Singled Out!

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Posted: 08/24/08

As you may or may not know, it is hot.  Here in denver we just enjoyed a record 18 days over 90 degrees.  Now that might make for nice bike riding weather, or a good day to go to the local swimming hole, but here in the distillery, it means temperatures up to 120 degrees fahrenheit.   It was on such a day that I was selecting barrels for batch 25. I drove my homemade bung removal tool deep into the poplar and splintered the bung on barrel #225 just like I had done 9 times earlier.  I was immediately rocked with an explosion of rich velvet aroma that stopped me dead in my tracks.  The barrel had such a wonderful bouquet I was captivated.  I pulled a sample out and tasted it.  It was everything intimated by the nose, and more.  A rich buttery oakiness complemented by malt complexity unfolded in my mouth like a road map.  I had been tasting barrel samples all day and I wanted to make sure this barrel was as good as it seemed, so I called over fellow distiller Ben Glade.  I offered him a sample and his face said it all.  I could not add this gem to the other waiting barrels.  What does one do when you come across such a rarity?

I would like to announce The Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey’s Single Barrel Program.  What is the single barrel program you might ask?  Well we took barrel #225 in all of its individual glory, drilled a hole in the head of the barrel and pounded in an antique wooden spigot.  The intention being friends of the distillery can come down to the distillery and fill and label their own bottle of unfiltered single barrel SCW.  If you are interested in a bottle of the SCW Single Barrel, you better move fast, there are only 160 bottles of whiskey in the barrel and when it is gone it is gone like snow on the rockies.

  • Single Barrel bottles will be sold by appointment only due to the extra time needed for you to fill your bottle and write out your label.  Please call the distillery or email me to set up an appointment.  The cost is $75 a bottle, and remember you can customize the label by writing what ever you like in the comments section- what a great gift!