A New Malt From The USA:News From Ellensburg Distillery
June 23rd, 2009
This from Berle Figgins at Ellensburg Distillery;
I wanted to alert you of a very rare item that will be released on 1 September. I know that you scour the world for malts, and I have created a fine American example of what one can do with only 9 months in the barrel. It is called Gold Buckle Club malt whisky, distinguished from its companion whisky, a rye grain whisky. The malt whisky is made 90% from two-row pale-ale malt and 10% from crystal malt. All Washington-grown. I wanted to start a little rumour about its release by telling you first. Perhaps there might be some interest. There is only one 225-litre barrel filled with this whisky, and I will bottle it into 750 ml bottles at cask-strength. I will offer the 300 bottles for US$ 55.00 each, and every bottle will be hand-filled, -corked, -labelled and -sealed with a paper revenue tape.
No plans for export at this time, but many of our colleagues who are here in the States may purchase this whisky directly from my distillery and handle the delivery to a second party on their own.
I wish that you could try a sample of it while it is still in cask!
All the very best,
Rusty
Visit http://www.theellensburgdistillery.com/ for more on this new product.
This news was passed along from a colleague. While it was not submitted by me, my friend knew where to get that bit of news published.
Indeed, I am releasing my first whisky, a shockingly good malt that will be less than a year old when bottled next month. An ode to the frontier whisky history and what drinking it did for the development of the West, the brand is called Gold Buckle Club malt whisky. It saw time in new Minnesota oak, and the contents of the two half-barrels was joined together into a Sherry barrique having a volume of 225 litres. The flavours belie its shameful youth, all owing to the use of small barrels and the increased surface area-to-spirit ratio, and the constant use of the practise of racking, or transferring, from barrel to tank and back to barrel again. Another proprietary aeration technique was also employed. A proprietary mashbill of pale-ale malt and crystal malt made for increased texture and room-filling aroma. Adding to the contributing variables were the paltry working conditions that keep the temperature quite uncomfortable in the distillery, not because of the working stills so much, but because of the high ambient temperature in eastern Washington and the lack of air conditioning. I quite like my hot working conditions if it means making better quality whisky!
The demand for the malt is such that, to get it slowly into as many libraries and credenzas as possible, the price is being re-considered. My home state of Washington is also instituting steep increases on beverage alcohol beginning 1 August. The rare nature of this cask-strength, single-malt, single-barrel whisky is also a factor. Most enquiries are insisting that the whisky be packaged in wooden box, and I am inclined to comply. This is in tandem with the “one customer, one bottle” policy that I must regretfully enforce. I want to sink every bit of the earnings from the single cask into replicating this malt in every possible way, but I wish to make a bit more on the next go-round. I will keep the single-cask methodology intact, but the goal would be to make four to six casks this next time.
Some sample text which is found on the label, to give an idea about the flavour of the brand, is as follows:
Gold Buckle Club ®
W A S H I N G T O N F R O N T I E R – S T Y L E M A L T W H I S K Y
“Hang on to your hat!” ®
{A single-malt, single-barrel, cask-strength whisky.}
This pot-distilled, small-batch whisky was expertly crafted from only the choicest malted barley, high-purity water and native brewer’s yeast. It was matured in a single oak cask before being hand-filled into this bottle, one of only 300 per cask.
Trade X X Mark. B W Figgins jnr
Double-Distilled. Master Distiller.
Taming the Wild West required the skills of wranglers and well-drillers, farmers and millers, brewers and distillers. Celebrated as the finest whisky ever made in the West, Gold Buckle Club ® honours those sturdy folk who ride, work and play hard. Here’s to those who blaze a new trail every day.
Ellensburgh, Washington Territory, Chartered 1884.
Gold Buckle Club & Rodeo, Established 1923.
DISTILLED, MATURED & BOTTLED BY
The Ellensburg Distillery
ELLENSBURG, KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
750 ML 50.5% ALC/VOL 101° U.S. PROOF
I tried the Gold Buckle Club single malt at Whiskies of the West in Ellensburg, and it was the most distinctive whisky in the entire show. I came up with some descriptors, despite my being a relative amateur:
Colour: Golden straw.
(The presenter said that it was first placed in new American oak firkins for six months, then transferred into one larger sherry cask for the final six.)
Nose: Cacao bean. Ground thyme. Heavily roasted malt. Room-filling aroma.
(Could still smell these in the empty glass, even after the last drop evaporated.)
Palate: Rich. Smoky. Malty. Chocolatey, akin to baking cocoa. Discreetly oaky. Vanillin.
Finish: Nearly endless, pleasant and warm finish.
Overall: A very fine malt whisky despite being only 12 months in the barrel. How amazing it could have been with additional maturation, but the producer probably caved in to demand and release anticipation. However, it lives up to the hype, and I bought my two-bottle limit.
Packaging: Imported whisky bottle with heavy glass bottom (Saver Glass from France?), with wooden-top cork closure. Sealed with beeswax. Elegant, old-time look on a two-piece label (hand-applied?) Each bottle was numbered and signed, and ame with a fire-branded wooden gift box. A truly first-class first effort, and I am looking forward to next year’s release.
The producers of this whisky seem very serious-minded and traditional, and are very high-quality minded. I am proud to own Washington’s first single malt, and it was the biggest hit at a New Year’s Eve bash, which incidentally also featured Glenmorangie 10YO and Pendleton.