Craigellachie 17 Year
Craigellachie was founded in 1891 at the confluence of the rivers Spey and Fiddich. Despite being owned by international spirits conglomerate Bacardi, it is operated by scotch giant Dewar & Sons, along with Royal Brackla, Aberfeldy, Aultmore, and Macduff. Craigellachie has predominantly used for blends throughout its life, but the distillery began offering a line of age statements in 2014, albeit not what might be considered industry norm for years. That diverting from the norms is something Craigellachie does not shy away from. The Craighellachie 17 Year offers no flashy story or gimmicks, it is simply a whisky aged a minimum of 17 years from a proudly unapologetic distillery, unafraid to embrace who they are.
Colkegan Single Malt
Santa Fe Spirits was founded in 2010 by Englishman Colin Keegan. An architect by trade, Colin and his family built their home on an old apple orchard in the American Southwest in the early 90s. Colin decided to look at the Recession of 2008/09 as an opportunity and founded Santa Fe Spirits. After a decade and more in production, Santa Fe Spirits offer vodka, gin, apple brandy (from the orchards) and liqueurs. Their flagship product, however, is the Colkegan Single Malt. A portmanteau of the distillery’s founder, the Colkegan line uses local mesquite wood to dry a portion of the barley used in the whiskey, with other versions using various proofage and cask finishes.
Cleveland Underground Sugar Maple
Back in 2009, navy veteran Tom Lix started experimenting with whiskey. But not in the traditional sense. Cleveland Whiskey seeks to push the envelope about what is possible with whiskey, from how it is produced and aged to the regular taste profiles generally expected in the industry. The Underground series is the distilleries main line, each offering ages in traditional barrels for about six months before going through a proprietary process involving pressure extractions and differing wood combinations using more exotic woods rarely seen as finishing elements. The Cleveland Underground Super Maple is a bourbon finished with sugar maple wood using this transformative method.