Tasting notes

nose

Sweet corn, brown sugar and dark molasses, lifted by spearmint and wintergreen over toasted oak and baking spice

palate

Soft and oily, led by blue corn sweetness, burnt-sugar custard and a gentle walnut nuttiness

finish

Short and clean, with sweet corn and a thread of mint hanging on briefly before it fades to a faint toasted nuttiness

Mash bill

100% blue corn. The corn is Hopi blue, an heirloom variety Wood Hat grows and breeds itself instead of buying commodity yellow dent. Founder Gary Hinegardner chose blue corn because people have eaten it for thousands of years, and the distillery credits it with this whiskey's soft, rounded mouthfeel.

Awards

• Best Corn Whiskey — American Craft Spirits Association 2015

Why it's craft

This is the whiskey Wood Hat began with, made entirely from blue corn the distillery grows and selects for flavor. Founder Gary Hinegardner opened Wood Hat in New Florence in 2014 and still owns it; the still is fired with scrap wood from a nearby stave mill, and the distillery breeds its own corn lines.