit that’s very smooth even over-proofed. Delightful. The cherries hold up to the alcohol very easily.

The Damascene: We've added the perfect nuances of cardamom, angelica and white sage to our pot distiller locally grown field blend plum brandy. With a touch of sugar the result is a simply spectacular style of Slivovitz. A very interesting take on Slivovitz and very close to a Croatian Travarica.  With a larger budget I think I would have returned home with a bottle. 

Fernet: Our Fernet is a mint bittersweet liqueur in the Italian style. Developed to express our love of wintergreen and spearmint, but also to adhere to classic proportions of an amaro. This Fernet is a great replacement for bitters in any cocktail recipe. We offer this at 92 proof in order to give the spirit an elegance that is lost at lower proofs. I was excited to try this bitter  and I could envision slowly sipping and not just using in a cocktail. Love the mint profile. 

Quartarium Seed: Our venture into Absinthe production was the inspirational seed of so many flavor projects! Here we celebrate our success in competitions with a Swiss style 'Verte' made from 100% grape spirits in a wooden pot still of our design. This one has more hyssop flower and less artemis pontica.  This really incentivizes an exploration into Absinthe particularly through the several expressions available at Stoutridge. Just a few drops of water and the flavors pop. 

Tenth Ward Distilling Company and Christmas in Frederick

Christmas is celebrated in remarkable fashion on December Saturday nights in Frederick Maryland with lighted streets, smores stations, photo ops, boat lights, and local craft beverages like those produced by Tenth Ward Distilling Company. The name “Tenth Ward” is a reference to the division of Frederick City during the late 19th century and recently the distillery moved to that city's historic epicenter: near Patrick and Market Streets. On a placard located just down Patrick Street from Tenth Ward is a copy of the only known photograph of Confederate troops as they marched through Frederick, most likely on their way towards either Antietam or Gettysburg.

This woman-owned distillery - thanks to Monica Pearce -- produces an interesting range of spirits like Smoked Corn Whiskey, Caraway Rye, Genever Style Gin, Applejack, and Absinthe. This last shows its quality by turning cloudy and releasing aromatic while using the French method of a water drip with a sugar cube. The Smoke Corn Whiskey was polarizing with most overwhelmed by the firepit flavor, yet I thought it had an interesting Mezcal feel. Its main focus seems to be as a cocktail ingredient like the Perfect Penicillin and Triple Smoked Toddy.

Like our previous post on The Albeisa Bottle, in this age of global conglomerates dominating the inputs to the craft beverage industries, Tenth Ward support local farmers and industries. All the grain is grown and malted at Ripon Lodge Farm in Ripon West Virginia. The apples are sourced from local McCutcheon’s Apple Products.  Other local sources are Orchid Cellar for mead and Hay’s Apiary for honey. Used barrels are obtained from Fredericksburg's A. Smith Bowman Distillery whereas new barrels are derived from Michigan's The Barrel Mill. And finally, as most craft beverage bottles are produced by three international conglomerates, Tenth Ward sources their bottles from Piramal Glass out of the Park Hills, MO manufacturing plant.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and cheers to a safe and healthy New Year.

#BevFluenceExperience Denver: Golden Moon Distillery

One of the first tours of BevFluence's Denver Experience was to Golden Colorado and the Golden Moon Distillery. For good reason. The Distillery had just been awarded the American Distilling Institute’s 2019 Distillery of the Year Award and the ten+-year-old distillery offers a rather rare and remarkable range of spirits. In fact, founders Stephen Gould and Karen Knight opened the distillery in order to recreate lost recipes -- particularly those from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Gould's research library of ancient distilling methods dates back to the 1500s, but in order to be as authentic as possible, Gould scours the globe for antique stills. Presently they use four in the distilling process -- all dating from the early to mid-1900s. Although in order to scale up production, they contracted for larger and more modern stills but manufactured specifically to replicate the design of these antiques.

A dozen spirits and a smiling tasting room manager (Kayla) greeted us on arrival and we immediately dove into samples.  Two facts became immediately clear; first that Golden Moon produces high-quality spirits and second, there is a nice cross-pollination between Colorado craft beverage industries. The latter is evident by the Golden Moon Apple Jack ($56) and Golden Moon Grappa ($56). The Apple Jack starts with Colorado-grown apples that Denver's Stem Ciders crushes and during fermentation, the cider is transferred to the distillery where it is soon distilled, then lightly oak-aged and bottled.  This is a voluminous cider - full of apple funky apple flavor and a smooth - slight burn.

Even more intriguing and adding to the cross-pollination is their line of grappas produced from grape must from BookCliff Vineyard.  Each year brings not only a new vintage but also a different grape variety and in this case, we sampled three versions: a Riesling, Viognier, and a Chardonnay.  The final version was the clear preference. It provided a fuller profile both in body and fruit flavors with a more wine sensation. I'm sipping a glass as I type.

The other spirit I purchased was the Golden Moon Kümmel ($32)  - a spirit initially developed by assistant distiller Robbie Cunningham based on a Scottish recipe. The base alcohol is flavored with caraway and fennel and on its own is an interesting spirit. But Kayla, who is also the bar manager at the Golden Moon Speakeasy, recommended this as an alternative to vodka in a Bloody Mary. As fate intervenes, two of our party had already ventured to The Real Dill, Denver's source for pickles and bloody mary mix. Kayla was correct. We started with the Real Dill Bloody Mary mix and rimming spice, then the Golden Moon Kümmel, a dash of Celery Horseradish or Smoked Salt and Pepper bitters from Monarch Bitters and topped with a Real Dill Habanero Pickle. Great success.

