Catoctin Creek Distillery

a couple of weeks ago, i went with a group of friends to the

catoctin creek distillery

"organic spirits from loudoun county, va"

so, now you can get drunk but drink local and organic!

we went because these two decided to get married

lilypea and lil'p want to have fun at their wedding

and they want to be easy on the environment

so they decided to get everything locally

including booze, cigars, a pig for roasting, and all the fixins

(perfect public health wedding feast right?)

they asked a group of their friends if we'd like to check the place out and grab lunch

i now know way more than i should about how to make wiskey

catoctin creek was placed on the map this year by winning a silver medal

it is amazing because they won during their first year of business.

scott and becky decided they were going to chase their dream.

becky is a chemical engineer

scott is a software guy (defense & other gov't contracts)

they both wanted something new

so they invested in some spendy german distilling stuff and started making booze

there is scott teaching us about how whiskey is made

turns out you start by making beer

that thing holds 400 gallons

they make a 400 gallon batch of beer of beer

(he jokes to his brewer friends that they are only doing a 1/3 of the work)

and then at night they add 40 lbs of rye

and then all the yeast and live cultures eat on it

it becomes glue-like and then turns into a porridge

(that apparently doesn't taste very good, but is full of fiber . . . if you need that)

then they put it in these big bins and let the yeast work its magic,

but they get rid of the porridge stuff

(they feed that to their neighbor's cows)

this (the thing i'm looking in) is the distiller

apparently as the stuff heats up 3 different substances separate out

the head (bad and lethal), heart (what ends up being bottled and drunk), and foot (also bad)

he explained that they decided to go with organic because you could smell and taste the pesticides in the head and foot so powerfully it made you want to gag

he said the head smelled like perto-chemicals

and the foot smelled like rotten fish

now the head is this high octane substance that is 90 proof alcohol

they take it and use it to clean all of their stuff

this is part of what makes their distillery organic

they make their own organic cleanser.

and because the foot is so much cleaner now, they use it in compost.

interesting fun fact

catoctin creek is the first distillery in loudoun county since prohibition

this is becky

she is the real "chef" of the distillery

she comes up with the recipes etc

she is the one who quit her job to do this full time

scott still has his day job

because they are a small distillery they control everything by smell and taste

the big distilleries will include more head and foot in the stuff they bottle

but becky and scott decided early on that the most important thing would be quality

so they err on including too much heart in the head and foot

rather than including the bad stuff in the bottles.

in scotland, the distillers aren't allowed to taste or smell the stuff as it is distilling.

some government agent has the key that unlocks the part of the distiller that controls the process

they have to make all of their decisions based on temperature

becky thinks this really limits their ability to make good tasting stuff.

that 400 gallons ends up being 40 gallons.

so the level of concentration of the bad stuff is quite high

if you leave it in, that is

this is how/where the stuff gets put in bottles

they will pay you with pizza and experience if you spend a saturday bottling with them

and they let you sign the bottle

this is whiskey made exactly the same way,

but before they were certified organic,

so they can't sell it as organic

apparently the inspectors who check on their organicness give them a heads up

but the rabbis determine if the drink is kosher will stop by any time

an interesting fact about whiskey v. scotch etc

after prohibition the lumber lobby convinced congress to make a law that

american whiskey could only be made in brand new oak barrels

this meant that distillers had to make lots of barrels

and also created an interesting market of oak barrels from the US to scotland

scotch ages so much longer because it takes at least twice as long to get the oak out.

the whiskey catoctin won for is a "mosby" which means it hasn't been sitting in oak

the only difference between the mosby and the regular is the oak barrel.

the brown of whiskey comes from oak.

catoctin's whiskey only sits for about 45 days.

that is enough to change the color and give it the carmel (oak) taste

apparently about 10 gallons (or was it pounds) of whiskey is absorbed into the wood

this made lil' p think that beer should be made in those barrels . . .

after learning about how whiskey was made

we went to lunch at magnolias at the mill

it was DELICIOUS

and the space was really cool!!

if you are in purceville you definitely get a snack here

it was super fun and educational

if you are a whiskey drinker, check this stuff out.

if you can't get it in your area you can order online at schneiders of capitol hill

they can ship it to you.

i have to hand it to scott and becky,

they took some serious risks

(like spending their entire retirement on the distillery)

and they are starting a cool movement of organic spirits and small distilleries

apparently the big distilleries have had quite a hold on the laws of making

spirits since prohibition.

in fact, becky and scott couldn't even experiment before they made their first legal batch

no matter the amount, making a distilled spirit for your own (or anyone else's) consumption

is a federal crime

can you say

MONOPOLY??!

seriously, it is crazy how the big companies in america control so much.