The Governor of Virginia put out a press release announcing our successful new relationship in Germany this year:

"Virginia distilleries provide a growing market for our Commonwealth’s agricultural products, and we are proud to support companies like Catoctin Creek and Reservoir as they pursue export opportunities and forge important relationships around the world,” said Governor Northam. “Foreign trade and investment are key to strengthening and diversifying our economy, and these two international partnerships are a perfect example Virginia’s commitment to helping businesses of all sizes explore new sales channels and compete both at home and abroad.”

You can read the entire press release, here.

Northern Virginia magazine included us in their Best of Nova feature again this year!  What an honor!  Stefanie Gans writes:

Catoctin Creek created the modern era of distilleries in George Washington’s playground. The husband-and-wife team—she’s the master distiller—set up shop in downtown Purcellville with a tasting room to showcase their award-winning spirits, like the flagship Roundstone Rye.

You can read the full story, here.

Enjoy this fun video from the guys at the Austin Whiskey Vault!  They hit the nail on the head in several of their points about our rye:

• 100% rye
• Blue Ridge Mountains
• 100% potstilled
• Not cloying or sweet - just great flavor coming from the maple
• 100% fun!

The Whiskey Wash reviews Rabble Rouser.  I think they love it, giving it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Cindy Capparelli writes:

4.5 of 5 stars. Catoctin Creek’s Roundstone Rye has received multiple accolades. Think of the Rabble Rouser as its wilder cousin. “For the Roundstone, we want high level of reflux, so all the plates on the column are engaged. With the Rabble Rouser, the plates are disengaged, which captures a much rougher spirit, but with more of those fruity and nutty flavors. Then it spends longer in the barrel.”

You can read the entire story, here.

Hiconsumption gives us a little history about bottled-in-bond whiskey and what makes it special.  Then, he highlights the 10 best, and our Rabble Rouser is first on the list!  Sean Tirman writes:

With a name that harkens back to Old West barroom brawls and bootlegging, Catoctin Creek’s Rabble Rouser Bottled-in-Bond Rye is a much smoother and gentler drink than its name might suggest. As perfect in classic cocktails as it is on its own, this whiskey has a deep caramel color, both spice and sweetness on the tongue, and a finish that tapers off smoothly without lingering for too long. If you can find it, it should cost around $99 a bottle.

You can read the entire story, here.

If you ever want to hear the deep origin story of Catoctin Creek, this podcast is the best we've heard yet.  Prairie Rose was enormously gracious in listening to my mid-life crisis story:

As I said in the podcast, "I wanted to do something made by hand. ...  Well, I'd love to make whisky!"

You can listen to the full podcast here, or download the MP3 here.

Lee Stang, writing for Bourbon & Banter, does revisits the distillery after an eight year hiatus.  Though he was not originally a fan, he seems to be now:

As I said at the beginning, I had tasted the Roundstone Rye about 8 years ago and was not a fan. This time around however was totally different. More rich and complex for an 80 proof rye. Remembering our talk about the 4 rye strain mash bill I asked if that is what they were using 7 or 8 years ago and Scott replied no, they had used a rye grain from Kansas and that was all they used. Over the years it appears that the taste profile has changed.

You can read the full story, here.

Becky and Scott had the pleasure to go on Great Day Washington to talk about what it's been like to be distilling for 10 years.  We also got to mix up a Colonial Mint Julep and talk about our upcoming 10th anniversary party!

Check out the entire clip by clicking on the image above, or click here.

Jake Emen covers the topic:

Harris says that his company has directly spent $100,000 on export promotion trips to the EU in the years since. The result was that in 2018, Catoctin Creek expected a full quarter of its revenue to come from the European market. Right before the tariffs hit, he says another trip overseas netted a dozen handshake deals he was eager to finalize.

“Upon our return, when the tariffs went into effect, our distributor dropped us, and our sales in the U.K. never materialized,” Harris says. “That 25% revenue we expected from Europe was about 1%.”

Read the full story, here.

Some coverage of how trade wars hurt small businesses like ours, front page coverage from the Washington Post:

But weeks after the Harrises’ triumphant European tour, the White House unleashed a trade war with the European Union by slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The E.U. retaliated with tariffs that made some American goods, including bourbon and rye whiskey, more expensive to import.

Catoctin Creek’s orders from Europe dried up, and a potential British distributor lost interest. He “ghosted us like a bad girlfriend,” Scott Harris said from the distillery’s red-brick tasting room as a pair of shiny stills chugged away behind a plate-glass window. “He just stopped answering the phone.”

Read the full story, here.

Enjoy this fun little video from Italy!  I don't think you need to speak Italian to enjoy this. 

Much thanks to Zafferano for the sponsorship of the product.

On my recent visit to Louisville, Kentucky, I was invited to speak at the December meeting of the Bourbon Brotherhood.  Lucky for me, Distillery Trail was there covering the meeting.  They did a nice profile of our company, our products, and the history of rye whiskey in Virginia.

Husband and wife team Scott and Becky Harris started Catoctin Creek Distilling in 2009. In the late 2000s, Scott had what one might call a mid-life crisis as he approached 40. “You know if I was going to construct for myself, the perfect version of hell, it would be sitting in a windowless office under fluorescent light making PowerPoint charts for people that will never read them,” said Scott. “I started to day dream about making something. I kept going back to when I was a 15 year old kid and I worked in a winery. It was cool, in a winery, you press the grapes, you bottle it, you ferment it and you do all this stuff and at the end of the day, or at the end of a fermentation period you have something in your hand, you can present it to somebody, you pour it, you can taste it and you can say, ‘I made that.'”

You can read the full story and see the video, here.