In addition to the Kümmel, Golden Moon produces several other unique spirits and liqueurs. One is an aperitif resurrected in stature, the REDUX Absinthe ($86) where just water, and not sugar, brings out the milky and cloudy character. A sure sign of quality. The Golden Moon Crème de Violette ($32), Golden Moon Dry Curacao ($32), and Golden Moon Ex Gratia ($56) are liqueurs worth sampling neat and mixologists can envision imaginative cocktails. However, be aware of sampling the Golden Moon Amer dit Picon ($56) neat. It is based on the original recipes and ingredients used by "legendary distiller Gaetan Picon to create his amer (bitters) in the 1830’s". And it is bitter, very bitter. Get the Picon Punch ready for this one.

Follow #BevFluenceExperience on social media to read future posts on the Golden Moon Gin ($46), Port Cask Reserve Gin ($86), Golden Moon Colorado Single Malt Whiskey ($110), Gun Fighter American Rye - Double Cask Whiskey ($34), and Gun Fighter American Bourbon - Double Cask Whiskey ($34). Cheers.

Tasting an Expanded Spirits Portfolio at Mt. Defiance Distillery

The Middleburg AVA is a popular destination in Virginia wine country and a couple years ago Mt. Defiance Cidery augmented the area wine offerings with craft cider. Soon afterwards the distillery section of the operation came online providing visitors an opportunity to sample classic spirits. And in past year Mt. Defiance Distillery has expanded their portfolio to now include three Rum offerings, Apple Brandy & Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

Because of the screwy Virginia ABC regulations, cider is sampled in Mt. Defiance's tasting room and the spirits nearer to the distillery. Visitors are allowed four one ounce pours of spirits per day. The distillery, like others in the Commonwealth, provide a range of cocktails so visitors aren't forced to sample neat. However, neat was my preference and so between two of us we chose the Amber Rum, Dark Rum, Apple Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

According to Distiller Peter Ahlf, previously the Amber and Dark rums were both aged for 6 - 8 months in small (15 gal) used rye barrels.  The difference is that Ahlf adds caramelized sugar to the Dark Rum just before bottling. Check your bottle label because Batch 12 was aged for 14 months in a 55 gallon used bourbon barrel and Batch 13 was a blend of 12 and previous methods. I don't know which version I sampled but the Dark Rum does have a pronounced honey-caramel profile when compared to the Amber - which is very smooth with a lighter honey accent. Both are very nice, but I preferred the lighter Amber style.

The Apple Liqueur is produced using a mash of sweet cider with crushed apples which is mixed with their Apple Brandy and additional sugar for sweetening. (The Brandy is produced by aging distilled hard cider and hen cutting to 80 proof). Thus, the liqueur is lower in alcohol at 50 proof / 25% alcohol and a bit on the sweeter side.

Cassis is a liqueur made from blackcurrants and Mt. Defiance's version is excellent. Ahlf says that his goal was to emphasize the liqueur's bright fruit flavor over sweetness and he succeeded. There's no syrupy or gritty sugar texture and the blackcurrant flavors are prevalent. Ahlf also mentioned that beet sugar worked much better than cane sugar as a sweetener. Interesting. 

The final spirit we sampled was the much anticipated Absinthe as Mt. Defiance utilizes the traditional brouilleur (water dripper) and sugar cube to prepare the spirit. They also use traditional ingredients such as Virginia grown Grand Wormwood, Lemon Balm and Hyssop; Aniseed from Andalucía, Spain; and Fennel Doux from Provence, France.  In general I'm not a great fan of Anise based spirits, but this Absinthe was rock solid - not overly liquorish - but relatively smooth. I was pleasantly surprised on this one.

To help navigate to Mt. Defiance or any of the Middleburg area wineries check out theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App. Cheers.

Addicted to Netflix - How Beer Saved the World & Absinthe

A year ago I finally succumbed to family pressure and subscribed to Netflix - and today utilize the on demand feature (what a horrible implementation of splitting the rental and on demand divisions). The first two videos I watched were the popular documentaries Blood Into Wine and Beer Wars.If you haven't seen either of these, I highly recommend them - learn about Arizona wines and the competition between craft brewers such as The Samuel Adams Brewery and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and basically Budweiser - now Anheuser-Busch InBev. 

But there's more. In the past week, I have watched two new documentaries which are just as informative and entertaining: How Beer Saved the World and Absinthe.

The former is a light-hearted story where "Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story of how beer helped create math, poetry, pyramids, modern medicine, labor laws, and America." Yes, they cover all these subjects. And the latter tells the interesting life of Absinthe "from its birth in Switzerland in 1787, through its rise in the chic cafés of Belle Époque Paris, to its prohibition, and its recent worldwide revival". Now its time to plan a trip to Philadelphia Distilling to sample their Vieux Carre Absinthe - the first legal absinthe to be distilled, bottled and sold on the east coast of the United States in nearly 100 years. Or grab some Lucid.


How Beer Saved the World

ABSINTHE documentary film trailer from absinthe on Vimeo.