Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

Stranahan's American Single Malt Whiskey

The story of the birth of Stranahan's American Single Malt its birth is highly unusual, a partnership formed like a Phoenix rising from the fire after whiskey connoisseur George Stranahan's barn burned down. Neighbor and volunteer firefighter Jess Graber stuck around after the fire was extinguished discovering as they talked a shared passion for the great Colorado outdoors, and for fine whiskey.

Upon Jess's retirements they brought in Master Distiller Jake Norris, and the three developed a unique recipe, one that combined that love of outdoors and whiskey. They use only Rocky Mountain barley and charcoal filtered water from the snow packed peaks. They designed their own wash. They designed and built their own still. Then they began crafting. The first ever micro distillery to be granted a licence to distill whiskey in Denver, Colorado.

Stranrahan's is aged in heavily charred American Oak barrels which are stored in a temperature and humidity controlled warehouse where, alongside natural high and low pressure systems, the controlled environment ensures the contents are forced regularly in and out of the pores of the oak developing unparalleled smoothness and incredibly complex flavors.

The choicest barrels are hand picked and combined, then further reduced, creating a small batch non-chill filtered whiskey that retains every available molecule of flavor.

Retaining the ethos of the Jess's volunteering, hand-bottling and labelling at Stanahan's is carried out by volunteers who, over two 5 hour shifts, produce just 5,000 bottles every 2nd or 3rd week. Each bottle's label hand-written with the batch number, the distilling date that the youngest combined cask and a comment.

The inferno copper-mahogany color of the liquid grips the sides of the glass. A whiskey that is perfect for sipping neat, a few splashes of water or rocks will douse the alcohol flames while opening up the nose and flavor compounds which hit you with intensity. First, a generous hit of vanilla and wood-yard oak, the sweet malty grains and tree-picked fruit backed up by intense spices and hints of charred wood smoke. Full-bodied and viscous, the warmth of alcohol and bold characteristics are present in the mouth. Oak, wood-spice and vanilla, orange peel, sweet honey, and malty grains. At the finish, the sweetness is replaced by a dryness with the wood-smoke coming to the fore.

TASTING NOTES

Color: Burnt amber
Nose: Caramel-butterscotch, vanilla, maple syrup, leather
Palate: Cinnamon-butter, vanilla, chocolate, warm caramel & spiced pear. Flows over the tongue like table cream & melted brown sugar
Finish: Light fruitiness and strong oak presence with rich tobacco and aged leather

Aged for up to five years, this whiskey earned the Liquid Gold Award from Jim Murray's Whisky Bible in 2014.

"96 Points. Liquid Gold. Absolutely magnificent." — The Whisky Bible

"92 Points.
What sets this whiskey apart is the remarkable deep cocoa and pronounced coffee finish and velvety, creamy mouthfeel, reminiscent of ice cream and root beer foam."
— Wine Enthusiast