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Appalachian Brooklyn— Crazy-good American Whiskey From One of the Most Creative Distillers in the US
As a young tyro growing up in East Kentucky, Colin Spoelman would visit his local bootlegger on Pine Mountain (pretty much what you had to do if you wanted to have a good time in the dry county of Harlan). These clandestine, illegal, night-time bottle runs led Spoelman to a passion for Whiskey and distilling, and it wasn’t long before he was trying his hand at producing his own moonshine.
Spoelman’s obsession with moonshining continued through college, where he joined forces with his Yale roommate David Haskell, and the pair have been making Whiskey together ever since. In 2010 Spoelman and Haskell made it official by founding New York City’s first distillery since Prohibition, housed in the 117-year-old Paymaster Building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Now a decade in, Kings County has established itself as one of the most creative and uncompromising distilleries in the country; expanding the boundaries of what an American Whiskey distillery can aspire to be while scooping up a string of awards and critical successes along the way.
Feeling that something vital had been lost from the post-prohibition conglomeration of the American Whiskey scene, Spoelman’s melting-pot approach draws from a wide range of old-school traditions—from the illicit bootleggers of Kentucky to the best Bourbon, Irish and Scotch Whisky distillers.
Like all stories that result in the highest quality, this one has many small steps that reflect both raw passion and deep knowledge of craft and history.
Generally eschewing flavour grains (such as wheat or rye) Kings County’s unusual mash bill comes from two single sources—New York State organic corn and UK malted barley. Kings County open-ferment and then use a pot still to take a cleaner, more textural and flavourful distillate; unlike most Bourbon new make, which is distilled in a column. In their quality-over-yield approach, the distillers take only very narrow cuts, whereby only a tiny proportion of spirit from the very heart of the distillation is selected. Another positive eccentricity here is a focus on small-format barrels. Kings County does work with Bourbon’s traditional 53-gallon barrel, but much of the inventory is matured in 10, 15 and 30-gallon barrels. This size not only allows for experimentation but also brings lovely Christmas spice, resin and chocolatey depth alongside the traditional fruity, caramel and vanilla notes.
The Kings County process yields some of the purest, and most flavoursome Whiskey on the market. In the sometimes-opaque world of American Whiskey, where knowing who distilled it—or even where it was made—is considered a bonus, Kings County places transparency and the craft of distilling at the heart of its story. So, while these Whiskeys are not inexpensive, they are not made to be. Instead, these are reference-quality American Whiskeys where quality shines through in every sip.
So, it’s a hybrid Whiskey of the two traditions, flavourful and robust from having aged at least two years in new barrels, with a lightly smoky finish reminiscent of a Scottish Single Malt. While it’s superb sipping on its own, it also makes a killer Old Fashioned or smoky Manhattan (with apologies to the Rye purists).
The nose offers spicy, cedar, fresh oak and roasted malt notes. Very fine but also complex, there is also the suggestion of pecan, fresh corn and cherry. The palate is spicy and fine; there's real depth of malt and fruitcake flavours shot through with higher notes of citrus, vanilla bean, cinnamon and other autumnal spices. The texture is very smooth, a spirit of the quality we normally associate with top-notch Cognac. The finish is lingering and perfumed.
While blended Bourbon is most often stretched with neutral spirit, Kings County’s riff is more of a reflection of the art of what the blenders can do with the distillery’s full breadth of mature inventory. “This isn’t the kind of Blended Bourbon our parents might have drunk,” smiles distiller Colin Spoelman. Smoothness is joined by flavours of honey and caramel, citrus-tinged vanilla and satisfying rye spiciness. Clad in a new blue label—which differentiates the spirit from Kings County’s established Bourbon, Rye, and Single Malt Whiskeys—it’s a delicious and versatile Whiskey, and one that is set to reinvigorate the US blended category.
Pulled from a single distilling season, this is a complex rye, with glowing notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, maple, mint and cut grass with a finish of warm bread and holiday spice. Put simply, it’s a far more potent, pure and flavourful rye than the commercial norm.
Country
USA
Primary Region
Brooklyn, New York
Availability
National
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