Did a tour of Rock town distillery in Little Rock Arkansas recently.
They have a nice little operation.
A 250 gallon steam heated copper pot with 4 bubble cap plates and an "estimated" 12" by 14' packed column for vodka.
They ferment and distill on the grain and age in oak barrels that are coopered Hot Springs Arkansas.
I sampled all their wares and I'll give a thumbs up to the master distiller.
Did a tour my self Shady,the only one I could not sample was the Rye they just started bring it out of the barrel, Yes they do a fine job!
I do belive they changed distillers since I have been there, but sounds like they were trained well!
shadylane wrote:Did a tour of Rock town distillery in Little Rock Arkansas recently.
They have a nice little operation.
A 250 gallon steam heated copper pot with 4 bubble cap plates and an "estimated" 12" by 14' packed column for vodka.
They ferment and distill on the grain and age in oak barrels that are coopered Hot Springs Arkansas.
I sampled all their wares and I'll give a thumbs up to the master distiller.
I bought their three bottle whiskey sampler pack. 3-200 ml bottles of different whiskeys, a bourbon, a rye, and a hickory smoked wheat whiskey. I'm predominantly a bourbon drinker, but I enjoyed the hickory smoked and the rye the best. They were all good though. They have a nice operation and are doing it right.
My Wife liked the Vodka best also,the cool thing was we were early for the tour arrived just as the other tour ahead of us finished,so we sat at the sampling bar and BSed for 45 mins with Diana and Josh,and even Met Phil for a short hello as he was passing through,it was cool and Diana's story of how the Distillery was started and the trails and tribulations they went through, very good story and very nice friendly people! Anyone gets a chance to visit dont pass it up,and the location is a not what ya would expect,kind of hidden away ya have to look for it! Is a cool place!:thumbup:
Forgot to ask what they were using for packing in the column.
The lady leading the tour was helpful about answering questions, but.
What I really wanted, was to abandon the tour and help the still hands.
shadylane wrote:What I really wanted, was to abandon the tour and help the still hands.
It's where you find yourself when you tour a distillery after starting this hobby.
I felt the same way and was fortunate when the tour was done we were able to sit and chat with the crew. Once they understood that we understood then they took us to the back and showed us all around the parts the tour don't take you. Still would have liked to just work with them for a week or so (sorry, wasn't the distillery mentioned in this post).
shadylane wrote:What I really wanted, was to abandon the tour and help the still hands.
It's where you find yourself when you tour a distillery after starting this hobby.
I felt the same way and was fortunate when the tour was done we were able to sit and chat with the crew. Once they understood that we understood then they took us to the back and showed us all around the parts the tour don't take you. Still would have liked to just work with them for a week or so (sorry, wasn't the distillery mentioned in this post).
I got a free bottle of absinthe while talking to a distiller at a craft distillery in Portland after other people left and it was just the two of us and my son. He realized that I had a background and said if I was really interested I should join HD, I smiled and he looked at me said your already a member then handed me the bottle of absinthe. That was the first time I had ever tried it with an absinthe fountain.
Ralfy did a review of the Rock Town bourbon back in Sept. Gave it pretty impressive reviews...definitely on my list to sample, http://www.whiskyreviews.blogspot.com/2 ... young.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Bumping this thread to give credit where it is due. Jim Murray's Whiskey Bible 2015 awarded first place for Micro Whiskey of the Year to Rock Town for their single barrel bourbon. I haven't had their single barrel offering, only their regular bourbon. On Chuck Cowdery's forum StraightBourbon.com, the owner and master distiller joins in on a topic and answers some questions about it. He says that their single barrel that won the awards is only a little over a year old and aged in 15 gallon barrels. It is a wheated bourbon as well. It received a score of 96.5 out of 100 from Jim Murray. The highest score ever given by him is 97. They are largely using techniques that home distillers use and are receiving the highest possible awards in the field.
and I'll give a thumbs up to the master distiller.
