Pure as the driven snow

Posted: 01/10/09

They say no two snowflakes are the same.  On that giant rocky mountain of white glistening snow, no two flakes are alike.   The same can be said of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey.   Each batch has its own characteristics, its own nuance that makes it unique.  We cherish that quality about our whiskey.  To celebrate the handmade character of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey we are releasing a line of extremely limited edition one-off bottlings aptly named Snowflakes.

How is a snowflake born?  Just like the raindrop transformed by cold mountain air into a beautiful work of art, our whiskey is born of pure ingredients and precise conditions and it is transformed into something breathtaking and fleeting.   I start with our standard recipe of 4 different malted barley, carefully ferment them, meticulously distill them, and then age the resulting spirit in heavily charred new American white oak casks.  After years of much patience, testing, tasting, and pondering, a barrel is done.  Aged to perfection, smooth and full of character, all it needs now is its silver crown.  However a few choice barrels are set aside to become Snowflakes.   The whiskey already aged to fruition, is carefully transferred into a barrel that once housed a wine for a second maturation.  The wine barrels are made of a different wood, usually French white oak, which has a different flavor profile than American white oak.  Wine barrels are toasted, rather than charred, so they create a  more subtle infusion, which is perfect for adding another layer of complexity and flavor to our whiskey with out masking what is already there.  The wine that was in the barrels had soaked into the wood over time, and it steeps back out into the whiskey adding richness and color.  The end result is amazing.  The foundation is Stranahan’s, but the layers of flavor and complexity built atop are unlike anything you have ever tasted.  The fruity richness of the wine gently playing with the complex warm malty nature of the whiskey.  Each and every batch, like the snowflake, is unique and will never happen again.  Each release is extremely small production and as a result will only be sold out of our tasting room at the distillery for $75, and like the white blanket on the rocky mountains, when it is gone, it is gone.