Coming of age

Spiritmakers (L-R): John Whyte, Distiller Matt McCann, Jacqueline Stroz and Michael Stroz.

66 Gilead releases Wild Oak Whisky

Some things simply take time. The first barrel of whisky from 66 Gilead Distillery has, after three and a half years, been cracked open. Time has treated this handcrafted, small batch, barrel-aged County whisky very, very well.

Peter Stroz and Sophia Pantazi hadn’t yet opened their craft distillery, 66 Gilead, when they distilled their first batch of whiskey, filled oak barrels and stored it away. To grow. To mature.

This past weekend, they let it out.

“We are very happy with it,” said Peter.

Many of the hundreds of visitors who made the pilgrimage to the distillery appeared equally enthralled as they roamed around the 140-year-old farm, acompanied by dozens of resident chickens.

Sophia is keen to draw the connections between what they do at the distillery and neighbouring producers. After the mash has fermented, the first step in the spirit-making  process, the spent grain is given to a nearby beef farm ,operated by Hank and Tina Hiddink. They call their farm Wild Oak. The animals love the mash—particularly on long, cold winter nights.

So when it came time to put a name on their latest release, it seemed natural to call it Wild Oak Whiskey—playing on the connection to Hiddink’s farm and the fact the whiskey has been aged in oak barrels.

Another connection. The oak barrels were crafted by cooper Pete Bradford, whose barrelmaking shop, Carriage House Cooperage, resides on the 66 Gilead farm in an adjacent building.

In rather a novel way to highlight the connections, visitors to 66 Gilead were treated to chili based on Bradford’s recipe, with Hiddink’s beef, which had been fed by the distiller’s grain.

Meanwhile, back in the tasting room, another group had arrived to sample the Wild Oak Whiskey—sipping straight up or in a Wild Oak Whiskey Mint Julep. It seems an ideal summer day in the County.