Catoctin Creek

Becky and Scott Harris opened Catoctin Creek in Purcellville, Virginia in 2009, the first legal distillery in Loudoun County since before Prohibition. Becky is the chief distiller. Virginia was making whiskey before Kentucky was a state, and the brand is built on getting back to that.

Roundstone Rye is 100 percent rye, organic, and distilled on the grain over a nine hour run through a 400 litre copper pot still. A single grain bill means no corn sweetness to hide behind, so what you taste is the rye itself. The range steps up in proof rather than recipe: 80 proof flagship, 92 proof Distiller's Edition drawn from roughly one barrel in ten, and a cask proof at 116. Start at 92 to see the grain clearly.