Local distillers won serious hardware Wednesday night at the American Distilling Institute and the American Craft Spirits Association’s respective annual award shows. Both of these organizations specifically shine spotlights on the smaller artisan distilleries in America, so they weren’t competing against the big boys. That doesn’t make the recognition less significant though, as these craft distilleries operate with fewer resources and make fantastic spirits on much smaller equipment.
With most spirits competitions, the marquee categories are usually the brown liquors, specifically whiskeys. At the ADI awards, not only did three Middle Tennessee distilleries show up and show out, but they actually swept the prestigious Best of Category awards in bourbon and rye whiskeys! Even more impressive, Pennington Distilling Co. was awarded with Best in Class among all whiskeys (bourbon, rye, malt, etc.) for their Davidson Reserve Four Grain Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey, one of their flagship products made with corn, rye, wheat and barley. Pennington also earned a silver medal for their Davidson Reserve Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey and bronzes for their Single Barrel version of that Tennessee Whiskey and their two vodkas, Pickers and Walton’s.
The American Distilling Institute separates entries into those that are created by the actual distillery as opposed to sourced products that are purchased and then aged, finished and blended by the entrant. This is a nice distinction that recognizes that a lot of what makes a spirit great can indeed happen separately from the chemical reaction that takes place at the beginning of its life, but distilleries that take the product all the way from grain to bottle deserve different consideration.
Nearest Green Distillery will soon be able to release whiskey made in its brand-new distillery, which is under construction in Shelbyville, but until then they have been sourcing the juice for their selection of Uncle Nearest releases. This is no small accomplishment, as they have been choosing some fantastic whiskeys and taking great care of them until they’re ready for release. As proof, their Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey won Best of Class among all whiskeys in the non-distilling producer division. It was also named Best Tennessee Whiskey and their 1884 Premium Small Batch and Master Blend Edition were both awarded silver medals. Well done!
Rye whiskey probably doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves, but the sticky grain is notoriously difficult to work with in the mash cooker. That’s why so many distilleries source their base rye spirit from a huge industrial distillery in Indiana. Corsair Distillery has earned a vaunted reputation for their ryes through the years, and their experimentation with novel malted grains has contributed to some amazing products from Corsair. Their Dark Rye is made using malted rye and malted chocolate rye plus malted barley, and the panel of distinguished judges selected it as the Best in Category of all the ryes entered. Corsair also won a silver medal for their Barreled Gin, a delightful product made in their Nashville pot stills and then finished in some of their used rum casks to add beautiful vanilla and spice notes to the final product. It’s a personal favorite of mine, can you tell?
Pennington also cleaned up at the American Craft Spirits Association Awards announced earlier this week, winning a gold medal for their Davidson Reserve Single Barrel Straight Tennessee Whiskey and eight silvers for their other whiskeys and Walton’s Vodka. Add in a bronze for Pickers, and that makes one ring for each finger at the ACSAs for Jeff Pennington and his crew. If that doesn’t seem as impressive as their haul at the ADI Awards, well, I’ve actually judged for the ACSAs once, and they are notorious hard-asses when it comes to handing out gold medals. For example, in the entire categories of brandy, gin, ready-to-drink, rum, vodka and grain and specialty spirits combined, they awarded exactly two golds out of hundreds of entries. I’d say Pennington’s gold is something to celebrate.
Kudos to all for the hard work and the awards!
