Introducing "The Goat"

For most of us who don’t hail from there, Wisconsin probably conjures up thoughts of cheese or That 70’s Show, not booze. If that’s true in your case, then you should find it particularly ironic that nestled into the wine country (yes, Wisconsin has a wine country) east of Madison is a rye whiskey-making distillery called Dancing Goat—or as the folks who work there call it, “The Goat.”

American craft whiskey has exploded from just a handful of distilleries to over 1,000. That growth has often been characterized by enthusiasm more than experience, and real distilling expertise has sometimes been scarce. That wasn’t the case with Dancing Goat. Nick Maas, Distiller and Head of Innovation, learned the trade from his father, RumChata founder Tom Maas, and grandfather, Duane, who got started in the spirits business in 1959 as a plant manager at Fleischmann Distilling Corporation in Owensboro, Kentucky. For his part, Tom has worked under or with some of the most celebrated names in modern whiskey, including Frank Bobo (Jack Daniel’s), Lincoln Henderson (Brown-Forman and later Angel’s Envy), and both Booker and Fred Noe (Jim Beam). Nick also brings his experience as a master mixologist with Agave Loco and RumChata to the team. All told, Dancing Goat combines seven decades of experience in distilling, blending, and mixology.

In addition to making a line of liqueurs originated by the company’s president, Travis Hasse, Dancing Goat came out with its first whiskey, Limousin Rye, earlier this year. Craft distilling is noted for its innovation, but Dancing Goat’s maturation process is novel even by craft standards.

“The key differentiation for Dancing Goat Distillery’s Limousin Rye is the custom multistage aging, combining new and vintage oak,” said Travis. “The base distillate is aged over time in vintage oak, and we add just the right touch of new wood with our proprietary process. The product is then finish aged in our solera system featuring Limousin oak barrels.”

Using a combination of new and used oak barrels to age whiskey and blending them together is not uncommon these days, and one encounters the use of Limousin wood from time to time, but the solera system still isn’t seen that often in American whiskey. Most strongly identified with making sherry, soleras use a system of vats or casks that are tapped for a given batch, but never completely drained. The vats or casks are then refilled with new liquid.

In theory, some of the original starter batch— along with some liquid from each subsequent batch entered into the system— remains in the solera and continues to grow older as time goes by. At Dancing Goat, those solera casks are made from Limousin oak, a wood sourced from the Limousin forest in France that both winemakers and cognac producers hold in high regard.

Dancing Goat monitors the progress of Limousin with periodic tastings throughout the process, and draws a batch only when the team is happy with it. “Nothing goes in the bottle until it is perfect,” says Dancing Goat’s Nick Maas.

The inaugural batch of Limousin Rye is a 92 proof whiskey, aged for 3 years and 7 months, and priced at $45 per 750ml bottle. It has already won plaudits from Blue Lifestyle (93 points), Los Angeles International Spirits Competition (90 points), Tasting Panel (94 points), Ultimate Spirits Challenge (93 points), and Wine Enthusiast (90 points). Dancing Goat intends to build on its liqueurs and Limousin Rye with further whiskey releases, a line of bitters, and a barrel-aged maple syrup.

By Richard Thomas