Maryland’s McClintock Distilling recently added a bottled-in-bond whiskey to its portfolio.
To be considered bottled-in-bond, a spirit has to be the product of a single distillery, made by one distiller, in a single distillation season. It also has to be aged in a federally-bonded warehouse for at least four years, and be bottled at 100 proof (50% alcohol by volume).
McClintock Distilling has considered this standard practice since their founding, and their newest expression, Husker, was crafted to be a historically-inspired bourbon.
A statement from McClintock notes that when co-owners Braeden Bumpers and Tyler Hegamyer tasted this batch at the two-year mark, they realized they had something special, and decided to make it their bottled-in-bond debut.
“Because we’re a micro distillery, we can discover and identify small variations in each batch that can become something beautiful and unique in the bottle,” Bumpers said. “And when we find that special stuff, we like to highlight it.”
They said attention to detail during the whiskey-making process allows them to catch lightning-in-a-bottle moments like Husker, as well as produce high-quality whiskeys, gin, vodka, and cordials that use organic, non-GMO ingredients from family-owned, local farms.
The McClintock team explained that before Prohibition, quality whiskey was hard to come by, particularly in Maryland.
The state has a nuanced history between distillers and rectifiers, secondary parties who would purchase spirits from distillers and cut it with their own ingredients, such as fruit juice, turpentine, formaldehyde, or other undesirable liquids.
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Because of this tampering, the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was passed as the first federal consumer protection act in the U.S. to provide a standard for quality, authentic whiskey. Before there was the FDA or USDA, there was bottled-in-bond.
McClintock’s Husker showcases Maryland heritage through its ingredients.
“If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it authentically,” Bumpers said. “We put together a historically-accurate mash bill for a malted barley finished bourbon.”
McClintock works directly with local farmers to grow the corn, rye, and wheat, and every step of the process is done at the distillery: milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, and bottling.
To create Husker’s profile, the McClintock team combined old-world ingredients with new technology and put them into one bottle, selecting the best of both worlds.
Husker’s mash bill is 51% yellow king corn (an heirloom variety local to Maryland), 40% red fife wheat, and 9% chocolate-malted barley and rye.
Bumpers explained that it was likely historically common for Maryland whiskeys to have a multi-ingredient mash bill. By using local grains and malting the barley with cacao nibs rather than the typical peat or wood, Husker honors past Maryland traditions while showcasing new styles and flavors of distilling.
Husker gets its name from the distillery’s namesake, McClintock Young. Young was an inventor in Maryland’s Frederick County in the mid-1800s, and one of his hundreds of inventions was the automatic cornhusker.
“It’s special to be part of bringing back a lot of that distilling history, and being the first to do it, along with honoring the work of a relatively unknown, but influential, member of Frederick County’s history,” Bumpers said.
McClintock is set to release Husker to the public at noon on Saturday, March 4th. In addition to purchasing the new release, guests can sample the full McClintock lineup, tour the distillery, and have cocktails at their speakeasy-style Back Bar next door.
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