Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye

[mgilbertva]

Anyone know anything about this? I stopped at a Virginia ABC to get a bottle of EWSB, and saw this on the shelf for $38. I'm assuming it's a very young, boutique whiskey, but for that much money I'd be leery of trying it without some prior input.

There's a little more info here.

[cowdery]

I tend to regard the complete lack of useful information on their web site as a bad sign. I can't even find a big enough bottle shot to read the label. I did see this at ADI this week and apparently it won something. (I was a judge but haven't seen the results yet.)

[barturtle]

Distilled and Bottled By
Catoctin Creek Distilling Company, LLC
Purcellville, VA
Aged 5 months

label approval on 1-11-2010

40% abv

[mgilbertva]

$38 for a 5 month old whiskey?

[kickert]

$38 for a 5 month old whiskey?

If they are using 5 gallon barrels, then 5 months may be too long.

[barturtle]

$38 for a 5 month old whiskey?

You are paying for a small scale operation. The large scale of most US whiskey distilleries makes for some exceedingly inexpensive products.

[scohar70]

Scott here, from Catoctin Creek. You guys are obviously more of the "in-the-know" crowd, so maybe I can address some of your questions and concerns here in more detail:

Our Roundstone Rye is aged in 30 gallon barrels with extra wood inserted. We only age long enough to get the color and flavor we desire from the spirit. Obviously, we are a new company and we want to get products to market, so the extra wood helps move things along.

The Roundstone Rye is a nice product. It is organic and kosher, made in small batches entirely by hand. It is 100% rye, with no neutral grain spirits added to dilute the spiciness and crispness of the whisky.

Aging is a tricky subject, but at the core, it is about two factors: The quality of the spirit and the surface area of the wood. For starters, the quality of the raw spirit is very good. With our custom Kothe hybrid still, we are able to produce a very smooth raw spirit with a single run through the system. So there are less "rough edges" to be smoothed out by carbon in the barrel as you might have with spirits produced in a traditional alembic still. Then, the extra surface area of the small barrels and extra wood provides more contact with the spirit to speed up the aging.

We make no apologies for the price of our spirits. They are unique, small batch, organic, hand crafted spirits. We cannot compete with the big guys on price, but they cannot compete with us on flavor. If people are interested in cheaper spirits, I'll be happy to personally show them where they can get them on the shelf.

I hope you'll enjoy the whisky. Feel free to stop by anytime for a tour of the distillery, and CHEERS!

[barturtle]

The Roundstone Rye is a nice product. It is organic and kosher, made in small batches entirely by hand. It is 100% rye, with no neutral grain spirits added to dilute the spiciness and crispness of the whisky.

Thanks for contributing your knowledge of your product.

I just thought I'd ask for some clarification on this statement, do you mean it is made with 100% rye grain, or it is 100% rye whiskey, ie. non-blended?

If you simply mean non-blended, would you mind giving us an approximation of what grain percentages your mashbill contains?

[bourbon-n00b]

Scott here, from Catoctin Creek. You guys are obviously more of the "in-the-know" crowd, so maybe I can address some of your questions and concerns here in more detail:

Our Roundstone Rye is aged in 30 gallon barrels with extra wood inserted. We only age long enough to get the color and flavor we desire from the spirit. Obviously, we are a new company and we want to get products to market, so the extra wood helps move things along.

The Roundstone Rye is a nice product. It is organic and kosher, made in small batches entirely by hand. It is 100% rye, with no neutral grain spirits added to dilute the spiciness and crispness of the whisky.

Aging is a tricky subject, but at the core, it is about two factors: The quality of the spirit and the surface area of the wood. For starters, the quality of the raw spirit is very good. With our custom Kothe hybrid still, we are able to produce a very smooth raw spirit with a single run through the system. So there are less "rough edges" to be smoothed out by carbon in the barrel as you might have with spirits produced in a traditional alembic still. Then, the extra surface area of the small barrels and extra wood provides more contact with the spirit to speed up the aging.

We make no apologies for the price of our spirits. They are unique, small batch, organic, hand crafted spirits. We cannot compete with the big guys on price, but they cannot compete with us on flavor. If people are interested in cheaper spirits, I'll be happy to personally show them where they can get them on the shelf.

I hope you'll enjoy the whisky. Feel free to stop by anytime for a tour of the distillery, and CHEERS!

Thank you for the info, but one item not covered that I am curious about is the proof.

I am far from an expert and there are many, many bottlings that I haven't tried, including yours. But, from what limited experience I have had, many 80 proof spirits seem too meek in flavor. Getting at least to 86 and preferably to 90+ leaves a more enjoyable end product, at least as far as I am concerned.

Could you comment on what factors led you to the choice of bottling proof?

[sailor22]

Thanks for posting Scott. Is this product a single malt Rye, like Portrero, or is it a Rye Whiskey (more than 51% Rye)? What extra wood is inserted? Toasted or charred? American White Oak or a different Oak - or is it even Oak for that matter?

Thanks again for taking part.