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FROM GRAIN TO GLASS

Everything we sell is produced in our small distillery with a labor of love. Pioneer Whisky is dedicated to creating the highest quality whisky. Using the highest quality brewers malt, mineral water from our private well, and both new American and used French oak barrels. All of our products are small batch and of limited availability. We care about the quality of our whisky, never adding any artificial coloring or flavoring.

JEFFERSON GOLD

$48/750 ml. 43%

Jefferson Gold is typically a blend of Corn, Rye, and Malt whiskies, each distilled and barreled separately then blended at bottling. Occasionally we will include other blends as our Jefferson Gold. Check our batch release notes below for more info.

This release resembles a high-end Canadian blended whiskey. A blend of three individually distilled/barreled whiskies. It is roughly equal parts Corn Whisky, Rye Whisky, and Malt Whisky. It is quite similar in many ways to the rest of our whiskies in that the high-quality new American Oak really shines through, except the Jefferson Gold has a distinct sweet and spicy character that comes from the corn and rye. This release was aged entirely in new 15 gallon Heavy Char American Oak barrels for 18-24 months. The Rye and Corn were married in a used 30 gallon French Oak wine barrel for another 6 months before being blended with 6 gallons of Oregon Highlander. It was bottled at 43% or 86 proof. A little over 13 cases were bottled.
Jefferson Gold, Our 3 Blend Whisky

OLD OLCC # 3911B

NEW OLCC # 5592B

OLD OLCC # 3913B

NEW OLCC #5589B

OREGON HIGHLANDER

$48/750 ml. 43%

Oregon Highlander is a Scottish Highland style Singlemalt whisky made from Great Western 2-row, Munich, and Crystal 40 malt. Check our batch release notes below for more info.

American Distilling Institute Bronze medal awarded to this batch! Here are some of the judges tasting notes… “Deep mahogany color from French Oak wine barrel finish… Notes of candied butterscotch, some mint… Has a malty clean finish.”

The bulk of this whisky is 2.5 years old with about 10% being over 3 years old and about 20% being 2 years old. This release spent 6 months in a freshly emptied syrah barrel and has a rich red hue and fruity finish with an aroma of dried fruit, Christmas fruitcake and old books. Our richest Oregon Highlander yet. Only 210 bottles were filled.

This release is basically the same as 17-1 except that it is overall about 6 months older and has a much stronger Red Wine barrel finish. About 30% of this release was aged in second fill barrels contributing a slightly stronger malt forward spirit. Bottled at 43% or 86 proof. This was a 15 case release.

The bulk of this release (90%) is one and a half years old with some two year old whisky. It was mostly aged in new 10 & 15 gallon Barrel Mill char #3 & #4 barrels. A smaller percentage was finished in wine barrels giving this whisky darker gold/brown buds and a slightly more vanilla, new oak flavor. The nose has the biscuit, cereal aroma that comes from malted whisky versus bourbon/corn whiskey. This heavier oak flavor will appeal to bourbon drinkers that prefer sweeter whiskey with vanilla notes. As compared to 16-1 this release is more of an American style Single Malt. 16 cases released. Bottled at 43% or 86 proof. 16 cases released.

The bulk of this release (65%) is right at a year old. The remainder is 20% 6+ months and 15% is 4-5 months old. It has all been in a plethora of new and used heavy char 5 & 10 gallon American Oak barrels and most of it was finished in 15 gallon French Oak, former wine barrels. The blend of barrels and times spent in each barrel is almost too complicated to list. But the fun part is doing the blending trials and putting together the final blend. It is bottled at 45% or 90 proof. 15 cases released.

ISLAY STYLE PEATED

$48/750 ml. 46%

Islay Style Peated is a smokey, peaty singlemalt made entirely from Baird’s Heavily Peated malt from Inverness Scotland. Check our batch release notes below for more info.

Still made with 100% Bairds Heavily Peated Malt from Inverness Scottland. This one has just a little more time in barrel and has a little sweeter cherry/fruit and not quite as much smoke. The typical phenols are there, just a little more refined. Still at 46% or 92 proof.
The phenols that give this malt it’s smoky complex flavor and aroma are delicate and are easily masked by too much new oak or time. Our whisky was aged mostly in new American Oak barrels so the smoky notes are well entwined with the sweet buttery, vanilla from the new barrels. The majority is 12 months old and the remainder (30%) is 3-8 months old. In Scotland, these whiskies are typically aged in used barrels with just a small percentage of first fill Bourbon barrels. We don’t know of any aged in new oak. The smoky, peat is subtle and well integrated into our whisky. Future releases will be aged in second and even third fill barrels to showcase the smoky malt rather than the new oak. A well-balanced Scotch style Oregon Single Malt. It is bottled at 46% abv or 92 proof. 17 cases released.

OLD OLCC # 3912B

NEW OLCC # 5591B

HOW WE MAKE OUR WHISKY

We mill, mash, ferment, and double distill our whisky before aging in first and second fill American White Oak barrels.

Milled grains GRAIN MILLING All grain is milled in house using our five roller mill. milling grain in house Peated Malt PEATED MALT 350 lbs of Baird's heavily peated malt from Scotland go into each batch of our Islay style peated whisky. Mash / brew MASH & BREW We do a simple 90 minute infusion mash in our stainless steel repurposed dairy tank mash tun. Ferment FERMENT The beer is fermented in several styles of fermenters, from French Oak to 275 gal IBC containers. Soon we will be fermenting exclusively 300 gal Oregon Doug fir Scottish style washback. Copper Still STRIPPING RUN Our first distillation takes place in our hand hammered copper 180 Gal Hoga still from Spain. Custom Column SPIRIT RUN A second distillation is performed in our custom built 32 gal combination pot/column still. Amereican Oak AGING All of our whisky starts out in either 1st or 2nd fill 15 gal American White Oak barrels from Minnesota. After about a year, 2 of our 15 gal barrels are married into 30 gal French oak wine barrels. From there the whisky goes into 60 gal French oak wine barrels before we hand bottle it. Ferment bottling by hand BOTTLING Our whisky is bottled entirely in house on our 6 head Italian bottler.