Nice to see the article about Becky Harris on Spirit Hub:

But living in the birthplace of American spirits, the idea of opening and operating their own independent distillery was an notion that had always appealed to the couple.

Becky was influenced by Virginia’s rich distilling history. Especially where rye whiskey was concerned.

“Rye was one of the most important products in colonial times,” Becky explains. “George Washington had one of the largest distilleries of his time. And we were inspired by that to focus on rye. Make it from scratch. And create a whiskey that speaks to the past, present and future of Virginia Rye.”

The Harrises decided on the name Catoctin Creek as another homage to their Virginia Roots.

You can read the full interview, here.

How nice to be included in this video of "5 southern companies that make great whiskey."

Scotland and Ireland aren't the only places where fine spirits are distilled.  There are plenty of companies in the Southern U.S. that craft whiskey and show it off at tastings, tours, and other events.  If you're a whiskey lover, check out the five distilleries listed here."

Check us out at #5, starting about 4:38 in the video above.  Just click the image to bring up the video.

Jon Schott of The People’s Drug in Alexandria. Photo credit Renss Greene, Loudoun Now.

Great coverage of our Battle of the Bartender's event last week, which raised over $4,000 for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  Nikki Drake, from 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church took home top honors for the night.  Writing in Loudoun Now, Rens Greene sums up the night:

Nikki Drake, from 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, came out on top, earning bragging rights for the next year as Northern Virginia’s best bartender. She overcame competition from Jon Schott from The Peoples Drug in Alexandria, Eric Bowers from Magnolias at the Mill in Purcellville, Erin Robertson from AhSo Restaurant, Alex Moreno from Circa at Clarendon in Clarendon, and Chris West from The Wine Kitchen in Leesburg. They were judged by Michael Saccone, of Thrashers Rum & Tiki TNT; Stefanie Gans, former dining editor and restaurant critic for Northern Virginia Magazine and current program director at Cookology; and Scott Harris, founder of Catoctin Creek Distillery.

You can read the full story, here.

We are so honored to be included in Loudoun County's history timeline of top 40 business moments from 1979 - 2019:

Catoctin Creek, Loudoun’s First Distillery Since Prohibition, Opens in Purcellville

Scott and Becky Harris started Loudoun’s first post-Prohibition distillery during the heart of the recession, with funding from personal finances, an SBA loan, and help from neighbors and friends in the community. Now sold in 26 U.S. states and in Europe and Asia, Catoctin Creek has won the most awards of any whiskey made in Virginia.

You can read the full story, here.  Photograph courtesy Kristen Dill.

Get to know Catoctin Creek, via WhiskyJason in Berlin:

I wish we didn't have to do these interviews, but we continue to hammer the point that tariffs are hurting small businesses, and the government needs to listen to us.

To see the full story, click the video above, or click here.

Mucho gracias to Lamar Romero at Dragon Spirits Marketing for assembling this training video of our founder and chief distiller, Becky Harris, walking through a sales session with the spirits.

This is a great episode where we provide some insight into some fun, cool, and weird things we're doing with the gents from Single Cask Nation. 

• iTunes: https://apple.co/2luemxB
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/2mGCxc1
• Or hit the website and find Season 3, Episode 16:  http://onenationunderwhisky.com/episodes/

Enjoy!

Here is an interview Scott Harris, founder and general manager of Catoctin Creek, did with CNBC regarding the tariffs with the EU:

Click the video above to view the clip, or see the whole story, here.

We had the pleasure of showing Tucker and the Fox 5 DC team around the distillery on their Fox 5 Zip Trip to Purcellville!  Click on the video above to see the visit!

Photograph by Atlantic Records, used under license, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45577655.

The Daily Beast asked rye distillers around the country to tell us what their spirits taste like by comparing them to music.  Of the various responses, most were fairly (in our humble opinions) predictable: old white guys honoring other old white guys. <yawn>

That is what it's like being a woman in a man's whiskey world.  Becky Harris, our founder and distiller, mixed it up a little bit, and I think Becky nails it here:

Whiskey, like music, is primarily viewed through a male lens, and I wanted to shout one out for the ladies. Doreen St. Felix wrote about Missy Elliott in the New Yorker, ‘hip-hop artists are musicologists, and sampling is one way histories are folded into the present.’ Like Elliott, another Commonwealth native, we pull influences from all corners and filter them through our Virginia mindset. We take the rye of the past, and... flip it, and reverse it. Catoctin Creek created a new aesthetic for rye: toggling between chill, fruity, and bold spice.

You can read the full story, here.  

Eric Kozlik is the founder of Modern Bar Cart, a company which seems to attack the fine art of drinking from all directions:  podcasting, blogging, recipes, and they even make bitters.  Erik's latest episode focuses on the process that led up to our first set of bespoke bitters:

One of our very first retail partners – almost half a decade ago – was Catoctin Creek Distilling Co., based out of beautiful Purcellville, Virginia. They were one of the first craft distilleries in the region, and when tasting room manager Denise Petty and brand rep John Shope asked me to work with them to develop a bitters flavor to pair with their award winning Roundstone Rye, to say I was excited would be a vast understatement.

Read the entire story, here, and listen to the podcast, here.

You can buy the bitters in our distillery tasting room or online at Modern Bar Cart.