McCarthy’s 6 Year Oloroso Finish
McCarthy’s was founded by Steve McCarthy and first released as a whiskey in 1996, serving in the vanguard of American single malt whiskies. Hailing from the Mount Hood region of Oregon, McCarthy’s barley is sourced entirely from Scotland and is peat smoked. The early releases earned high praise from whiskey reviewers like Jim Murray but they have not rested on their laurels. The McCarthy’s 6 Year Oloroso Finish is distilled from heavily peated Scottish barley and aged in Oregon oak casks before being finished for an unknown amount of time in Spanish ex-Olorosh sherry casks.
Cowboy Country Maple Whiskey
Cowboy Country Distilling was founded in 2015 and opened on Valentine’s Day 2018. Offering a wide variety of whiskies, vodkas, rums, liqueurs, and gins, drawn from the water, grains and weather of Wyoming by founder and master distiller Tim Trites. The Cowboy Country Maple Whiskey uses the same recipe as their Straight Whiskey, which is a twice-distilled bourbon with vanilla and baking spices added. This is then left to mature for a couple of years in oak barrels that once contained maple syrup. As might be expected, a visit to the distillery will also provide you with the opportunity to purchase maple syrup aged in oak barrels that once held Straight Whiskey. A virtuous circle if there ever was one.
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.