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Founded in 2009
Catoctin Creek® was founded by Becky and Scott Harris in 2009 as the first legal distillery in Loudoun County since before Prohibition. We are located in Purcellville, Virginia, in the heart of the Loudoun Valley. Virginia is the birthplace of American whiskey, and at Catoctin Creek, we faithfully dedicate ourselves to that tradition, producing Virginia's most awarded whisky today—Roundstone Rye!
The name "Catoctin" is a regional name. Pronounced Ka-TOCK-tin, the name derives from the Indian tribal name "Kittocton" which, legend has it, meant "place of many deer". Catoctin describes a range of mountains and the creek which flows picturesquely past the distillery and into the Potomac River and Chesapeake Watershed.
At Catoctin Creek, we believe in high quality food and spirits. Organic means higher quality: grain and fruit, sourced locally when possible, free of pesticides and chemical additives that would come through in the spirits we produce. Sure, it is more difficult to produce organically, but the results speak for themselves.
Sic semper secales! ® Thus always to rye!
Our Founders
Becky Harris, Chief Distiller
Becky graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. As a chemical engineer, she worked at companies like Amoco, YDK America, and CIBA, specializing in industrial processes and production systems. Becky brought this knowledge and applied it to something she loved–making the finest distilled spirits in Virginia. Wine, grains, berries, it matters not. If there is a fruit, vegetable, tuber with starch or sugar in it, you can bet that Becky will try to distill it.
Scott Harris, General Manager
Scott graduated with honors from Georgia Tech. He spent the last twenty years building a software career in telecommunication systems and government IT solutions and traded it all in for the chance to own and run his own distillery. Liquors of all types are his greatest love (besides Becky, of course). Whiskeys from Scotland, Ireland and the United States. Brandy from France and Germany. And an eclectic German bitters called Boonekamp. "It's good for the digestive!" as his old German grandmother used to say.
At Catoctin Creek
Scott and Becky are happy to be doing something together that they love: Producing the finest spirits in Virginia, completely and truly by hand. At Catoctin Creek, high quality spirits are our passion.
