Spirits for the Season

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to travel to Kentucky and Tennessee, as part of a company trip. In addition to the great distilleries that we visited (documented in earlier BottleBlog posts), we had some time to explore Nashville.

Fans of the American Pickers TV show may know about their retail location in Nashville. We waited in line for about 15 minutes before we could finally get in the store. The store is located in Marathon Village, a former auto manufacturing facility that's been rehabbed into modern stores and offices.

Prior to the trip, I'd done a little research and found a craft distillery located in that very same building. I'd arranged for a tour of Corsair Artisan Distillery, which we took shortly after leaving the Pickers store. Early in the tour, we got to see their Pre-Prohibition still:

Here, Distillery Ambassador Will Atkinson explained how the still survived Prohibition (it was shipped to Canada), and how it had to be modified (the column had to be bent) to accommodate the historical building where it's currently at work.

Craft whiskey is a hot category, and Corsair is one of the hottest distillers, with a broad range of products beyond whiskey. At Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville and Woodbridge, you can find their Gin, Unaged Rye, Triple Smoke Whiskey, and Vanilla Bean Vodka. We were able to sample a number of their products during our visit, including their (pink!) absinthe:

My favorite was the Triple Smoke Whiskey. It does resemble an Islay whisky, with a twist. They use malted barley, but only 1/3 is dried by peat. Another 1/3 is dried with Cherry wood, and the final 1/3 is dried with Beechwood, making this an incredibly complex, uniquely American whiskey. That's me with a bottle of the Triple Smoke, in their barrel room:

At the time of our trip, Corsair's products weren't available in New Jersey. Thankfully, soon after we returned, Corsair signed on with a local distributor, allowing us to share this great discovery with you. Look for the Corsair Artisan Distillery products on our shelves on your next visit.