The world of California craft whiskey grew by two recently as word trickled out Spirit Works Distillery, located just north of San Francisco, had new straight rye and straight whiskies on its hands. These are the first whiskey releases from this distillery, known more up to this point for its line of gins.
Information put out by Spirit Works indicates “the grains for each whiskey are milled, mashed, fermented, and distilled entirely on site at the Distillery in Sonoma County. Each batch is aged for a minimum of two years in 53-gallon, charred, brand new American White Oak barrels [and] then non-chill filtered.”
The Spirit Works Straight Wheat Whiskey is made from 100% Red Winter Wheat, resulting in a spirit, according to official tasting notes, that has “a rich, caramelized-sugar palate rounded out with delicate notes of sweet tea and toasted walnut, finishing with graham crackers and subtle smoke.”
The Spirit Works Straight Rye Whiskey, meanwhile, is described as a high rye affair which offers in its taste make up “notes of bright baked apple, coffee and sweet golden honeycomb with a warm spice finish.”
“We’re absolutely thrilled to launch our first whiskies. Although our primary focus at Spirit Works Distillery is gin, we have been patiently planning to release straight whiskies since the beginning,” said Timo Marshall, Spirit Works co-founder with his wife, head distiller, Ashby Marshall, in a statement. “Both our Straight Wheat and our Straight Rye far exceed our expectations and are so much more complex than we could have hoped for. It’s an amazing experience to own a craft distillery and pour a sample of straight whiskey that your wife distilled.”
Both of these new whiskies from the all-female distilling team are at 90 proof and price for around $65 each.
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