Chattanooga Distillery founder Tim Piersant is back for his 12th year in a row with a new release in the brand’s Anniversary Blend series. This time around, the experimental Tennessee-based whiskey maker is taking a slightly different approach.
Chattanooga’s Anniversary Blend releases have been defined by their intricate three-part blends of different recipes, sometimes sourced from other distillers. This year, Chattanooga is taking an “eras” approach to the bottling, incorporating recipes from its past, present and future (“future,” in this case, represented by infinity solera barrels).
Most popular within the sherry wine world, solera barrels are a system within which alcohols are cycled between different casks. The final product can balance a variety of age statements and wood types while still maintaining consistency.
For its latest release, Chattanooga has envisioned the future with a blend of malt and rye malt whiskeys aged between three and seven years. The present is represented by the brand’s flagship Barrel 91 expression, while the past is symbolized by its founding recipe, known as 1816.
The exact breakdown is made up of:
- 1816 (12%): “Past”: 1816 is the smallest of the three solera barrels and holds Chattanooga’s original founding recipe, which was originally launched in 2012.
- Barrel 91 (60%): “Present”: The largest of the three solera barrels is filled with Chattanooga Whiskey’s signature Tennessee High Malt recipe, “Barrel 91.” According to the brand, this recipe was “developed over two years of experimentation and is built on a foundation of three specialty roasted and toasted malted grains.”
- Infinity Barrel (28%): “Future”: The Infinity Solera barrel is filled with a blend of malt and rye malt whiskeys from Chattanooga’s Experimental and Riverfront Distilleries. This blend is aged between three and seven years.
Piersant made waves in 2011 when he challenged the laws and won the right to distill whiskey in Chattanooga for the first time since Prohibition. Four years later, he founded the eponymous Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Distillery. Located in the heart of downtown, the distiller has taken a varied approach to its craft, reinterpreting everything from limoncello to aquavit with a signature rye malt flair.
The brand’s Founder’s release will begin rolling out on April 26 at a suggested retail price of $59.99. Bottled at 50% ABV, it is said to boast notes of blackberry cobbler, candied ginger, cream soda, red velvet cake and oatmeal raisin cookie.
The post Chattanooga Whiskey Combines Past, Present and ‘Future’ Recipes into Experimental 12th Anniversary Blend first appeared on Bottle Raiders.“Tasted on their own, the whiskey from each solera barrel is wildly different from the other,” said Grant McCracken, founding distiller and CPO. “From the traditional essence of ‘1816,’ to the high-malt heritage of ’91,’ to the expressive and ever-changing ‘Infinity,’ each barrel not only showcases the range of styles inherent to whiskey making, but also provides a range of options for blending.”