Dry Fly Triticale Whiskey

Dry Fly Triticale Whiskey

"The stills are the pretty part," says Don Poffenroth as he points to his twin, custom-designed 450-liter Christian Carl copper-pot stills. Manufactured in Goppingen, Germany, the stills travelled over seven thousand miles to Dry Fly Distillery's home in Spokane, Washington, and today, are used to make Dry Fly's line of craft spirits. Poffenroth and his co-founder, Kent Fleischmann, were inspired to open the doors to Dry Fly Distillery when they were knee-deep in the Gallatin River during a fly-fishing trip. "It was still early and the sun was rising slowly behind the alders," says Fleischmann. "It occurred to us how privileged we were to live, work, and fish in one of the most amazing places on Earth. We felt so fortunate that we wanted to find some way to share the natural beauty and purity of the great Northwest." Dry Fly Triticale Whiskey is made from a mash of 100% triticale. Triticale is a type of grain that was originally created in Scotland during the 1800s by crossing a species of wheat with a species of rye. While the goal was to produce a new type of grain that had the hardiness of rye but the yields of wheat, the process also created a grain that had the spicy characteristics of rye that were complemented by the robust, soft flavors of wheat. "This may very well be the very first commercially available whiskey made from triticale," says Poffenroth. "It took us a long time to figure out how to distill this right we had to watch over the fermentation process carefully and then figure out how to mature it without overpowering the flavors of the triticale. Now, it's the best thing we've ever made." After fermenting and distilling the grains, Dry Fly Triticale Whiskey is aged in 53-gallon barrels for a minimum of two years. Following maturation, the whiskey is brought to proof and bottled by hand. Dry Fly Triticale Whiskey has an aroma of gingerbread, cinnamon and dried fruits that open up to notes of oak and apple on the palate. Spicy notes of rye are pronounced, and lead to a finish with hints of additional gingerbread, oak and vanilla. The whiskey earned the Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2013. "We are trying to challenge the norm," says Fleischmann. "We want to raise the bar and produce something memorable that keeps people coming back."