Amontillado Sherry Finished Bourbon - Cedar Ridge Distillery
As a Whiskey fan, I love exploring new craft distilleries who are creating unique expressions or offering whiskey I've never had a chance to try. You may assume that nobody would be making great whiskey in Iowa, but that would be a wrong assumption.
Early last year, I needed to pull together five American Single Malt whiskeys from across the country to use for a private tasting and stumbled upon Cedar Ridge Distillery. There was a bunch of buzz going on about their single malt whiskey, various spirit & whiskey awards being won, and my whiskey mentor Ryan suggested that I check them out. I bought a bottle without even tasting it first, fell in love with it and started using their QuintEssential Single Malt as part of my private tasting options. I made a point to stop at Cedar Ridge Distillery this past June while traveling through the Midwest and had the honor of hanging out with their Master Distiller and Blender, Murphy Quint.
The Quint family has been farming and using ingredients they've grown, made wine, brandy and distilled spirits for nine generations. In the 1880s, Johann Quint, moved the family from Wintrich, Germany, to eastern Iowa, and continued their long history of farming and distilling. In 2005, after producing small batches of both spirits and wine in his garage, Jeff Quint founded Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery. Mostly because he needed more room for his burgeoning wine and spirits production. He also believed that the number one corn-producing state in the U.S. should be crafting its own Bourbon Whiskey. Cedar Ridge was the first licensed distillery in Iowa since Prohibition.
All of Jeff's kids worked in the winery and distillery, including his son, Murphy. Murphy came to Denver in 2011 for a few years and after a stint at Stranahan's, returned to Cedar Ridge with the desire to move the company away from making a bunch of spirits equally and put a focus on whiskey. That focus has paid off well for Cedar Ridge. In 2021, Cedar Ridge became the top-selling bourbon in its home state of Iowa. That may not sound like an achievement, but consider that in the other 49 states, mass-market bourbon brands from Kentucky are the top-selling bourbons. No other distillery in the nation has yet accomplished such a feat. That’s something very special for this family-owned craft distillery.
Some of their terraced vineyards, no Iowa is NOT flat.
Apart from Bourbon, Wheat, Rye, and Single Malt whiskeys, Cedar Ridge also produces a variety of wines that are sold at the winery and across Iowa. They use grape varietals grown not only on their property, but from sourced from neighboring Iowa vineyards. Their property is surrounded by over 10 acres of vineyards.
While some whiskey enthusiasts and bourbon purists may have mixed feelings about finished whiskeys, Cedar Ridge recognizes the current market demand and uses the winery's used port, sherry, and red wine casks, plus rum and brandy from the distillery to finish their various whiskeys. Murphy also sources finishing barrels from Europe. These projects have been maturing and released over the past few years first with American Single Malt and now with other whiskeys like their Bourbon.
Carl Hybrid still
Cedar Ridge uses an off-grain distillation process and distills using their German-made Carl hybrid still. Off-grain distillation is a process where, after fermentation, the wash goes through a one-of-a-kind filter that squeezes the liquid from the grain until the grain is 99.9% dry. The liquid then moves to the still for spirit distillation. Spent grains go to cow and pig farms in the area.
Filter used to separate the grain from liquid post fermentation, prior to distillation
One of six rack houses aging their whiskeys
All Cedar Ridge whiskeys are aged in non-climate controlled barrel aging facilities which are all framed steel. In winter, when Iowa temps are minus 10 degrees outside, barrels are minus 10. When it's extremely humid and 95+ degrees in July, barrels are 95+ degrees, with lots of humidity. Cedar Ridge considers the temperature swings the "fingerprint" that mother nature puts on their barrels. Wandering down the rack house aisles, one can see the evidence of the constant pushing and pulling of whiskey inside the barrels due to the intense temperature and humidity swings in Iowa.
For this Whiskey Sample, the whiskey begins as a 4.5 year old Bourbon. For the finishing process, Murphy selected an Amantillado Sherry butt. Amontillado (ah-mon-tee-YAH-tho) is a variety of sherry wine characterized by being darker than fino sherry, but lighter than oloroso sherry (both fino and oloroso sherry butts/casks are used to finish whiskey both in the U.S. as well as other whiskey producing countries). Amontillado wine is named after the Montilla municipality, located in Andalusia, Spain, where the style of sherry originated in the 18th century. This Amontillado Sherry Butt used for finishing this Bourbon is from Jerez, Spain.
Iowa Bourbon Whiskey - Amontillado Sherry Finish
Mashbill: 74% Iowa Corn | 14% Malted Rye | 12% Malted Barley
Age: 4.5 years in Char number 3 barrels
Finish: First-fill Amontillado Sherry Butts
ABV: 57.5% Alc/Vol | 115 Proof
MSRP: $55.99
Cedar Ridge sources all their Corn from a collective of family farms located close to the distillery. The Malted Rye and Malted Barley are grown and malted in Canada.
I don't include tasting notes for these special member pours because I’m really interested in what you nose and taste. Please post your tasting notes in the Comments to share with your fellow whiskey club members. Murphy Quint is on our schedule to come visit in 2025 to share more of the whiskeys that are produced by Cedar Ridge Distillery.
Comments