Santa Fe Spirits of Santa Fe, New Mexico, announces the release of a new single malt in its lineup. Colkegan Unsmoked is Santa Fe Spirits’s popular Colkegan Mesquite Smoked American Single Malt, but without the smoke. Colkegan Unsmoked will be launched at Santa Fe Spirits Distillery at 4 p.m. on Friday.
“Over the years we’ve been asked if we’d ever considered creating an unsmoked version of Colkegan, so, several years ago we put up some barrels of an unsmoked Colkegan,” says Santa Fe Spirits founder Colin Keegan. “We wanted to release a whiskey that would complement our current line-up of American Single Malts, but also stand on its own.”
Distiller Stephen Julander says that the Unsmoked Colkegan “allowed us to create a whiskey that focuses on the flavors of the pure malt.”
Unsmoked Colkegan was aged for about four years in new American Oak and used bourbon barrels. The resulting whiskey is described by Julander: “Warm, light sweetness of warm brown sugar, bubblegum, macadamia nuts and cinnamon on the nose gives way to a palate of toasted walnuts, wafer cookies, toast, dried pit fruit and light spice. A lovely finish of lasting notes of toasted oak and butterscotch pudding.”
Colkegan Unsmoked is a limited run of approximately 1,500 bottles and will be available exclusively at the Santa Fe Spirits Distillery and the Santa Fe Spirits Downtown Tasting Room through the remainder of 2022. It will be released for limited distribution in 2023.
Colkegan Unsmoked Release Party, Friday October 14, 4:00 – 7:30, Santa Fe Spirits Distillery, 7505 Mallard Way, Unit I.