Defiance Whiskey Strides Defiantly Into The High Rye Bourbon World

Another day brings word of another sourced whiskey for the consideration of American drinkers. Whereas the last one we wrote about though is pricing around $90 a bottle, the recently released Defiance Whiskey out of St. Louis, Missouri, drops in at a much more reasonable under $30 for a high rye bourbon that’s already netted some decent medals at national spirits competitions.

The new Defiance Whiskey, according to Feast Magazine, was distilled at “Midwest Grain Products in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.” (yes, that MGP) It was then barrel aged in “big Missouri white oak barrels” before being finished in small batches at 90 proof.

Those behind it, Defiant Spirits, take great pride in the whiskey they’ve bottled. Founder Daniel Fort and his father Garth Fort are said to have given the bourbon the name Defiance as (1) a tribute to Daniel Fort’s great aunt, Cornelia, a World War II female pilot who was the first of her kind in American history to die on active duty and (2) because they wanted it to “represent a defiant attitude and passion.”

“We don’t want to be just another Southern-branded, traditional whiskey,” Daniel Fort said in a statement.

While it is unclear at this point how this whiskey will do in the long run in a crowded field of similar products it has, for the time being, distinguished itself by netting some awards by spirits judges. This includes a bronze medal in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a silver one at the American Craft Spirits Association event in Austin, Texas.