Tasting notes

nose

caramel and crème brûlée, then buttered country bread with apricot and plum jam, vanilla bean, walnut husk and a pinch of cumin

palate

mouth-coating; oak and baking spice give way to dried peach, almond, cane syrup and a sourdough tang

finish

medium; dark rye bread, apricot and caramel with a hint of mocha, fading to baking spice and a bright citrus snap

Mash bill

95% AC Hazlet rye, 5% malted AC Hazlet rye. AC Hazlet is the winter rye Far North treats as its flagship grain, grown on the Swanson farm because it comes through northern Minnesota's winters, and it distills to a vanilla-rich spirit with less of the pepper usual in rye. This recipe was one of the first 95% rye mash bills Far North's distiller created, and the malted share is a custom malt of the same variety.

Why it's craft

Hazlet is the rye Far North built its farm program on, and this bottle shows that one variety alone after four years in full-size barrels, bottled in bond: distilled in one season by one distiller and aged on site. The Swanson family has farmed in the Red River Valley since 1917, and Michael Swanson and Cheri Reese opened the distillery on the farm in 2013, 25 miles from the Canadian border. They grow, mill, ferment, distill and age the whiskey there.