Sagamore Spirit, a Baltimore-based whiskey company, today announced that it received two 96-point ratings from The Tasting Panelfor its Sagamore Reserve Double Oak and Sagamore Reserve Moscatel Barrel Finish Whiskey. The Tasting Panel also awarded Sagamore’s Signature 83-Proof Straight Rye Whiskey with 95-points earlier this year. Sagamore Spirit received 16 taste and packaging awards since launching in May of 2016. Their Cask Strength Rye Whiskey recently won double gold from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Meridith May, Publisher and Editorial Director of The Tasting Panel, rated both of Sagamore Spirit’s limited-edition whiskies, Sagamore Reserve Double Oak and Moscatel Barrel Finish, with a score of 96/100 in the magazine’s December 2017 feature, “Born in Maryland.” May noted that the Double Oak’s “palate feels like satin” with notes of sandalwood, peach tart and butterscotch and added that the bolder of the two whiskeys, the Moscatel Barrel Finish, has a “silky, lush finish [that] offers up flavors and textures of apricot nectar” as well as “big, brawny notes of fig and banana bread [which] interplay with cinnamon, bran muffin and mocha caramel.”
“We are so excited to have received this incredible honor for our new limited time offer whiskies, which is a testament to the team’s hard work,” said Brian Treacy, President of Sagamore Spirit. “Continual recognition as a part of the national whiskey scene is something we’re very proud of as we continue to introduce more people to Sagamore Spirit.”
The two LTO flavors of Sagamore Spirit’s Straight Rye Whiskey, Double Oak and Moscatel, each feature a different aging process to achieve their desired finish. Double Oak is aged for four years before being placed into a new oak barrel for additional maturation, which reenergizes the aging process. The Moscatel finish is aged in moscatel fortified wine barrels, often found in Spain and Portugal. Each individual barrel is aged to a slightly different proof, allowing each bottle to hold a proof unique to the barrel.
Sagamore Spirit opened its new distillery in Port Covington on April 21. The Sagamore Spirit Distillery campus sits on five acres of waterfront property on the banks of the Patapsco River in Baltimore City. The 22,000 square-foot Distillery Building houses the world’s only handmade 40-foot mirrored finished copper column still, made by Vendome Copper in Louisville, Kentucky. The still took twelve people 1,200 hours to make and is “continuous,” maintaining a constant state of distillation. The distillery features a 250-gallon copper pot still, used for research and development, seasonal releases, and new spirit expressions. The Distillery Building also holds nine 6,500-gallon fermenting tanks, an 8,000-gallon beer well, and a 6,000-gallon mash cooker – all made in the United States.
Sagamore Spirit opened their award-winning five-acre waterfront distillery campus in Baltimore in April 2017. Since opening, over 10,000 guests have visited the campus and tasted Sagamore’s 16-time award-winning rye whiskies. Each batch of whiskey is made with pure spring-fed Maryland water. The distillation team blends two different rye mash bills – a high rye and a low rye – and then adds limestone-filtered spring water transported 22 miles from Sagamore Farm, to create an 83 proof Maryland-style rye whiskey. 100 percent of Sagamore Rye is cut to proof with this distinct water. Sagamore Spirit also offers a Cask Strength whiskey that is 112 – 114 proof. Sagamore Spirit is committed to putting Maryland back on the map as the premier distiller of rye whiskey.
