July 2015 News
Happy 4th of July from Catoctin Creek!!!!
Catoctin Creek would like to wish each and every one of you a safe and enjoyable Independence Day! We will be OPEN FOR BUSINESS during the holiday. Tours and tastings are from 12pm to 7pm on Saturday. Please stop by to get out of the heat and grab some refreshments before heading out to your favorite fireworks show or holiday cookout! To reserve your spot, click here!
What better way to celebrate our nation's independence than with a bottle of hand-crafted Virginia rye whisky or gin?! God Bless America, indeed!
Announcing the Catoctin Creek Music Festival — Sunday, July 19!
We are thrilled to announce our first ever music festival at Catoctin Creek! Four amazing bands will perform throughout the day on Sunday, July 19th, from 12pm to 8pm. Tickets are only $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and give you access to the entire day of music! The tasting room will be open during the show, so you can get tastings at the bar for normal prices. You'll be seated in the distillery for the shows, and free to come and go with your CCDC wristband.
We'll also have food available for the day from Sexi Mexi food truck ... So really, what else were you planning on doing that's as cool as this on a Sunday afternoon?!
Here's the line-up of artists:
- 12pm - Chelsea McBee and the Random Assortment
- 2pm - Atoka Chase
- 4pm - Andrew McKnight and Beyond Borders
- 6pm - Laissez Foure
This concert will prove to be one of the best in local music to hit Western Loudoun, featuring styles ranging from Bluegrass, Rock, Indie-Goth-Bluegrass (seriously?! yeah!!), and New Orleans/Dixieland Jazz. Don't miss this great day to get out of the heat, slip into the cool AC, sip a delicious cocktail, and enjoy the show!
Roundstone Rye Reviewed in Wine Enthusiast
We were delighted to receive a review in the recent issue of Wine Enthusiast for Roundstone Rye. The bottle reviewed was submitted over 2 years ago, so we almost forgot completely about it. Since then, the whisky has gotten older and more complex, having the benefit of aging in our off-premise barn/rickhouse. The newest bottles being sold today... well, we just keep getting better!
89 - Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye (USA; Catoctin Creek Distilling, Purcellville, VA). This single-barrel whiskey is made from 100% rye and aged for less than two years. In the glass, it has an orange-amber hue and aroma that melds oak, malt and vanilla. On the palate, vanilla leads, with oakiness winding into a baking-spice finish. A good match for Manhattans.
You can read the full review, here, or click the image at right.
Guest Bartender of the Month — Chad Robinson
Join us in welcoming Chad Robinson as our guest bartender in July! Chad will be slinging the cocktail shakers behind the bar on Saturday, July 11, from noon til dusk. If you don't already know, Chad is the Catoctin Creek brand ambassador, usually traveling up and down the east coast to represent Catoctin Creek. On the side, he loves to do a bit of bartending. An expert on cocktails, Chad has been a vital part of educating the public on old classics like punches, toddies, and fizzes. This month, Chad will be doing various takes on the classic highball (a basic mixture of soda and spirits).
Cocktail tastings will be served all day, and Chad will be on hand to chat and answer questions about his creations. While you're there, be sure to ask him about the history of cocktails and soak up some of that massive drinking knowledge that he has! It's an opportunity you don't want to miss!
Catoctin Creek wins 2015 RAMMY for Best Food and Beverage Producer in DC!
Catoctin Creek got big news in June as we were awarded the RAMMY for best regional food and beverage producer in Washington DC. The RAMMYS are the Washington DC area's biggest food awards, with the awards selected each year by a panel of judges at the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Also nominated in the category were finalists: DC Brau Brewing Company, Dolci Gelati, Early Mountain Vineyards, and New Columbia Distillers.
"We are so incredibly honored by this award," said Scott Harris, co-founder of the distillery. "The first person I must thank is my wife, Becky, who gets up every morning to make the whisky. Just as importantly, I wish to thank all of the restaurants in the DC area who support what we do by buying our products. There's no place quite like DC for supporting local liquor! We are truly thankful!"
Upcoming Events
Here are a bunch of really cool events planned at the distillery and in the area:
- July 8 - Whisky School at Monk's BBQ - After the first sell-out session, we're going back to school at Monks!
- July 11 - Guest Bartender - Chad Robinson - Join Catoctin Creek's own Chad Robinson and learn a TON about cocktail history from one of the nicest guys in the business.
- July 12 - Catoctin Creek / Caledonia Spirits dinner at Kybecca - Join Scott & Becky in Fredericksburg for dinner and cocktails with our favorite non-Catoctin gin, Caledonia Spirits, makers of Barr Hill Gin.
- July 17 - The Contenders and Dank Fisk, LIVE! - Join us for another great Buncearoo concert in the distillery.
- July 19 - Catoctin Music Festival - Four great bands, food trucks, cocktails. And all for an entry fee of just $20! That's crazy cheap!!
- July 24 - Dinner at the Distillery - Now in our second year, join us for a delicious four-course seasonal dinner and paired cocktails.
For the full list of events, check our events page.
Cocktail of the Month – The Founder's Julep
This cocktail was the second of two created for the History of Drinking lectures at the National Archives.
