Tasting notes

nose

barley grist and baked pear with green apple, peanut, caramel cream, vanilla and a dusting of oak

palate

orange, ginger and white peach over mocha and waffle cone, with a touch of worn leather

finish

caramel, vanilla and butterscotch with a savory, miso-like edge and cracked black pepper

Mash bill

100% two-row malted barley. The barley is grown within about 60 miles of the distillery and malted at Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, so the grain never leaves western North Carolina. Oak & Grist brews and ferments that malt itself before distilling it.

Awards

• Gold Medal — Beverage Testing Institute 2023

Why it's craft

Origin is made from barley grown within about 60 miles of Black Mountain and malted at Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, then brewed, fermented, distilled and aged by Oak & Grist itself, one of the few 100% grain-to-glass distilleries in North Carolina. It ages in used bourbon barrels rather than new oak. Oak & Grist was founded in 2015 to make a single malt rooted in the region, guided by the Scottish career of its mentor, Edwin Dodson.