Athens West End Distillery Malt Whiskey
May 11, 2021
Our first barrel of Malt Whiskey is made from 100% Organic 2-row barley from
Briess Organics. This grist was mashed and lautered then fermented. This ferment
was distilled twice, starting with a wash run with no cuts then the second and final
rectification run with 4 cuts, keeping the 3 rd cut we call the hearts. This white
whiskey was put into two new 30 gallon, #3 char Barrel Mill white oak barrels on
2/29/2016 at 69% abv . We dumped one barrel 4/27/2021 and ended with 21
gallons of 73% spirit. The blend started 4/28/21 using Athens Ohio reverse osmosis
water cutting the whiskey to 45%abv.
We bottled on 5/7/2021 and ended with 167 bottles serial numbered 1-167.
The sister barrel of the same spirit, also in a 30 gallon barrel, will sit another year or
two before we package.
Some of you may notice a bit of “fluff” or a hazy cloud in our barrel aged products.
This Malt Whiskey is no different. This is a product of various phenols, esters, fatty
acids and proteins that develop from the ingredients and process. They are soluble
in alcohol but insoluble in water, so develop when the product is cut to bottling
strength. These provide much of the flavor in all spirits.
Large distilleries cold filter to remove this haze, due to concern that consumers will
find this to be a fault or flaw in the whiskey. In reality many experts believe cold
filtration alters the flavor and mouthfeel of the whiskey and prefer their whiskey to
not be cold filtered.
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