ADVANCED MIXOLOGY
INNOVATORS
A Woman's Touch BECKY AND SCOTT HARRIS ARE TURNING THE RYE WHISKY WORLD ON ITS HEAD
By Victoria CeCe If there’s anyone going against the grain in the whisky world, it’s Catoctin Creek. This Virginia-based distillery started back in 2009 as the first of its kind in Loudon County since Prohibition. Founded by Becky and Scott Harris, the husband and wife duo saw a real gap in the whisky world—the absence of rye whisky crafted from local grain. “When we first started producing rye whisky, people often told us, ‘This doesn’t taste like rye!’ We were flabbergasted!” recounts Becky and Scott, “How can it not taste like rye? It’s 100% rye!” Their whisky, crafted from locally Virginia-grown rye, revealed a
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secret in the spirits world. “What we learned was that much of the rye whisky on the market at that time (in 2010) was coming from Indiana and was showing up in many different bottles.” As innovators do, Becky and Scott committed to their dream of creating real Virginia rye whisky. This goes even beyond the grain. “We choose to pot-still our whisky, which we believe develops a deeper, richer, creamier flavor and texture,” explains Scott. “The process takes about eight hours per batch, which is about 16 times longer than it would take to render on a column still.”