1 oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
½ Smith & Cross Jamaica Rum
¾ oz Henriques & Henriques Finest Dry Madeira
½ rich simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
5 sprigs fresh mint
Gently muddle the leaves of 3 mint sprigs with the simple syrup in a julep cup. Drag leaves around the cup to coat the inside, then discard leaves. Add other ingredients and fill halfway with crushed ice, jiggle. Finish by heaping crushed ice into a rounded cone sticking out of the top of the cup. Garnish with 2 fulsome sprigs of mint sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Courtesy JP Fetherston, bartender at Southern Efficiency.
See this cocktail and hundreds more on our cocktails page.
In Closing...
As always, there are lots of fun and information on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages, where you can stay up to date with the daily activities at the distillery. We are open every Tuesday through Sunday for tastings and bottle purchases, so stop by and see us sometime!
Cheers!
Scott & Becky
1 oz Roundstone Rye
The following is an excerpt from the 
Nominated as Beverage Producer of the Year for the 2015 RAMMYs
This was a featured cocktail of the Columbia Room pop-up last month. Of the featured cocktails, was this one, which debuted our Apple Brandy on the menu, a recipe created by J.P. Featherston. Word from the customers that night was that it was amazing!
February...ugh! Glad that's over!
Catoctin Creek is pleased to announce the limited release of our Pearousia Barrel "Old Tom" style Watershed Gin. We took our regular, award-winning Watershed Gin, and set some aside for a time to rest in a re-used Pearousia pear brandy barrel. The result is a golden, rich, and surprisingly fruity gin which gleams in those cocktails made for Old Tom gins, like the famous 
We are proud to announce our first ever art contest. Intended as a way to support and promote the diverse local art community of Loudoun County, Virginia and surrounding areas, we will accept submissions of art, with a grand prize of $1000 for the winning piece!
Happy February!
Our big news story of the month of January: being named by Southern Living as one of the 50 people changing the South in 2015! Booyah! (Question is, do Becky and I count as one or two people?!) 
Chad came up with this cocktail for a private party for the RAMMY nominations in DC last month. Easily batched and poured for the masses, it is reminiscent of a sangria or a grog. 
Thank you Allison Aubrey for working Becky Harris into your story on women in whiskey:
This cocktail comes to us from Sonja Bradfield, author of 
This cocktail uses balsamic vinegar as a shrub. The vinegar provides nice tartness along with the fruitiness of the berry juices.
Join us at the distillery on Wednesday, November 19, from 6:30pm to 8pm as Brad Blymier, founder of War Shore Oyster Company, and Scott Harris, founder of Catoctin Creek, team up to pair the best local oysters with the best local cocktails!
This month's "cocktail" is not a cocktail. It's a recipe! But why not?!
Recipe courtesy Melissa Krumbein of Kitchen Thyme, Richmond Virginia. Check her out at 
On October 15th, from 6:30 - 8:30pm, join Scott Harris, as he is welcomed by Executive Chef Bertrand Chemel and the entire team at 2941 Restaurant.
Before Scotch, before bourbon, there was rye whiskey! Many people don't realize the important history that rye whiskey played in the United States. Before the Revolutionary War, rum was the predominant spirit of the colonies, but after the revolution, the British cut the colonists from sources of sugar cane. America had to look internally for a source for distilled spirits, and rye grain was abundant and easily available. George Washington distilled rye whiskey at Mount Vernon, and the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania was fought over rye whiskey. Bourbon and Scotch came much, much later. Rye was king!
The Boulevardier was invented during Prohibition, when an out-of-work American barman, named Harry McElhone, set up Harry's New York Bar in Paris. Similar to a Negroni, this cocktail substitutes whisky for gin, and in our version, we substitute Aperol for Campari, giving the cocktail a lighter, candied texture.
This recipe comes to us from Dogwood Tavern in Falls Church, Virginia, and celebrates everything Virginia: peanuts, honey, and Roundstone Rye! Give yourself some time in advance to infuse the rye when making this recipe.
July was a great month for us! We finally received our new bottling line, which will allow us to bottle a heck of a lot more (that's a scientific amount) of whisky, brandy and gin. Why? Because we are continuing to expand our markets, and our newest foray is into Massachusetts. We see lots of opportunity in New England, and felt that now was the right time to enter the state.
If you've been to our tasting room, you've almost certainly sampled that divine barrel-aged maple syrup. Well, now you can come and meet the maker of this wonderful syrup, the wonderful Art Drauglis!
This cocktail was our feature cocktail at Tales of the Cocktail 2014 in New Orleans. Another creation of our wonderful brand ambassador, Chad Robinson, this is a new take on an old fashioned.
Have you seen this dinner for a while now, and thought about coming? Now's the time to join us! Everyone who's ever come has an amazing time and is delighted with the dinner and cocktail pairings. Here is the menu to tempt you further (yes, there will also be cocktails!):
In July, we welcome Donato Alvarez of Sixth Engine to our tasting room. We are now in our 
This was the feature cocktail by Catoctin Creek at the RAMMYS 2014. We were honored to have been named finalists in the Best Producer category, and to celebrate, Chad Robinson created a specialty cocktail just for the event. Think Mai Tai but with rye! You'd never guess there wasn't rum in this drink!
