Journeyman Last Feather Rye Whiskey

Journeyman Last Feather Rye Whiskey

The Featherbone Factory built by E.K. Warren in the 19th century to manufacture women's corsets sits on the banks of Lake Michigan just across the Indiana border in Three Oaks, Michigan. As the factory changed hands in the twentieth century, it became a production site for everything from buggy whips to pickles. Today, it's home to Journeyman Distillery and Bill Welter, Journeyman's master distiller. Welter, who was formerly a banker in Indiana, began his Journey when his family business was sold in 2006. He moved to Scotland, where he began to learn the art of craft distillation from Greg Ramsay (master distiller at Nant Distillery) and Bill Lark (master distiller at Lark Distillery). After returning to the United States, Welter spent time producing and resting whiskey using a prominent organic & kosher distiller's facility in Chicago before opening the doors of his own distillery in Three Oaks with the intention to offer grain-to-glass spirits from day one/drop one. Last Feather Rye is made by distilling a mash of 60 percent organic rye and 40 percent organic wheat through a 5000-liter, copper pot still imported from Germany. The organic rye and wheat are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, artificial pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormones, feed additives, or genetically modified organisms and enable Journeyman Distillery and all of its products to be certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association. Following distillation, the rye ages to profile in newly charred American oak casks. Using multiple size barrels, each distillation is tailored to the barrel it will age in and bottled once it has reached the desired taste profile. Journeyman Last Feather Rye has notes of ripe banana on the nose, spice and pepper of rye well balanced with the sweetness of wheat, fruit notes and a clean/dry finish - easy drinking.