Tasting notes

nose

Vanilla and caramel over warm cornbread dough, with clove, cardamom, a green-apple edge and peppery rye spice

palate

Popcorn and toasted grain up front, then heavy char softened by butterscotch, cinnamon and nutmeg, a flick of citrus and a faint note of dark chocolate

finish

Medium-long, holding oak, black pepper and vanilla with a light cocoa touch and a hint of berry, drying toward baking spice and tobacco as it fades

Mash bill

68% corn, 16% rye, 16% malted barley. All of the grain is grown on land the distillery owns or leases in Virginia and is milled fresh each day. The rye share gives the whiskey its spicy, peppery lift on the nose. The recipe was developed with guidance from the late master distiller Dave Pickerell.

Why it's craft

This is Ragged Branch's flagship recipe, worked out with the late Dave Pickerell and made from grain grown on land the distillery owns or leases. The founders who started the distillery in 2014 still own and run it, and they mill, mash, ferment, distill, age and bottle everything themselves on a Virginia farm. Spent mash from each run goes to feed the farm's cattle.