CAPITAL PEATED WHISKY
Single Cask #2017-01 sold exclusively by K&L (2022)MASH BILL – 100% Scottish Bairds heavily peated malt
PROOF – 133.4
AGE – 5 years in a once-used barrel, which had first aged rye whiskey for only one year.
DISTILLERY – Capital Liquors Project
PRICE – $55
WORTH BUYING? – Absolutely
In 2022 I picked up an oddball whiskey, a 100% malted rye made by a guy named Greg Miller in Davis, California, just a short drive north of San Francisco. Miller is a professor of chemical engineering at University of California Davis. He is also a very dedicated whiskey enthusiast, so much so that he got a license to legally distill and began experimenting in a small shed near the university. It’s a very humble operation. Miller’s homemade potstill is so small, it takes about 30 runs to fill a single 53 gallon barrel.
That rye was a celebration of malt—dry, soft, chocolatey, graham crackery, with a lovely creamy texture to it. A literally handcrafted experience.
When I interviewed Miller, I found his curiosity absolutely infectious. For example, he mentioned a methodical tasting experiment he’d once done with Laphroaig, by which he tasted it every day over a prolonged period to see how this regularity would impact his perception of the flavor. (I was inspired to attempt recreating the experiment!) Miller has a special fondness for Laphroaig, and peated scotch in general. He told me he was working on a peated whisky himself and that it was coming along quite well.
Eventually Miller sent me a sample. I found it intense, but a bit simple, with something bull in a china shop about it. But when it arrived on the shelves at K&L a few months later, I picked up a bottle anyway.
Two years passed and I finally cracked it open. And woah. Whatever happened in that barrel between the sample I tasted and the bottling date was substantial. Even more so than with Miller’s rye, I was very impressed. Slap an Islay brand name like Ardbeg or Kilchoman on it, I thought, and people would pay double for it.
So let’s get into a glass. Here we are, two weeks after uncorking and a handful of pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – dusty orange and dull gold
NOSE – a lovely dried grassy peat, ash and smoke from a briquette campfire, malt, dry river stone, caramel taffy, vanilla, a fleeting waft of something like recently dried paint (although that seemed to dissipate after ~20 minutes or so)
TASTE – the peat and ash drenched by a rush of thick caramel and a fruitiness like a cherry and apricot compote
FINISH – dried peat, ash, subdued caramel and fruit notes, with a fine lingering warmth that’s very surprising given the mighty proof
OVERALL – a legitimately accomplished peated whisky for a hobbyist’s first effort in his shed!
Certainly the unusual story behind this whisky impacts my reception of its taste. But tasting it for the fifth time now, and having had it both neat and in Blood & Sand cocktails, I’m confident that even without my knowing the backstory I’d be raising my eyebrows in appreciation. Indeed, if you told me this was from Scotland I wouldn’t doubt you. If you told me it was a young single malt produced by Kilchoman or some craft Islay operation, I’d nod along without question. It’s not that it’s amazing, or exceptionally complex. It’s just really, really good for a young peated whisky—any young peated whisky hailing from anywhere, never mind a hobbyist’s shed in Davis, California.
And that easygoing warmth! What’s up with that? At 133.4 proof this should be burning my head off. I would never guess this was that hot a whisky. And it’s even my first pour of the day! Dangerous—in the best way.
For (pseudo) science I added a dollop of water. On the nose the caramel and vanilla immediately kicked up a notch, leaning into chocolate. And a nice meaty bacon note now mingled with the peat, smoke, ash and stone. On the taste, everything was a bit creamier. This enhanced the candy notes but diluted the fruit just a bit. The finish was then drier in flavor but much creamier in feel. Very interesting.
Bravo to Greg Miller. I do hope he continues with his hobby. I emailed him after tasting this whisky, and he did hint at a possible bourbon or rye being ready later this summer. I’ll be keeping my eye on the K&L website for sure.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 