Maine Craft Distilling was founded in 2012 by Luke Davidson and Fred Farber. Like many in the new wave of craft distilling, Luke experimented with a private still (in his barn) after malting grain for local brewers and eventually tried his hand at whiskey, inspired by scotch but using ingredients native to Maine. Like a very few Scottish distilleries, Maine Craft Distilling is a malt-to-barrel operation, with many of the machinery from Scotland. While the distillery makes rums, vodkas, gins and brandy – including a curious blueberry liqueur – the Fifty Stone is their only whiskey. Named after the old British unit of measure, fifty stones was traditionally the weight of barley required to make a barrel of whiskey (one stone usually equaled 14 pounds). The barley is smoked using Maine peat and Maine seaweed. Purportedly made in the Highland (we assume that equates to Scottish) style.
Distillery: Maine Craft Distilling
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 45%
Price: $44.99
Location: Portland, Maine
Nose: peat, pine, apple cider, vinegar, cinnamon, vanilla
Palate: lemon, floral, iodine, burnt sugar
Finish: peat, grape must, hazelnut
Comments: Recommend letting it sit in the glass a bit after pouring. Water doesn’t change it much.
Adam – The Fifty Stone single malt from Maine Craft Distilling is the closest I’ve come to an Islay whiskey in America. It is so unique, unlike anything else I’ve ever encountered. I walked around with the first glass I poured for an hour, letting the initial smell hit me like a burning freight train, wondering what horrible mistake I’d purchased. But as I took tentative sips and had every whiskey muscle memory be forced to recalibrate, I started to warm up to it. Then I started to like it, and really like it, especially as I was able to hone in on the curious and varied mix of flavors and influences. The fruit and peat and sweet and smoke simply defy easy categorization. This is a young whiskey, let’s make no bones about it, and I’d love to see what another five years in a barrel would do to this in terms of integrating flavors and maybe mellowing the front end out just a bit. This is an aggressive whiskey and forces you to get acclimated to it. But once you do, keep digging, keep tasting. It is an adventurous companion and more than worth the exploration.
Meghan – I smell Aqua Net, with overtones of toasted hazelnuts on the finish. It’s nutty and dark but then it goes too far. It’s the Mongolian heavy metal of whiskey.
Caitlin – The Fifty Stone smells like sunshine.
It’s the Mongolian heavy metal of whiskey.
Ben – The word syrupy comes into my head when I smell it. It really tastes and smells like the place, even though I’ve never been. The experience was that it was so big and suddenly different and then you get used to it but it’s still weird and then you kinda like what’s weird about it. The Fifty Stone smells like somebody burned pecan pie, my favorite dessert.
Kate – This is the perfect 2020 whiskey. What I find fascinating about the finish, as opposed to scotches, is this one stays in my sinuses. It is an olfactory thing, so the flavors stay with you. I almost taste rye somewhere in there. It’s sweeter like a rum, so I think it’s not like a peat. It’s like a burnt marshmallow.
Henry – A really complex and unique nose. Sweetness, spice, hazelnut/marzipan, and grape must. Oaky dryness on the midpalate quiets into a finish like warm, seasoned wood with a light hint of brine. I love unique terroir expressed in whiskies, and this hits the spot in wonderful ways. Be prepared to recalibrate your senses before you drink it.
