Cut Spike Single Malt American Whiskey Shows How It's Done

Out of Nebraska comes the Cut Spike single malt American whiskey, quietly turning heads of those who have tried it.

Cut Spike Single MaltThe world of American single malt whiskey is one in which distilleries, some often rather obscure, are still emerging with interesting bottlings. One such offering heralds from Nebraska, not exactly a distilling mecca, via the Cut Spike Distillery and its same named single malt that’s now in batch 3.

Cut Spike, located in the Nebraskan city of La Vista, recently announced via social media it was getting ready to release this latest round of its single malt whiskey. The spirit has been on the market in its home state since late 2013, being made from what’s described as “premium grains [malted barley] and limestone-filtered water sourced from the Sandhills of Nebraska.” It is typically aged two years in charred American oak barrels before being bottled at 43% ABV.

In a study of how this whiskey category should be done, Cut Spike is said to do as much as possible by hand, with the distilling process even featuring “two hand-pounded copper pot stills” from Scotland. It is this kind of attention to detail which got the whiskey carried by noted California wine and spirits retail outlet K&L Wines, who said of it that

it’s the kind of whisky that you taste once and enjoy, but then the next day suddenly crave intensely. It impresses you instantly, yet doesn’t really reveal its full character until weeks later.

That’s pretty high kudos from one of the premier spirits retailers in the country. Not stopping there, the Cut Spike single malt netted Double Gold at the 2014 San Francisco Spirits competition and, with regards to whiskey bloggers who have gotten a hold of a sample of it, noted here, here, here and here, all were pretty shocked and blown away a distillery in Nebraska, of all places, could produce such a quality spirit.

So how do you get a hold of a bottle of this whiskey? Unless K&L carries it again when the next batch comes out, I’m not sure. I scored a bottle for myself awhile ago via contacting a liquor store in Nebraska who was willing to ship it to me, but I‘m kinda crazy for craft whiskey in general, so that may not be your choice. Perhaps drop the distillery a line and see if they have suggestions. Personally I hope they find a way to get greater distribution for this quality bottling.

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder of The Whiskey Wash, an award-winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y globally. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert, and judge, he has written extensively about the subject, been interviewed in various media outlets, and provided tasting input on many whiskeys at competitions.

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