Tasting notes

nose

wildflower honey and lemon verbena, with hay and a green, basil-like herbal note

palate

citrus shortbread and vanilla wafer, a touch of green bell pepper, sweet toasted oak and burnt orange peel

finish

grilled pineapple and caramelized cinnamon, drying to chamomile and a light, sweet smoke

Mash bill

100% malted barley, from three malts: Eerie Pale Ale malt from a New York craft maltster, Golden Promise, and peated Chariot malt. Golden Promise and Chariot come from the UK maltster Thomas Fawcett and are the same malts that go into Kings County's bourbon and rye recipes. Nine of the 25 barrels in this release held whiskey made from the New York malt; the rest came from the Golden Promise and Chariot recipe, which gives the whiskey its light, sweet smoke.

Awards

• Silver — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2019
• Gold — American Craft Spirits Association Craft Spirits Competition 2016
• Silver — ADI Craft Spirits Awards 2019

Why it's craft

This is Kings County's ninth single malt release and the first to carry the American Single Malt name, a category the federal government has now formally defined. The distillery keeps to Scottish practice within it, distilling twice on Scottish-built copper pot stills and aging in used bourbon barrels, its own. One of the three malts is a New York craft malt, a grain few single malts anywhere use. Founded in 2010, Kings County mashes, ferments, distills and ages every whiskey it sells at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.