As we recently reported, American single malt is finally a legally defined category in the U.S., something that many distilleries have been hoping would happen for years. One of those is Cedar Ridge Distillery in Swisher, Iowa, a member of the American Single Malt Commission and a major champion of the cause. Cedar Ridge produces both whiskey and wine, and those two worlds have come together beautifully in a new American single malt that was aged in barrels previously used to mature different types of wine.
Cedar Ridge’s core American single malt whiskey, the QuintEssential, is initially aged in ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in a variety of cask types including rum, sherry, rye, and in-house produced wine and port. According to master blender Murphy Quint (the namesake of this release), the QuintEssential: Wine Club, First Meeting is a tribute to Cedar Ridge’s winemaking roots. “While past expressions have included a foundation of either new American oak or French oak, this release exclusively features wine-finishing casks: amontillado sherry, tokaji, moscatel, and Pinot Noir,” he said in a statement. “Each cask is complex in its own right, and I enjoyed the challenge of blending those complex flavors.”
The whiskey starts out like the core expression, distilled from two-row pale malted barley and aged in Cedar Ridge’s own ex-bourbon barrels for three to five years. It’s then finished in three different types of barrels—first-fill amontillado sherry, tokaji (a sweet Hungarian wine), and moscatel (a sweet fortified wine). The whiskey is also blended with a peated malt that was finished in a Pinot Noir wine cask to add a touch of smoke.
“Blending finishing casks to achieve the desired result is as much an art as a science, and like any creation, it often takes time to develop the full picture,” said Quint. “This release truly tested my patience, but the extra time and care were well worth it. I’m thrilled with the final result and can’t wait to share this expression.”
The QuintEssential: Wine Club, First Meeting was bottled at a high 118.1 proof, but the whiskey doesn’t sip overly hot. This is a fruity single malt with rich notes of dark and milk chocolate, and the various wine cask finishes have certainly had a big impact on the flavor. That being said, it has not lost its intrinsic single malt profile, so expect big notes of vanilla, spice, stone fruit, a dash of citrus, and a subtle hint of smoke on the palate as well. You can find purchase a bottle (SRP $100) directly from the distillery’s website, and other expressions are available from websites like ReserveBar now.
