Courage & Conviction
Our Process
“Have the courage of your convictions,” was a saying George often repeated to friends and family. His credo became our core principle and the name of our newest American Single Malt whisky line, Courage & Conviction.
Virginia Distillery Company
From the impeccable quality of the ingredients we source, to the years spent perfecting our maturation process, we make whisky the right way – our way – never sacrificing the best for the easier, safer path.
At Virginia Distillery Company, we carry George’s legacy forward by reinventing American Single Malt whisky. Every barrel is a culmination of the world’s finest distilling, aged to perfection in the ideal climate of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. While inspired by time-honored traditions, we forge traditions of our own- making whisky more than what has been, while remaining true to ourselves and our home.
The result: a whisky that George would’ve been proud of.
Step One
Barley
The barley is harvested and malted in the Midwest and shipped to Virginia, where it is stored in two 36-ton malt bins on site at Virginia Distillery Company. The malt is transferred from the bins to the 1920’s Boby Mill to be milled.
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Step Two
Milling, Mashing & Fermentation
The Boby Mill, one of a handful in the U.S. splits the grain into three parts and produces the grist, which is combined with water at varying temperatures to start the production of whisky. Yeast is added, producing “wash”, which is similar to an unhopped beer of approximately 8 % alcohol by volume.
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Step Three
Distillation
The wash gets transferred to the first of two copper pot stills to begin distillation. Copper is used because of its ability to conduct heat and remove sulphur-based compounds. These compounds can lead to the whisky having an off-flavor so copper is critical in producing a quality spirit.
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Step Four
The Stills
The copper pot stills at Virginia Distillery Company come from Scotland and were handmade by a specialty fabricator. The shape and height of the still influence the flavors produced in the spirit. The longer the neck, the more refined the spirit.
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Step Five
The Spirit Safe
After distillation, the liquid moves through the spirit safe, which allows the distiller to make appropriate cuts between heads, hearts and tails. Ours was created in Scotland in the style of a traditional spirit safe.
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Step Six
Cask Houses
After making its way through the distillation process, the finished spirit is casked and stored in our cask houses for aging. Virginia’s hot summers and cool winters allow our spirit to age at a rate faster than our counterparts in Scotland. Our main cask houses hold up to 5,000 casks each.
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