Barbecue In A Bottle: Smoked Grains Create Unique Flavors In American Whiskeys

but there’s a whole host of other smoke sources being used in American craft distilling—and none of these whiskeys tastes like scotch. Peat is the traditional fuel source for Scotland but in the U.S., our own smoke traditions rely on native hardwoods like hickory and mesquite or the fragrant fruit woods of apple and cherry. And now these distinctly American smoke flavors are making their way into whiskey.

These flavors are familiar thanks to centuries-old traditions that are an indelible, beloved part of American foodways: barbecue, bacon, country ham, smoked fish. Now, distillers are incorporating local smoke into the grains used in their mashbills. This provides a unique way to create distinctive flavors while incorporating a sense of provenance in their whiskeys. The smoke scale of these American single malts, bourbons, ryes, and everything in between runs from barely a wisp to a full five alarms, with plenty of nuance in between to entice consumers at any comfort level.

Beyond wood for smoking, some distillers are even drawing on native peat to smoke their grains. Although peat has never been a major fuel source in North America, it’s actually abundant in certain areas, and the advent of craft-scale malting facilities born of the micro-brew movement has enabled it to be used for distilling. (There are many more distillers using imported Scottish peated barley in their recipes, but they aren’t covered in this article.) The differences in flavor and character can as varied as the terrain from Maine to Minnesota to Washington.

Check out these outstanding smoked American whiskeys from across the country.

What peat is to scotch, mesquite is to American single malt—at least for distillers in the Southwest, like Whiskey Del Bac founder Stephen Paul, who wants to make “mesquited” as common a term as “peated.” A leguminous tree native to North America, mesquite (from the Nahuatl word mizquitl) is prized for the earthy flavors its smoke gives to barbecued meat. Those same flavors shine in the single malts from Santa Fe Spirits (New Mexico), Whiskey Del Bac (Tucson, Arizona), and Ranger Creek (San Antonio, Texas). Santa Fe sources its malt from Wisconsin’s Briess Malt & Ingredients Copmpany, while Ranger Creek cold-smokes its malt in house and Del Bac has an on-site malting facility to supply its needs. Already a popular flavor in meat, potato chips, and other foods, mesquite seems poised to dominate in whiskey too.

The sweet, rich flavors and aromas of hickory are often associated with bacon, but they make a great match for whiskey as well. Buena Vista, Colorado’s Deerhammer Distillery cold-smokes yellow corn from Ute Mountain Farm, using about 15% of it in its corn whiskey mashbill. After a four-day open-top fermentation, it undergoes direct-fire double pot-distillation and maturation in Deerhammer’s own ex-bourbon and single malt barrels.

Although the product was recently discontinued, Little Rock, Arkansas-based Rock Town cold-smoked soft red winter wheat to create a gentle smokiness in its whiskey. Nashville’s Corsair Distillery—one of the earliest leaders in American smoked whiskey—malted barley over hickory wood smoke for Wildfire, which has also been discontinued but can still be found at some stores. Even Jack Daniel’s has gotten in on the hickory game, releasing a limited-edition whiskey in 2018 that was infused with charred hickory staves to impart a smoky flavor.

Located just outside of Rochester in Fairport, New York, Iron Smoke Distillery is the brainchild of rock musician Tommy Brunett, who was inspired to make an applewood-smoked bourbon during a session of cooking ribs while enjoying whiskey. The distillery’s proprietary process lightly smokes the wheat for its four-grain mashbill—Brunett calls the resulting flavor “just a puff of smoke”—and the bourbon is bottled at both 40% ABV and barrel proof. Fairfield, New Jersey’s Jersey Spirits, meanwhile, offers its Wildwoods Applewood-Smoked single malt, aged in small barrels for just shy of three years, as a limited edition, alongside a cherrywood-smoked version.

Cherrywood creates a delicate, nuanced smokiness in grain. Sonoma Distilling Company’s master distiller, Adam Spiegel, incorporates cherrywood-smoked malt into both his bourbon (13%) and rye (10%), resulting in a mild smoke character. At Long Island Spirits, master distiller Rich Stabile uses cherrywood-smoked malt to produce an English-style barleywine mash which he double-distills into the softly smoky, spicy Pine Barrens. In Corsair’s Triple Smoke single malt, the sweetness of the Wisconsin cherrywood smoke is balanced by dry German beechwood-smoked malt and earthy Scottish peated malt—each a perfect third of the mashbill.