SHAPING AMERICAN SINGLE MALT at CEDAR RIDGE

Before opening Cedar Ridge Distillery in 2005, Jeff Quint had been an avid Scotch drinker. “I love good single malts, always have,” says Quint. “So, from the beginning, I was a bit torn between my appreciation for single malts and the fact that we’re corn farmers here in Iowa, and bourbon whiskey is a logical focus for us.” For most of the first fifteen years, Cedar Ridge did focus primarily on selling its Iowa bourbon. By the end of 2019, they had surpassed their three remaining competitive brands (Jim Beam, Makers Mark, and Bulleit) to become the number one 750ml bourbon in Iowa and have continued to grow their margin lead.

But, this whole time, Quint had not lost an ounce of interest in single malts. Everything changed for him after a solo distillery tour through Scotland, where there were two brands that really struck a chord with him. “I was super intrigued by what The Balvenie was doing with their DoubleWood, with the two unique barrel finishes, and what their neighbor Glenfiddich was doing with their solera treatment on their 15-year-old product. But I found myself wondering, why can’t we do both? I mean, a second cask finish can add tons of unique notes and finishes, and then these can all be brought together in a solera marrying vat to create a super-interesting, super-complex single malt.”

In 2012, Cedar Ridge introduced its earliest version of this single malt. To save costs, they released it in the same bottle, and with a similar label profile, as their bourbon. But, as they continued to invest primarily in their bourbon distribution, they left their single malt to fend for itself through most of the

2010s, with little marketing investment. By the end of the decade, they finally made time to revisit the promotion of their single malt.

“By 2017 or 2018, while the term ‘American

Single Malt’ was just gaining traction, it had become apparent to us that both whiskey consumers and whiskey retailers were confused about what to do with these new single malts coming from American distillers. We knew we wanted to go heads up against Scotch with this product and not be stuck on the shelf next to our own bourbon. So, we re-designed our packaging entirely.” The resulting product was then given the name The QuintEssential American Single Malt. “We wanted the retailer to put it in the Scotch section, and we wanted the consumer to notice it when shopping for Scotch.”

While Jeff was developing his bourbon business and continuing to hone his single malt strategy, his son, Murphy Quint, worked at Stranahan’s Distillery in Denver, Colorado. During his time there, Murphy really cut his teeth on single malt production and was intrigued by the emerging category in general. As he describes it, “Up until that point in time, I had a lot more experience producing bourbon and clear spirits. Once I was introduced to single malt, I became fascinated with the artistic freedom that this category presents to producers.”

Eventually, in 2014, Murphy returned back to Iowa and re-joined the family business there. Today, he manages a production team of eleven (they run around the clock to fill over 200 barrels of whiskey each month) and carries the title of Head Distiller. Murphy’s passion for single malt is every bit as strong as his dad’s, and he has taken this project to the next level.

“When we rebranded from our Cedar Ridge Single Malt to The QuintEssential American Single Malt, that’s really when I developed the flavor profile of our Solera Edition that we’re building off of still to this day. Our solera vat never goes empty; it’s always a continuation of the original “Mother Batch.” A lot of time was spent developing and shaping

Batch 1 because it laid the groundwork for every batch to come.”

Cedar Ridge starts its process by crafting their American Single Malt from two-row pale malted barley, sourced completely from Prairie Malt in Saskatchewan, Canada. They then twice distill to 148° and cut to 120°. “We really use the same process to make all of our single malt, but the uniqueness in flavors really comes through in the aging process and how we’re able to manipulate and shape the single malt.”

Cedar Ridge then starts aging its single malt in ex-bourbon barrels for about four years before transferring all of the whiskey into a variety of finishing casks. Murphy explains,

As Murphy continues to build and expand the unique finishing casks being utilized, their solera “Motherbatch” evolves with each QuintEssential batch created.

“The goal is to utilize as many unique finishing casks as possible as they eventually become individual components that can help shape the flavor profile of the final product.” Cedar Ridge routinely sources one-of-a-kind finishing casks, including Sherry butts shipped directly from Jerez, Spain, Port casks, Madeira casks, wine casks, brandy casks, and rum casks, among a variety of others. “One of the coolest parts of my job is finding all of these unique finishing casks from around the planet and discovering how they contribute to our single malt program.” They also take advantage of their combined winery onsite and often use freshly emptied barrels from their estate, such as wine and port, as well as brandy and rum. “We have the ability to empty those barrels in the morning and then by afternoon refill them with American Single Malt. The inside of these barrels are still wet and freshly coated with what they held previously, which is an advantage we have here at Cedar Ridge.”

After letting the whiskey age in its secondary cask for 1-2 years, it’s up to Murphy to then strategically marry those casks into the solera vat when preparing a new QuintEssential batch. “Since there’s always whiskey in the solera vat when I’m starting this process, I’m looking for barrels that have strong enough notes that will carry through once in the vat. The interesting thing here is that a lot of the time, I’m looking for barrels that are one-noted or even a little off-balance because when married with what’s already in the vat, they can add unique elements that remain present in the final batch.” It might not be obvious on the final flavor profile, but one of the most imperative types of barrels that Cedar Ridge is consistently adding to their solera vat is ex-brandy barrels. The reason is they build a nice fruit-forward base for Murphy to build off of that strongly contributes to the depth of the final product.

When mapping out their original single malt program, Jeff built this to visualize how they would use different types of finishing casks to create specific notes in the final QuintEssential flavor profile.

When creating a new QuintEssential batch, Murphy’s process takes about 3 weeks. “I need time for the whiskey to integrate together to tell me which direction the flavor profile is going to head in.” When new barrels are added, they initially shock the system, and all those flavors try to compete with each other, so this time is crucial for the flavors to fully marry together and become one.

“By the end of it, and my team can attest to this, I’m usually going insane. Something that I find to be both beautiful and tortuous about the process is that it is extremely difficult to label a batch ‘done’ as there’s always more I can do to tweak or shape each specific batch.” To help guide his process Murphy says “with each batch, I have an end goal in mind, and so far I’ve always been able to hit that goal, but it usually comes down to the wire before it all comes together.”

Clearly, Murphy and his crew have managed to get it right. Cedar Ridge’s The QuintEssential American Single Malt has received high scores and top reviews. Aside from a 95-point score and inclusion in Wine Enthusiast’s “Best of 2022 Buying Guide” and “10 Top-Rated Single Malt Whiskeys That Aren’t Scotch,” it has recently received numerous Gold and Double Gold medals in competitions, including Double Gold and Best American Single Malt of 2021 and 2022 by John Barleycorn Society.

For Cedar Ridge, Murphy sums it up perfectly, “Is it the most efficient way to make a single malt? No, but the process behind it is what allows us to create such a great and unique product — and really, it’s fun. It’s something we really enjoy doing and that we’re truly passionate about crafting.”