It is always good when distilleries produce a good regular line up. What’s even more exciting is when they get to the point where single barrels start being offered, because that signals individual barrels are aging enough to be good on their own rather than being part of a larger blend to achieve some homogenous whole. Davidsons is a large and diverse liquor store in Centennial, Colorado that bought their own barrel of the Colkegan Single Malt. This store pick was a single malt finished for a year in apple brandy casks, an offering that first appeared in April 2017. These apple brandy casks were from the apple brandy made by Santa Fe Spirits, making this whiskey a complete circle.
Colkegan Single Malt
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.