Bunnahabhain was founded in 1881 and was for its first several decades only received supplies by sea. Interestingly, the village of Bunnahabhain itself was founded to house the workers for the distillery, making the two even more intertwined than is often the case. Word began to spread after an actual road was put in during the early 1960s and production expanded. The name of the distillery in Gaelic means “Mouth of the River”. In 2003 the distillery was purchased by Burn Stewart, which is currently folded under Heineken Beverages. The Bunnahabhain Toiteach breaks a little from tradition in being lightly peated, as the distillery is generally more known for making unpeated whisky. Toiteach is pronounced “toch tach” and means “smoky” in Gaelic. It has since been replaced by the Toiteach A DhĂ but you can still find the original floating around in stores on occasion.
Wood Hat Aged Blue Corn Whiskey
Wood Hat Spirits was founded in 2012 by Gary Hinegardner, a local agronomist and businessman, located right by the side of the highway in New Florence, Missouri. Gary is also a wood turner and creates, among other things, the wooden hats after which the distillery is named. More pertinent to this website, Gary also creates whiskies and cordials. The Wood Hat Aged Blue Corn Whiskey uses Hopi blue corn and is aged in toasted chinquapin oak barrels, a specials of white oak native to eastern and central North America.