K&L Exclusive: The Rarest American Single Malt We’ve Ever Seen – American Single Malt News
An Extraordinary American Single Malt Unlike Any Other
Capital Liquors Project 5 Year Old “K&L Exclusive” Heavily Peated American Single Malt Whiskey (750ml) ($49.99)
“…this blows most [American single malts] out of the water from a quality standpoint. It’s fabulously well made.” — Andrew Whiteley, K&L Spirits Buyer
When it comes to micro-production and rarity, today’s offer takes the cake. This K&L exclusive cask of Capitol Liquors Project’s 5-Year-Old Single Malt is arguably the smallest-production spirit we’ve ever taken in at a mere 234 bottles. But that’s hardly the most intriguing feature at work here. Why is it produced in such small quantities, you might ask? The answer lies in the “mad scientist” behind the Capital Liquors Project itself. Gregory Miller is a full-time professor of distillation at UC-Davis who set about building his own licensed and bonded distillery … in his backyard shed. That’s right, this is a true one-man operation that redefines the concept of “boutique” distillation. Because he has no grandiose multi-year plans for expansion or repayment of investors, he’s free to experiment to his heart’s content, resulting in singularly extraordinary whiskeys like this one. Spirits buyer Andrew Whiteley declares, “This cask has so much going for it … The complexity is through the roof.” Most surprising of all, it comes in at an astounding sub-$50 price that, as Andrew contends, has it “underpriced by a factor of two or more when compared to the very best American single malts on the market.” Obviously, this is likely your one and only opportunity to score a whiskey like no other, so don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
K&L Notes: Gregory Miller, a chemical engineer and professor of distillation at UC Davis, operates the smallest legal distillery we’ve ever seen. The fully licensed and bonded distillery and “rickhouse” sit just a few steps from the front door of his home on the western edge of Davis, CA. The tiny pot still is hand-built and of his own design — a project that came into being after his lab purchased a very expensive teaching still that wasn’t up to his rigorous standards. Rather than just moonshine as a hobbyist, Mr. Miller took the extra step of licensing his project and becoming the first legal distillery in Yolo County long before the modern craft boom got booming. But he never set out to run a fully operational distillery in a business sense. He doesn’t have production goals, he’s not in a hurry, he doesn’t have investors that need to be paid back, and he definitely doesn’t distill every day. In fact, there are only six barrels in the “rickhouse” (actually, five now that we bought this one). He has made rye, bourbon, single malt, and a number of other interesting experimental batches of liquor. It takes roughly 40 individual mashes and distillation runs to fill a full sized 53-gallon barrel. Water comes from the well on his property, and the distillery and barrel room regularly tops 100+ degrees in the summer months and drops near freezing in the winter. This incredible 5-year-old single malt is made from 100% Scottish Bairds heavily peated malt purchased in 25kg sacks and mashed one at a time.
Andrew Whiteley | K&L Spirits Buyer | Review Date: September 14, 2022
This cask has so much going for it. The distillery is so cool and so outrageously small. It’s basically the ultimate mancave—some guys have a shed full of tools, while Greg has a shed filled with a licensed distillery. But the whiskey itself is special. To start, it’s made from 100% heavily peated, Scottish malted barley from Bairds, so the grain itself is everything you could ask for in a single malt. It’s five years old, substantially older than most releases of American single malt available on the market. It is bottled at a massive, true cask strength of 66.7% ABV (and obviously not chill-filtered or colored in anyway). And because we are working directly with the distillery, it is arguably underpriced by a factor of two or more when compared to the very best American single malts on the market. Price aside, I think this blows most ASMs out of the water from a quality standpoint. It’s fabulously well made. Also, did I mention it tastes like bacon? Seriously—briny, smoky bacon. It’s delicious.
The new American oak from Demptos cooperage with a #3 char and toasted heads plays beautifully with the peat smoke and the malt. Even experienced tasters could easily be fooled for Islay malt in a blind tasting. It’ll come as no surprise when you taste this that one of Greg’s favorite distilleries is Laphroaig. The clean ferments (impressive considering 40 separate mashes went into the batch) have provided a sweet grain tea backbone that will be familiar to anyone who has ever brewed their own beer. And yet the complexity is through the roof. The nose offers peaches and nectarines, fresh cut grass, habanero pepper fruit (not spice, just the sweet fruity bits), saltwater taffy, applewood smoked bacon, and a fresher peat profile than you might expect. It presents more like the cut peat itself before it is dried for burning: vegetal and earthy.
When you move to the palate, you’ll find a sweet array of fruit and vanilla intermingled with a complex mélange of baking spices. The bacon and peat notes are robust on the back end. Brownies, dark chocolate, and roasted coffee all come to mind. It is something of a chameleon—when I start all over with a second pour, I find no peat. Then suddenly it’s back with a subsequent nosing. A roll call back through fruit, spice, wood, smoke, grass, meat, sweet pastry, and more comes with the exploration of an empty and now dry glass. The proof is eminently drinkable, and with water added a softer, fruitier side comes out, but so too is the oily, meaty nature intensified. It just seems to drop the more vegetal characteristics when diluted a little bit. It’s a damn fine dram of perhaps the rarest single malt on earth. One cask was produced. There is not another cask of peated malt in the warehouse. It’s a true one-off in every sense, but well worth the price of admission. The yield was a precious few 234 bottles.
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