Beverage of the Week (B.O.W)

At a time when new brands are nearly tripping over themselves in their quest for homogeny, truly unique products of substance stand out. (At least they do at BevX!)

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey was born out of the most unlikely of circumstances. Stranahan’s principal owner, Jess Graber, was a volunteer fireman in his rural Colorado community. In 1998 Jess and his fellow firefighters answered the call to tackle a fire at a neighbor's barn. When the flames were extinguished, Jess met the property owner, George Stranahan, majority owner of Denver’s Flying Dog Brewery. They experimented by distilling various Flying Dog Beers looking to identify which style and what combination of malts created the best tasting Spirit. The test phase went on for more than three years until they discovered the recipe that is now Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey (SCW).

SCW is the real deal. While many craft distillers utilize purchased neutral grain spirits, SCW is a true craft beverage as they control the entire process from grain to bottle. The results speak for themselves. The SCW is a high quality Spirit with unique flavors. They could call their Whiskey a "Single Malt" as it is made at one distillery utilizing only malted barley. Graber chooses not to put the single malt moniker on his label feeling that it may led some consumers to expect his Whiskey to taste like the Scottish versions.

The all-malt Spirit is distilled twice before being laid to rest in American white oak barrels that have been heavily charred (just like the Bourbon producers). The resulting Whiskey is rich and complex having characteristics found in both single malt and Bourbon. The brand has been going strong for more than six years and is available in most US states.