Batch 21 of Stranahan’s Limited-Edition Annual Blend Goes on Sale this Saturday
Campers already lining up in front of Denver distillery
DENVER, CO – “StranaFans” have already begun lining up to buy a coveted bottle of Stranahan’s Rocky Mountain Single Malt Whiskey annual Snowflake blend. This Saturday, December 1, 2018, at 8 a.m., the 2018 version will go on sale, and will sell out within about two hours.
The Snowflake release usually draws some 1,000 fans and whiskey collectors to Denver. They brave the cold for days at a time, setting up camp on the sidewalk that wraps around the distillery at 200 S. Kalamath Street. Each year, fans line up earlier and earlier, and this year, the first ones showed up last Saturday, a full week before the release.
Like all 20 Snowflake expressions before it, Batch 21 is named for a Colorado fourteener. This year, it’s Mount Elbert, which at 14,440 ft., is the highest summit in Colorado. The whiskey is the creation of Master Distiller Rob Dietrich, who starts with Stranahan’s Original—aged for at least two years—and then finishes it in a variety of exotic, used wine and spirit casks from all over the world.
This year’s Mt. Elbert whiskey spent time in a Syrah cask from Balisteri, muscat cask from Balisteri, a Port cask, California merlot cask from Spero, chocolate stout cask finish, two madeira casks, old vine zin cask from Spero and a rum cask.
The tasting notes for Mt. Elbert are described as follows: “Nose: Warm brown sugar with graham cracker and cinnamon apple pie, barn hay, shaved wood, caramel, marzipan and honeycomb. Palate: Silky milk chocolate, baked yam, butterscotch, medjool dates and fresh fig with large tannins of black walnut sparking off a malted roasty-ness. Finish: Caramel, carob and honey-butter finish.
Stranahan’s was Colorado’s first legal whiskey distillery, created and founded by Jess Graber in 2004 in Denver. It is an American Single Malt whiskey made in small batches, and in four expressions: Original, Diamond Peak, Sherry Cask and the limited edition yearly release, Snowflake.
IF YOU GO:
Batch 21 Mount Elbert will be available to purchase for $100 per bottle with a valid I.D. on December 1, 2018 at 8a.m. MST. The distillery hosts monthly bottling brigades where a few lucky volunteers selected from a list of over 30,000 receive a free tour and a bottle of Stranahan’s. Otherwise, the distillery offers daily one-hour tours and has a tasting room and lounge, open Thursday-Tuesday.
More details: https://www.stranahans.com
