Guests can fill their own bottles at Catoctin Creek
IAN STALKER
Scott Harris has a succinct message to those acquiring a nice bottle of rye whiskey while visiting Purcellville, Virginia — fill ‘er up!
Scott and Becky Harris founded Catoctin Creek distillery in 2009, the first legal distillery in Virginia’s Loudoun County after Prohibition, with Scott billing the surrounding Loudoun Valley as “the birthplace of American whiskey. At Catoctin Creek, we faithfully dedicate ourselves to that tradition, producing Virginia’s most awarded whisky: Roundstone Rye!”
And a recent distillery innovation provides a very hands-on experience for visitors, inviting them to fill their own bottles of purchased whiskey. In addition to touring and enjoying spirits and cocktails, visitors now have the option to fill their own bottle from the new Catoctin Creek Filling Station.
Barrels with unique profiles and collaborative stories will be chosen from Catochin Creek’s inventory and offered for hand-filling at the station. Visitors will be instructed how to apply the label, cork the bottle, seal it, and then can write the special batch information upon each bottle with their own signature, making a unique bottle.
“Our normal bottling process is using our Botelli bottler, which can bottle up to 2,500 bottles per hour,” Scott reports. “This is what we use for our normal bottling operations on our regular lineup.
“The hands-on experience is a fun way for visitors to get something really unique. We only sell this expression at the distillery, and it can be bought nowhere else in the world.It makes a wonderful gift, and a fun experience for the visitor.
“The customer will hand write and sign each bottle, making them unique.”
“We’re really excited to offer this program to our customers,” said Becky, president and chief distiller of Catoctin Creek.”Usually, these rare barrels would be set aside for commercial customers, but we thought it would be nice, from time to time, to offer them to our visitors.I’ve seen fill-your-own experiences at other distilleries in the USA, and people really enjoy that process and getting a truly unique bottle.”
The Barrel Select Premium whisky comes in a Italian glass bottle, with a black and copper label. All offerings from the program will be unfiltered at natural cask proof, 750mL and $129 per bottle.These bottles will not be available for purchase outside of the Catoctin Creek tasting room.
The distillery says it sources “our grain and fruit from local sources, free of pesticides and chemical additives that would come through in the spirits we produce. The results are the finest, cleanest spirits possible, with the greatest attention to detail in every single bottle we produce.”
Meanwhile, the distillery will continue to innovate, Scott promises.
“We are launching a new expression called Catoctin Creek Hot Honey Rye, which uses local Virginia honey and chili peppers to infuse our rye whisky. It will be available this fall,”he reports.
For more information visit catoctincreekdistilling.com/vote-barrel.
