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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey


Since man can not live by beer alone, Lyke2Drink took some time out on Saturday from drinking beer to visit Colorado's only whiskey distillery, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey in Denver. Head Distiller Jake Norris gave us a tour of the microdistillery and the racking room, including samples of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey and a yet to be bottled whiskey that is being conditioned in a barrel that had previously held Cabernet Franc from Colorado's Creekside Cellars winery.

Stranahan's made its first whiskey in 2004 and has just bottled its first product. The company has avoided the temptation to make other spirits that require less time to make and little or no aging. "We did not want to diffuse our focus. I don't want to make vodka, I want to make whiskey," Norris says. The company uses a unique column pot still built just for their distillery by Vendome Copper in Kentucky. Scotch distillers use pot stills, while many American whiskey makers use column stills.

Stranahan's majority owner is Jess Graber, while Norris and George Stranahan are minority owners in the project. Stranahan, who is the majority owner of the Flying Dog Brewpub next door, had his name used for the brand, Norris said, "because it sounded the best."

Stranahan's gets 3,000 gallons of wash weekly piped in directly from Flying Dog. The wash is distilled down to 450 gallons of new spirit, which is then run through a second column pot still to produce 250 gallons of 140 proof raw whiskey.

Stranahan's has a unique racking room that is humidified to protect the barrels from the dry conditions of the high plains desert. Norris said that without this step, the angel's share of whiskey lost to evaporation would be 10 percent annually versus the 4 percent most distillers experience in other climates. The constant heat and temperature in the rack room also influences the aging cycle of the whiskey. Norris estimates that two years under these conditions are equal to about four years at other distilleries. Stranahan's used heavily charred new American oak barrels to age its whiskey. The two year old Stranahan's that we tried did indeed drink like an older whiskey, with a sweet edge.

Jess Graber says the distillery has a patent pending on its whiskey making process. In addition to what the company does in the racking room, the mile high altitude and large swings in barometric pressure forces the whiskey in and out of the wood. He said many microdistillers have opted to make vodka, rum and brandy because it creates a quicker cash flow and easier to produce than whiskey. "We decided that Colorado needed a whiskey," Graber says.

Stranahan's sells for $54.95 per bottle. Right now the company is concentrating on building distribution in Colorado, but Graber said "it might make sense" when asked if his company might co-locate again with Flying Dog at the brewery they recently purchased in Maryland.

5 comments:

FixieDave said...

Thanks for the props!

Barleyvine said...

I was able to take a tour of Stranahans Colorado Whiskey last year, before it was released to the public. We had gone next door for a tour and tasting at the Flying dog, and ended up going to the distillery. Great experience and great guys over there for sure. The quality whiskey as well.

Anonymous said...

I just got a taste of this whiskey and let me tell you, it's very unique. It's got a very smooth character and sweet, fruity, and spicy aftertaste. Most excellent! A new favorite indeed!

Anonymous said...

I am drinking Colorado's greatest right now. I am quite impressed. Very smooth yet very bouncy with fruit and wet wood all over. Very pricey but your supporting an upstart. Highly recommend!

Anonymous said...

Stranahan's is my favorite whiskey, hands down. It matters what batch you get, but so far, they are a exquisite. I highly recommend this to anyone who really TASTES their whiskey.

My personal notes on batch XX (I won't tell you which because when it's sold out, it's gone forever):


Stranahan's, batch XX

Color: In the bottle, reddish brown, almost the color of a beer bottle; in the glass, reddish amber, iridescent.

Nose, neat: Roasted grain; citrus; spirit. Horses? Benefits greatly from a little time to open up, say 10 minutes.

Nose diluted: vanilla ice cream; faintest toasted coconut/hazelnut; orange candies; something ever so slightly feinty lurks in the background; wet leather in a cardboard box?

Palate, neat: Drier than diluted, malt, wood. No sting--amazing for a dram at 47%. Cognac. Caramelized grapes.

Palate, diluted: Sweet, then instant touch of wood; dry without making your tongue furry. Wood fades quickly, sweetness returns complex and inscrutable. Warm, inviting. Sweet without being cloying. Not a touch of sting or bite. Despite being unpeated, there is some touch of a peat-like dryness.

Finish neat: longer and stronger if you aren't greedy with your sips.

Finish diluted: Long slowly fading, complicated and enjoyable. Not a simple fade; waxes and wanes, sweet then woody, then sweet again. If your palate is clean at the start, finish is very long, leaving new flavors to ponder easily ten minutes out.

Charlie Davis, no business or personal connection to Stranahan's