The Charlottesville 29

On June 29, a trip down 29 from Charlottesville led to a Charlottesville 29 collaboration.

The destination was Virginia Distillery Co. and the purpose was to celebrate a long-pursued milestone: American single malt is now an officially recognized style by the U.S. government. While Scottish single malt is world-renowned, American distillers of it are still gaining recognition. A big step forward is that “American single malt” has joined whiskies like “bourbon” and “rye” as an official style.

What makes this especially exciting for the Charlottesville area is that single malt’s defining characteristic is a sense of place. “Single” means made at just one distillery, so single malts typically reflect the place they are made. Like oenophiles and French wines, Scottish single malt connaisseurs know whisky by their regions.

Virginia Distillery Co.’s award-winning whiskies are made by our community’s people from our community’s products. The Charlottesville 29 exists to celebrate the people of our food and drink community. Virginia Distillery’s collaboration with The Charlottesville 29, then, is a celebration of the community that has propelled its success.

And what a whisky it is. On our visit, we tasted whisky from several casks with Director of Liquid Development Amanda Beckwith. One stood out. The only one of its kind, it’s the distillery’s first-ever single cask 100% American single malt finished in a port cask. “Crafted from this place, for this place,” the distillery says. There are fewer than 250 bottles of it. Learn the full story behind the distillery and this whisky in this week’s C-VILLE.

Tasting note: with an ABV of 59.7%, this whisky benefits from water. Adding one part water to two or three parts whisky rounds it out and brings out its flavor.