Draft #1

After years of seeking and securing bottles, I created the first draft of my #50StateBlend, on March 22nd, 2020, days after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the bars on what would have been one of the busiest bar nights of the year.  It was a simple draft.  Just an equal 10ml measure from all 51 bottles including fourteen Bourbons, fourteen Ryes,  twelve Single Malts, one Single Malt Rye, one Tennessee Whiskey (duh!) one Millet, one Sorghum and six whiskeys that don’t cleanly fit in any of those particular categories.

While an equal parts blend ticked the box of assembling the first ever blend of whiskeys from every US state, this draft was also my first chance to see if this audacious 50 State Blend idea had promise or if it was going to be an expensive, hot mess.  

My first thought after sipping was “Hey!  This isn’t bad!”   Intriguing. Complex. Most definitely needs time to settle and meld, but good stuff!  My second thought was, “What can I do to make it even better?”

Ultimately, I’m striving for a balanced blend with an enticing nose, rich palate, weighty mouthfeel and lingering finish.  A dram of 50StateBlend should tell a compelling story AND satisfy discerning whiskey lovers.

I call my iterations “drafts” because I know it will take trial and error to figure out how these spirits work together.  For instance, I learned, somewhat frustratingly, that it takes a while for a blend to really settle down.  I now let the blends meld in the bottle for about four weeks before considering them ready to share. (And that’s without barrel-aging, a step that I introduced for Draft 4).