Stranahan’s Sherry Cask
Stranahan’s Distillery was one of the first American single malts on the market in early 2000s, with their first bottle being released in 2006. One of the things American whiskies like bourbon were long not allowed to do because of regulation and tradition was something scotch had begun pioneering in the early 1980s, wood finishing. Not bound by the regulations of bourbons or ryes, American single malts like Stranahan’s are able to push the boundaries in creative ways their whiskey relatives were unable to for many years (though this has recently begun changing). The Stranahan’s Sherry Cask is a single malt aged for four years in virgin white American oak barrels and then finished in 500-liter ex-Oloroso sherry casks from the Andalusia region in Spain.
Highland Park 16 Year Twisted Tattoo
Since beginning their distillery on Orkney in 1798, Highland Park has been crafting scotch and working with artisans from around the world, continually reinventing itself while also holding true to their history and traditions. A recent rebranding effort has seen them lean more heavily into the Viking influence of that area of Scotland, often seen in evocative names to accompany the usual age statements. The Highland Park 16 Year is called the Twisted Tattoo after Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent of Norse legend. The design and packaging was the result of a partnership with Danish tattoo artist Colin Dale. Highland Park regularly uses ex-sherry casks as part of their standard maturation process but in the Twisted Tattoo, the scotch was finished in ex-Rioja casks.
Boulder Spirits Peated Malt
Boasting “…big dreams, bigger goals, and the biggest pot still in the state” Boulder Spirits Distillery brings us their Peated American Single Malt. The recipe is simple: distillers malted barley, a Scottish pot still, #3 char American white oak barrels, aged in an arid high elevation climate, and cut with the celebrated Eldorado Springs water. Their outlook is that peat can be a piece of the whiskey, and not the defining attribute. Aged for a minimum of three years, the Boulder Spirits Peated Malt uses is a lightly peated single malt made in the tradition of Scotland, with American ingenuity.