Catoctin Creek

Catoctin Creek is a fantastic craft distillery based in Purcellville, Virginia. Husband and wife team Becky and Scott Harris set up the company to produce high quality spirits with a focus on a range of rye whiskies that are second-to-none. Master Distiller Becky utilises her experience in chemical engineering to ensure a consistency and depth of flavour are continually produced, with Scott guiding the tiller of marketing and sales.

Having met Scott virtually when he joined us on a tasting event, they seem like a lovely couple. So it was a real surprise when they collaborated with GWAR, one of the most extreme metal bands out there, to produce a rye whiskey in their honour.

GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984 and has a regularly rotating line up of musicians. A 'shock rock' group in every sense of the word, GWAR (which is a meaningless name and is pronounced exactly as it reads) court controversy and cult following everywhere they go.

As so to Ragnarok Rye, which is 100% initially aged in charred white-oak before transferring into sugar-maple and Cherry wood barrels for a period of finishing. It's a bold, upfront whiskey even at 46%, with hints of charred sourdough bread, tobacco and coffee beans. The sweetness you might expect from the sugar-maple and cherrywood is there, but very much at the background - although it does come through more on the finish. Giving the collaboration one would hope for intensity but fortunately it's not too overpowering.

And a word about the eye-catching stoppers - there are five different ones to denote the five members of GWAR: Blóthar the Berserker; Balsac the Jaws of Death; Jizmak da Gusha; Beefcake the Mighty; and Pustulus Maximus.