Whisky Advocate’s Artisan Whiskey of the Year – The whis- key that put us on the map.

We use three individually smoked malts (cherrywood from Wisconsin, beechwood from Germany, and peat from Scotland) to craft this deep and complex whiskey. Using 3 distinct smokes provides consistent and balanced smoke from nose to the pallet and throughout the finish.

Corsair never uses artificial flavors or colors, achieving superior flavor and color through quality malted barley, innovative distillation and small barrel maturation.

 Tasting Notes

Smoke and notes of cherry pervade the palate, finished by a slight brininess from the mossy peat. Pot distilled then aged in new American charred oak, Triple Smoke has the sweetness of an American whiskey with the rich smoke of an Islay single malt scotch.

In the 1650s, a Dutch doctor named Franciscus Sylvius was searching for a remedy to the kidney and stomach ailments that he often encountered in his practice of internal medicine. At the time, Dr. Sylvius was a Professor of Medicine in Leyden, and he attempted to infuse juniper berries into a spirit distilled from grain in order to create a panacea. The resulting elixir eventually became known as gin, and was so popular that within a few decades, the Dutch were exporting 10 million gallons annually. For the next 250 years, nearly all the gin produced in the world was barrel-aged since the spirit was stored and transported in oak barrels (at the time, glass was too fragile and plastic and stainless steel containers were still not available). In order to craft a more traditional gin, "we've rested our signature vapor basket gin in our charred oak barrels previously used to age our spiced rum," says Darek Bell, the founder and master distiller at Corsair Artisan Distillery. Since opening its doors in 2009, Corsair has received numerous accolades and awards, including being named the 2013 Craft Distillery of the Year and 2013 Innovator of the Year by Whisky Magazine. As a result of this barrel aging, together with its citrus-heavy botanical recipe, the gin has a bold aroma of cola, anise, sweet spices and and oak. The aroma gives way to notes of tropical fruits, vanilla, citrus and candied nuts on the palate, and finishes with a touch of ginger and licorice. Once the gin has matured, each bottle is filled, labeled and then boxed by hand. "We make less in a year than a big distillery spills in a day," says Clay Smith, Corsair's Distillery Manager. Corsair Barrel Aged Gin earned the Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2011.

Absinthe, which is a spirit traditionally derived from grand wormwood, anise and fennel, has a long and colorful history. While its origins remain unclear, the use of medicinal wormwood dates back to ancient Egypt. In the 18th and 19th centuries, absinthe was distributed by the French Army to its troops as a cure for several digestive diseases, including dysentery and tropical fever. When the troops returned home, they brought their taste for absinthe with them. Spurred by the temperance movement and winemakers, absinthe eventually became associated with hallucinogenic effects. One critic claimed that absinthe would "make you crazy and criminal,"and that it would "provoke epilepsy and tuberculosis." In 1905, Swiss farmer Jean Lanfray murdered his family after consuming considerable quantities of wine, brandy and two glasses of absinthe. While Lanfray had a history of alcoholism, Swiss teetotalers seized the moment and passed a referendum making absinthe illegal. Similarly, absinthe was prohibited in the United States for nearly a century; from 1912 until 2007, absinthe was not allowed to be consumed on American soil. Corsair RED Absinthe is a unique interpretation on the classic green spirit. "Our company got going about the same time the U.S. ban was lifted, so it was one of those things where we said we could make a little and people would come and want to know about it," says Andrew Webber, the co-founder of Corsair Artisan Spirits. "It's one of the most uncommon absinthes made in the world, so people have found use for our product, and it has its own uses in mixology." Corsair RED is made using traditional absinthe ingredients, but is tweaked with some unusual additions, including citrus, tarragon, dragon wormwood (a relative of grand wormwood) and red hibiscus flowers. "We think of a good spirit as something like a musical chord made up of several notes," says Webber, noting that Corsair originally envisioned creating a more traditional absinthe. "Our early batches were missing a note in the chord. But when we added hibiscus, everything clicked." The hibiscus flowers give the absinthe its unusual red color, and add a floral note to the palate that is complemented by tangy citrus, herbal undertones and a spicy, peppery finish. Once the absinthe has been distilled, each bottle is filled, labeled and boxed by hand Corsair's small operation has no mechanized components. "We make less in a year than a big distillery spills in a day," says Clay Smith, Corsair's distillery manager. "Our products are extremely small batch, meaning that our largest run is 550 bottles."

In the 1650s, a Dutch doctor named Franciscus Sylvius was searching for a remedy to the kidney and stomach ailments that he often encountered in his practice of internal medicine. At the time, Dr. Sylvius was a Professor of Medicine in Leyden, and he attempted to infuse juniper berries into a spirit distilled from grain in order to create a panacea. The resulting elixir eventually became known as gin, and was so popular that within a few decades, the Dutch were exporting 10 million gallons annually. For the next 250 years, nearly all the gin produced in the world was barrel-aged since the spirit was stored and transported in oak barrels (at the time, glass was too fragile and plastic and stainless steel containers were still not available). In order to craft a more traditional gin, "we've rested our signature vapor basket gin in our charred oak barrels previously used to age our spiced rum," says Darek Bell, the founder and Master Distiller at Corsair Artisan Distillery. Since opening its doors in 2009, Corsair has received numerous accolades and awards, including being named the 2013 Craft Distillery of the Year and 2013 Innovator of the Year by Whisky Magazine. Corsair's Artisan Gin remains one of the few gins produced using a gin-head (otherwise known as a carter head or vapor basket). This method, allows the flavors and essential oils of the gin's sustainably grown botanicals to be gently extracted using vapor; this technique yields a less bitter spirit than maceration resulting in a more aromatic, clean-tasting gin. This gin head style gin is made using 100% organic botanicals, which yields a brighter, more well-balanced spirit. Using a vapor basket essentially highlights the unique mixture of botanicals use in the spirit, such as citrus, cucumber, cardamom and coriander. Among other accolades, this crisp gin has struck Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the World Beverage Competition, and the International Review of Spirits Awards BTI.

"I'm an avid whiskey lover," says Darek Bell, master distiller at Corsair Artisan Distillery in Kentucky, "but I do think whiskey could be better. Different. More interesting. More imaginative". Bell, a graduate of the Bruichladdich Distilling Academy in Islay, Scotland, is a mad scientist and a notoriously experimental distiller. Since opening its doors in 2009, Corsair Artisan Distillery has received numerous accolades and awards, including being named the 2013 Craft Distillery of the Year and 2013 Innovator of the Year by Whisky Magazine. Wildfire is Corsair's very first grain to glass whiskey, crafted from barley grown, malted, and smoked at a rural Tennessee farm in Bell's Bend. Wildfire is 100% hickory-smoked, which gives it a unique flavor profile and smooth mouthfeel. Launched in 2015 Wildfire has quickly become one of our most popular whiskeys.