Whiskey Review: Old Cooch’s Corn Whiskey

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was provided to us as a free sample to review by the party behind it. The Whiskey Wash, while appreciative of this, did keep full independent editorial control over this article.

As we all know, a stave is the individual wood strips that form the sides of a barrel. Painted stave is a prohibition-era ruse, where tickets to see something odd, like a painted stave, would be offered for sale. The ticket would be exchanged for a drink. Painted Stave Distilling out of Delaware carries that tradition forward, from their distillery repurposed from a movie theater, making spirits products with local ingredients.

In this review we are focusing on Old Cooch’s Corn Whiskey from Painted Stave, described by the distillery as being made in “honor of the colonists…[who] enjoyed a dram of whiskey after a hard days work” and that lived in a stretch of land which was “the location of the battle of Cooch’s Bridge, the only Revolutionary War engagement to be fought in Delaware.” This area reportedly also harbored “illicit whiskey production along the creek that fed the Cooch Dayett Mill.”

This is a no frills, hard drinking man’s traditional corn whiskey that is 97% corn and 7% malted barley and 80 proof.  it is an unaged white/clear whiskey.  Below are my tasting notes for it:

• Nose- strong alcohol, corn, fruit
• Palate- corn, barley, heat/pepper
• Finish- roasted corn and sweetness.

Rating- 68 – I found that my preference for this whiskey was greatly enhanced by adding ice and time. This tames the harsh alcohol nose and taste.  If you are in mind for a hard whiskey, which reminds me of moonshine, then this is a drink you should consider.  If you enjoy a good well balanced whiskey, then you may want to reconsider this as a whiskey to sip neatly.