Whiskey - Release II (C.A law prohibits shipping spirits within C.A)

 
CHARBAY Whiskey Release II (120 Cases)
The in-depth notes that whiskey aficionados will appreciate for this must-have whiskey

 PDF Version


·        A lifetime collector’s series - In 1999, Miles and Marko distilled 20,000 gallons of great Pilsner to create just 24 barrels of Whiskey. These barrels will be watched (and certainly tasted) over many years – they are an art endeavor, not an on-going production. Release I of the series was just 3 years old when it was bottled at cask-strength (124.9 proof) & it was unheard of to taste a whiskey as smooth as a fine 15-year-old (80 proof) ones.

·        A Break-through in Whiskey History - Little-known fact: Whiskey IS distilled beer! In this case, 12^th & 13^th Generation Distillers started with a great bottle-ready Pilsner from a Northern CA micro-brewery instead of “low wash,” one of many terms for the watery, fermented grain base (technically “beer”) normally considered just the raw material for distilling.

·        Ultra-premium Ingredients - European Two-Row Barley, grown & malted in British Columbia, which has much more concentrated flavors than the more mainstream 6-row barley, was first made by professional brewers into bottle-ready beer. Choice hops were added just before distillation – to add the floral & spice notes Marko envisioned in his mind. No peat was used during malting – our brewers, as well as Marko & Miles, the distillers, prefer to focus on the pure grain & hops flavors.

·       Classical 7-Fraction Pot Still Distillation: The Art Where “the Men Get Separated from the Boys” 99% of whiskey today is made in column stills at the expense of quality and, ultimately, taste. Why? It’s consistent, yields the highest volume of whiskey, and, best of all, can be run on auto-pilot to create the millions of gallons that are consumed each year.

Miles & Marko use a classical Alambic Charentais Pot Still – no automation. Period. They separate (“cut”) the batch into 7 sections to find the ultimate “heart” of the distillation - an art passed down, not taught in any university. From 20,000 gallons of Pilsner, just 1,000 gallons of Whiskey results.
 
It took 3 ½ WEEKS (24/7) to distill. As you see, this is not commercially viable – it’s fine art.

·       Our Barrel-Aging Philosophy  - Miles & Marko used custom-made new American oak barrels (Missouri & Pennsylvania), charred to  #3 Gator Skin. They purposely age the barrels of Whiskey at variable temperatures to create added flavor complexities. Six years later, five barrels were selected for their profiles and transferred to stainless steel to age (yes) for another 3 years. (Want to talk molecular? Call Miles.)

 ·        Cut with water that makes Fiji jealous – Ultra-soft…only 3 ppm (parts per million) dissolved solids remain in the water when Miles & Marko slide it into the whiskey. (Fiji water has 210 pppm)

·       Angel’s Share - the amount of whiskey that evaporates while barrel-aging is between 3-4% per year. That amounts to TWO GALLONS lost per year out of each 55-gallon barrel.

·       Hand-produced entirely in-house by a legendary artisan family – from the label design, to the distillation, bottling, labeling, wax dipping, and “coining.”

Truly an exceptional story in a bottle.

State law does not permit us to ship directly to CA residents. Please call 707-963-9327 or email jenni@charbay.com so we can find the store closest to you