Steven Grasse and Tamworth Distilling, the makers behind the eclectic Deerslayer Whiskey and Eau De Musc, recently unveiled a roasted turkey-flavored whiskey, “Bird Of Courage.”
This new, limited-edition whiskey started life from a barrel of five-year-old Bottled in Bond Whiskey (12% rye, 81% corn, 7% malt) and was steeped with a quintessential New England Thanksgiving dinner.
Distiller Matt Power said they used ingredients that would’ve been present at the first thanksgiving 400 years or so ago, such as flint corn (in which he used to make hand-ground corn bread). There’s even locally sourced chestnuts, a rarity, along with apples and cranberries sourced from Sugar Hill farm in Maine.
In the mash, you’ll find kabocha squash from A New Day Farm in Conway, NH. Celery, flint corn, and parsley made its way into the bottle from Mountain Heartbeet Veggies in Effingham, NH. Meanwhile, fresh sage was plucked from Tamworth Distilling’s backyard garden.
Sweet potatoes and stuffing may not be original to Thanksgiving, but they were still added to the mash. And the turkeys? They were sourced from a turkey farmer right just across the river from Tamworth, at Behr Farm.
“All the ingredients were cooked uniquely and infused into the bourbon before being distilled individually on our vacuum evaporator,” Power said in a prepared statement. “The essence of the production strategy was to process every ingredient in the manner that they would be prepped for a real Thanksgiving dinner.”
He said that the turkey was basted while roasting, the corn bread was baked until just right, and the stuffing recipe he used tasted just like his mom’s. “Everything was distilled fresh from the oven so we could capture the true essence of Thanksgiving.”
All this work resulted in what’s said by the brand to be festive fall flavors brought to the complex nuances of their 5 Year Aged Bourbon.
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Power said in official tasting notes the sweet essence of roasted sweet potato and squash combines with the buttery heart of fresh-baked flint corn bread to fortify this whiskey’s deep oaky spirit. A mid-palate of sweet, New England apples and herbaceous herbs support the aromas of several freshly roasted turkeys.
The name of the whiskey, “Bird of Courage,” comes from Ben Franklin.
“Franklin argued that the turkey would have been a more appropriate national symbol than the eagle,” said Steven Grasse, historian and Tamworth Distilling founder. “Franklin was quoted as saying the turkey was a much more respectable bird and a true native of America, first dubbing the turkey as a ‘bird of courage’ that ‘would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on’. Unfortunately, congress was not convinced, however, and the eagle persisted as our national symbol.”
Bottled at 92 proof, Bird of Courage prices around $65 and is available for national distribution through www.seelbachs.com and in limited quantities from Tamworth Distilling in New Hampshire and at Philadelphia’s Art in the Age.
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