Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1125082
95 bread, sold on-site and made by a bakery five miles down the road; the remainder goes to a nearby organic farm to feed the pigs and cows. Together they make up an ecosystem of their very own. The local emphasis means Tamworth Distill- ing will never make tequila or rum (unless by some miracle agave and sugar cane start spring- ing up all over the state). But they're game for everything else, and more importantly, they know how to make everything else tasty with- out sacrificing the spirits' defining qualities. Take William Whipple's Winter Wheat Whiskey, first released in spring 2017 and named for the New Hampshirite who signed his name to the Declaration of Independ- ence. Oakes and Powers used a mash bill comprising 75 percent red wheat, 15 percent malted barley, and a blend of chocolate malt and caramel malt for the remaining 10 percent; the result is grainy and bready, with the hint of heat that one expects from a sip of whiskey, but with bursts of dark cacao as background role players, adding a bitter rich- ness to the flavor profile. Now compare the Winter Wheat Whiskey with the Chocorua Straight Rye, whose appel- lation honors Mount Chocorua and Chocorua Lake as well as the legend of Native American Chief Chocorua; it's a straightforward whiskey distilled from 100% rye. To qualify as "rye," the mash has to be at least 51 percent rye. Most distilleries top out at 70 percent or 80 percent. Tamworth goes all the way to 100 percent, with no filler grains. That whiskey heat is guaran- teed, and yet Chocorua Straight Rye has more of a warming effect than a burn, boasting a beautiful nose and smoke notes that mellow the rye out and create smoothness.