Featured at World Whisky Day 2021: Santa Fe Spirits was founded in 2010 by Englishman Colin Keegan. An architect by trade, Colin and his family built their home on an old apple orchard in the American Southwest in the early 90s. Colin decided to look at the Recession of 2008/09 as an opportunity and founded Santa Fe Spirits. After a decade and more in production, Santa Fe Spirits offer vodka, gin, apple brandy (from the orchards) and liqueurs. Their flagship product, however, is the Colkegan Single Malt. A portmanteau of the distillery’s founder, the Colkegan line uses local mesquite wood to dry a portion of the barley used in the whiskey, with other versions using various proofage and cask finishes.
Distillery: Sante Fe Spirits
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 46%
Price: $59.99
Barrel: 1451, batch 14
Location: Santa Fe
Nose: Smoke, sweet, barbeque, candied lemon, toasted almond, BBQ’d pineapple, brown sugar, prickly pear
Palate: Spice, pineapple, prickly pear, sweet lemon, vanilla, maple, wintergreen, mesquite smoke, chocolate
Finish: Mineral, spice
Comments: Let this one sit. While good right out of the bottle, it definitely opens up over time.
Adam – I was expecting to be overawed by the Colkegan Single Malt, given the mesquite smoke. But the smoke is much subtler here, while still being present. Which is great, because there is a host of other flavor elements that vie for association, as you can tell from the above nose/palate notes. The smoke, sweet, fruit, spice spin and dance enough to make Salome dizzy, calling to mind first one association, then another; you can barely recognize one before another is clawing for attention. Overall, what stands out to me is balance and integration. There are no rough edges here, the nose to the palate to the finish are one seamless story that is told without hitch, and it is one you want to hear again right after it is finished. Depending on the time of day or year or your mood or whether Mercury is rising or not, different elements will appear dominant but that lasts only as long as that snapshot in time before the soloist steps back into the choir and harmony is restored.
Kate – The Colkegan Single Malt reminds us of a cross between a highland scotch and an Irish whiskey. Good balance, very drinkable. Goes straight to the back of the throat. Not complex but beautiful. There’s almost a vanilla quality to the palate initially; the finish is warm and a smidge spicy. On the nose, the mesquite is the first smell. As you let it sit, other flavours open up like maple, candied lemon, prickly pear. The palate is a little illusive for me. I can’t tell you exactly what I taste but the experience is lovely, all the same. It is dry on the finish. My overall impression is meeting someone new and liking them but not being able to pinpoint why I like them.
The smoke, sweet, fruit, spice spin and dance enough to make Salome dizzy.
Henry – A complex and layered nose of sweet florals, candy sugar, prickly pear, and sweet molasses barbecue. Wintergreen and mesquite smoke enter on the palate, with a pleasant salty minerality which lingers into the finish, which, while not particularly long, is pleasing and makes you want more.
Bill – Wintergreen and chocolate, then cherry. The fruit really comes through on the palate from the nose.
Ben – The Colkegan Single Malt really reminds me of prickly pear on the palate, from the sweetness but with a sour edge. It’s not a long finish either. It’s there, then it’s gone and you move on.
