Photo courtesy Loudoun Now, Renss Greene.

Loudoun Now covered the ribbon cutting ceremony this week, as we had several local legislators and business people in to celebrate the completion of our $1M expansion, tripling our current capacity.  Renss Greene writes:

Business leaders and lawmakers from the local through the federal levels were on hand Monday to help Catoctin Creek Distilling founders Scott and Becky Harris celebrate a $1 million expansion that tripled the distillery’s capacity to turn out Virginia’s favorite spirits.

Their Roundstone Rye is Virginia’s most-awarded whisky, and their brandy, gin and whisky have won fans and awards here and around the world. And in a few years, after the next batches are done aging, there will be plenty more of those drinks to go around.

You can read the full article, here.

The Loudoun Times Mirror also has coverage, here.

Check out Scott Harris talking on episode 4 of the Distill and Disrupt podcast.  Here he is talking about the GWAR collaboration and how we came to bottle whisky for the heavy metal band. 

Listen on Spotify, here.

Some coverage from our local paper, Loudoun Now:

The million-dollar expansion includes a new, larger copper pot still, replacing their beloved12-year-oldstill “Barney;” a closed-loop glycol cooling system; a new mash tank; six new fermenters; a new spent mash still; and new concrete floors to replace the 100-year-old floors in the distillery.

The installation work began in mid-July and is nearly complete—the distillers are just waiting on the new glycol cooler to come in, which will replace the tap water cooling system.

It continues the constant growth and renown of a company whose spirits can now be bought in 47 states and on three continents.

Read the entire story, here.  Photo by Renns Greene, Loudoun Now.

Loudoun Times Mirror did a feature on our new equipment installation. Karen Graham writes:

Purcellville-based Catoctin Creek Distillery is in the midst of a $1 million equipment overhaul which will triple the distillery's production capacity.

The renovation includes a new 2000 liter copper pot still, a glycol cooling system, a 2000 liter mash tank, six new 2000 liter fermenters as well as concrete floors to replace the existing 100-year-old floors.

Read the full story, here.

Photo courtesy Loudoun Times Mirror/Karen Graham.

Catoctin Creek continues to amass the awards, with two new gold medals and a silver medal from the American Whiskey Masters from the Spirits Business in London, UK.  Three spirits were reviewed and received awards:

GOLD - Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye 92 Proof "Distiller's Edition"

GOLD - Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Cask Proof

SILVER - Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye 80 Proof

"The American Whiskey Masters 2021 entries were up by over 85% on last year and was therefore very well represented and very competitive with 78 x entries from 16 x different companies and therefore to receive any sort of medal is something that every company should be extremely pleased with. However, for Catoctin Creek Distilling Co, as a first time entrant to this specific masters competition, to receive 2 x GOLD medals and 1 x SILVER from their combined total of 3 x entries and from within a very competitive Masters competition is a truly fantastic achievement! Massive Congratulations!"

 

The Daily Beast has the round-up on the history of our collaboration with the heavy metal band, GWAR.  Max Watman, who has been writing about craft spirits for well nigh twenty years now, has the whole backstory on the band, and even about Catoctin Creek in the early days.  He also manages to make the history damn fun to read:

At first, the marriage of Catoctin Creek and GWAR would seem unlikely, even ill advised. GWAR isn’t exactly the sort of music you put on to enhance your contemplation of the complexities of aroma rising up from your tasting glass. Scott Harris, who founded Catoctin Creek Distillery with his wife Becky in 2009, told me “I’m kind of a Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand kind of guy.”

The reason the union makes sense, however, is because Catoctin Creek comes from a very similar place. Different medium, different aesthetic, but Scott and Becky Harris got into the distilling with the original handful of small scale distillers. Back then, it wasn’t clear that distilling was a viable business. It wasn’t even clear that you could get a fire marshal to give you approval for a distillery. In fact, the odds of it working were perhaps longer than the probability that a horror movie-inspired heavy metal band would take off in a college town.

You can read the full article, here.

The RAMMY's, the premier hospitality awards run by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, named Catoctin Creek a finalist in the category of Festive Foodie Experiences for our Art of the Cocktail classes last season.  We are overjoyed with the honor.  The class was created to give some sense of community during COVID, ostensibly starting out as an educational forum for learning about the history and mechanics of cocktail making, but devolving wonderfully into a cross-country happy hour (or two)!  What started with 15-18 people, peaked at over 120 people each week on Zoom from states across the nation.  It was a wonderful experience, and we hope to repeat it in the coming months.

Northern Virginia magazine was one of many regional publications to cover the finalists:

The RAMMY Awards, our region’s culinary Oscars, presented by Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), is making big changes for 2021. According to a press release, the panel of RAMMYS judges and the 2021 RAMMYS Chairs Committee saw fit to create new categories this year to reflect the unique challenges that 2020 presented to restaurants. Rather than judging performance of chefs and restaurants, the team created categories to speak to where restaurants excelled in the face of COVID-19. Membership in RAMW was also not a prerequisite this year, meaning nominations for restaurants, people, and businesses that were previously ineligible.

Below, find the list of all the nominees. NoVA finalists (or those with NoVA locations) are in italics. Categories voted for by the public are noted with an asterisk.

*Festive Foodie Experiences:

• Baker’s Daughter, CSA Box Cooking Classes
• Carlie Steiner, Various Virtual Classes
• Catoctin Creek, The Art of the Cocktail
• Eric Adjepong, Cooking with Eric
• Eva Kronenburg, YouTube Cooking Series
• Louise Salas and Gina Chersevani, Designated Drinker Show
• Kwame Onwuachi, Eat Clean While Quarantined
• Mess Hall DC, Some Disassembly Required
• Sticky Fingers, Virtual Baking Classes
• Xiquet, Cooking with Chef Danny Lledó

You can read the full story, here.

American Whiskey magazine featured our founder and general manager, Scott Harris, in their recurring "Castaway" article, where they ask industry people what five whiskeys and one luxury item would they take if they were stranded on a desert island.  Scott's opinions tend toward Scottish malts, with a few exceptions.  When asked for a luxury item to bring to the island, he responds:

"I suppose it would be too much to ask for a yacht. Obviously, with a yacht, I could leave the island, but maybe I wouldn’t want to. It sounds quiet. Honestly, after spending the last year-plus quarantining at home and working like a dog, being stranded on an island sounds perfect. So, yes, a yacht would be excellent. I would live in it, and have parties, and drink my whisky collection. I promise not to leave. But I may send it out for more whisky."

You can read the entire article, here.

A fun show from Fred Minnick.  Check us out coming in at #2 around the 2:55 mark.

Check out this review of Ragnarök Rye by Bourbon Bytes:

Decanter does a roundup of American whiskey, with a particular focus on rye - America's first whiskey.  Nice to be the lead-off batter in the lineup.  Richard Woodard writes:

Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Distiller's Edition 92 Proof

This whisky (yes, they omit the ‘e’) from Virginia is a great example of Catoctin Creek’s rye expertise. The higher proof helps to carry its classically rich, spicy notes of bread, pepper and punchy spice, making this a great bet for cocktails and sipping alike. Vanilla fudge and lighter citric notes add complexity and texture. Alc 46%

You can read the full store, here.

Photo credit: Christian Bringolf, and used with permission.