One-of-a-kind event digs deep into rack house to produce creative one-off creations
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There is something magical, almost romantic, about dusty old whiskey barrels sitting in a rack house peacefully aging while the liquid inside matures, reaching the perfect taste.
A major perk for master distillers is the luxury of strolling through rows of barrels and extracting a dram of the elixir maturing inside whenever they like to see how it’s progressing. Distillers use a cask thief, which is a long copper tube that looks like a hollow sword, to extract whiskey from the barrel for samples.
Stranahan’s Distillery harnessed this experience Saturday, Sept. 25 with a special one-of-a-kind tasting called Cask Thief. The sixth annual event took place in the Distillery’s rack houses in Denver, Colo. where Head Distiller Owen Martin unveiled seven rare whiskeys served straight from the barrel to guests using cask thieves.
“Each year we try to have a range of proofs, a range of finishes, and then we always try to throw at least one R and D barrel in there that doesn’t have to do with cask finishing,” Martin says.
Martin hand-selects only the most experimental barrels and rolls them out for what’s dubbed the most unique event in the whiskey world. While other distilleries may do similar experiments and tastings, Martin says he’s unaware of an event like Cask Thief. The closest thing is the Islay Festival in Scotland.
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This year’s Cask Thief selection included:
- Fond Of The Bond – A 100 proof bottled-in-bond aged for nine years making it the oldest bonded whiskey created in Colorado.
- Port To Port (To Port) – A port whiskey aged in three different port casks, including a tawny port from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal.
- Agave My Heart Away – A 5-year Stranahan’s whiskey aged for more than a year in a mezcal tequila barrel.
- Deus Ex Mash-ina – A sour mash-style barrel from the depths of the rack house used to create an 8-year well-rounded dram.
- Stout Damn Time! – Jagged Mountain Brewery provided a Devil’s Abyss Imperial Stout barrel for the whiskey which was aged six years.
- Hand In The Honey Pot – A 5-year single malt whiskey aged in a Bjorn’s Colorado Honey barrel for two years.
- Puncheon Above Your Wait – This VIP barrel was filled with Stranahan’s Madeira cask whiskey and aged in a 132-gallon Tuscan puncheon barrel.
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“This highlights not only what we can do, but essentially what American single malts are capable of… using a lot of these finishing casks to augment different flavor characteristics that we are proud of with Stranahan’s,” says Martin who is trying to increase the ages on all of their offerings.
Stranahan’s formed when volunteer firefighter Jess Graber responded to a neighbor’s barn fire. The neighbor turned out to be George Stranahan, who owned a brewery and was a whiskey connoisseur. The duo went on to form Stranahan’s Single Malt Whiskey made from 100 percent barley, yeast, and Rocky Mountain water aged in the barrel.
Today Proximo Spirits owns the distillery and Martin is at the helm as the head distiller. The whiskey is still made the same as always at its distillery at 200 S. Klamath St. in Denver.
While Cask Thief whiskeys are only available during the event, Martin uses the tasting as a test lab of sorts to see what is a hit with fans. Depending on how the whiskeys “perform” at the event, Martin says he may introduce them to a broader lineup for the public at some point.
Stranahan’s growing selection of single malt whiskeys includes a Sherry Cask finished in an Oloroso Sherry Barrel and the Blue Peak Solera Finish single malt whiskey. Stranahan’s offers other special releases throughout the year such as the coveted Snowflake release, where people line up to procure one of the limited-release bottles that, like its namesake, are never the same from year to year.
Martin encourages everyone to stop by the distillery when they are in Denver because the Distillery Series offers such rarities as the Caribbean Rum Cask single malt whiskey.
