Another distillery in New York I need to visit one day is Van Brunt Stillhouse.

Van Brunt Stillhouse have been going since 2012 in Red Hook, Brooklyn and founded by Daric Schlesselman and Sarah Ludington. As husban and wife they are driven by their shared love for creating and crafts.
They are producing craft Farmhouse style whiskeys by using local grains from New York State. They use Organically grown Corn, Wheat and Rye and my guess is that the Barley also is from New York State as they for example smoke the grains them selfs
Daric and Sarah have been digging some in the history books and want to be true to the Dutch settlers. So the distillery has it’s name from one of the pioneers Cornelius Van Brunt (1760-1827). One of the founders of the Dutch colony of Breukelen. Breukelen later became Brooklyn.

The first spirit Van Brunt Stillhouse released was Due North Rum. The Rum and the saying Due North about a rum has a long history in New York and because of the large interest in history the Rum was chosen.

This Campfire whiskey tastes pretty good but I must say I don’t get that Campfire smokey feel. It is more a experience of a mix between a well made Bourbon and a triple distilled Irish Whiskey with a twist of a very soft smoke.

On the bottle it says: ” “Campfire” says it all. Peat, oak and cherry are front and center in this bold spirit. 3 whiskies distilled from house-smoked grains came together to form the complex flavors in this unique batch – never to be repeated, so grab a bottle while you can. Carefully crafted, one batch at a time, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Age 3 years. We never chill filter our whiskey.”

I am glad I grabbed a bottle when I saw it and I enjoy every sip. I can’t find the cherry and the smoke is not dominating. I can’t get this stuff in Denmark, but it could have been fun to put it up against the Smoked Corn Whiskey they produce at Van Brunt Stillhouse.

𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮: (4/6)

🅼🆈 🆁🆃🅸🅽🅶 🆂🆈🆂🆃🅴🅼

– 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧
– 𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙛
– 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 – 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢
– 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙙 – 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮
– 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣
– 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩

Peated Bourbon is that even real – Oh yes and for a peat head like me this is incredible stuff.

When I saw the bottle of Peated Bourbon I simple had to have it. I had never heard about Peated Bourbon and I was thinking – what in the world would this would be like and I actually had a picture in my head of corn being smoked over peat. Yes, I know crazy to think like that.
Well what is Peated Bourbon and is it actually a bourbon when peated?
Peated Bourbon from Kings County in New York is the first of it’s kind, of what I can find. It is made on a mash bill of 75% Corn and 25% Malted Barley.
So far so good.
The Corn is Organic New York grown and the Malted Barley is from Scotland. Here the barley has been malted and dried with the smoke from peat fire to a level of about 15 ppm.

It is normal that bourbon mash bills are made with malted barley to set off the fermentation proces and in this case we get the peated malted barley to do the job. To legally call American whiskey Bourbon you have to have 51% or more Corn in the mash bill, mature for at least 2 years in new oak barrels. It is not allowed to add colour or flavour. In this case all the bourbon meet all the requirements. The use of malted barley that has been dried over peat smoke is a natural way of drying, so everything is in order.

I bought this bottle in New York in september 2019 – Wow time flies fast, and I really wanted to visit Kings County Distillery, but time was to short for a visit at that time. Then we wanted to go to The Big Appel again in 2020 – but you know too well what happed in 2020 so we didn’t go. I really hope that I one day get the chance to visit the distillery. It has a great history to it, based in a old Navy Yard in Brooklyn. Founded in 2010 and is the first legal distillery since the Prohibition. I will write more about the distillery later and hopefully after a visit

It has taken me some time to open the bottle – Why? – I don’t know, but now it is open and I really like what I am tasting.
This is not very old bourbon, it is at least 2 years old, but you dont get that feeling when sipping it. One of the reasons for this is the use of small casks. They are American New Oak and the sizes used are 5 Gallon, 10 Gallons and 15 Gallons. That will be something like 19 litre, 38 litre and 57 litre. That size cask made of new oak will give you a lot of colour and taste in a short time. A 50 litre cask will in normal Scottish weather mature the spirits in year equal to about 4 years in a 225 litre barrel. So this Bourbon could be tasting like a 8-10 year old bourbon!

It is not a very peated whiskey but the smoke notes are there and the combination with the corn gives it a special experience in taste which I havn’t taste in other peated whiskies.

Would I buy this again? Yes I will

𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮: (5/6)

🅼🆈 🆁🆃🅸🅽🅶 🆂🆈🆂🆃🅴🅼

– 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧
– 𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙛
– 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 – 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢
– 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙙 – 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮
– 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣
– 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