A couple weekends ago I went to Nashville, Tennessee with some good friends. While there, we got the chance to visit the Corsair Distillery & Taproom. There are two Corsair locations in Nashville and we ended up at this location because it had available times that worked for us.

When we arrived, we enjoyed a cocktail before our tour got started. The facilities at this location are small, so the tour itself was rather quick, but it meant less talking and more sampling. The sampling we were given to try included their Artisan Gin, Ryemageddon, Oatrage, Quinoa Whiskey and their award-winning Triple Smoke, which was my original introduction to Corsair.

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Let’s begin with Oatrage, it is made with 51% malted oats, 27% 6-row malted barley, 22% coffee malt.

Oatrage Tasting Notes

Nose: cinnamon, maple and vanilla

Palate: chocolate, coffee, brown sugar, nuts and oats

Finish: nuts and oatmeal

They consider this their breakfast whiskey, because if you are on vacation why wouldn’t you want to drink whiskey for breakfast. I found this whiskey to be unique and like nothing I’ve tasted before. It tastes like coffee and oatmeal, but in a good way.

This is not a whiskey I would drink all the time, nor do I see myself drinking it neat, but I could see myself drinking this in my coffee. The combination of this whiskey and coffee would be very complimentary. The whiskey would definitely help enhance the flavors in the coffee.

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With all these unique ingredients Corsair is definitely pushing the envelope but somehow, it weirdly works. Just look at their Quinoa Whiskey, the mash contains 20% golden Quinoa sourced from Canada.

Quinoa Whiskey Tasting Notes

Nose: earthy, oak and nuts

Palate: nutty, cinnamon and vanilla

Finish: slightly sweet with ending spice notes

The expressions I heard from people at the tasting were: interesting; oh no, I don’t like this; to the, oh this isn’t bad. It simply is an interesting whiskey that is different than anything else. It’s also a whiskey that may not be for everyone’s palate. You are either going to like it or you are going to hate it.

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Out of everything I tasted I ended up purchasing two bottles while I was there and those were, Wild Fire and Pumpkin Spice Moonshine.

 

I’ll start with the Wild Fire, I was envisioning that this would have a slight resemblance in taste to their Triple Smoke, but it did not. The smoke in this is 100% hickory-smoked.

Wild Fire Tasting Notes

Nose: smoke and caramel

Palate: barbecue smoke, spices, vanilla and oak

Finish: smoke and vanilla

If you love BBQ and BBQ sauce then you are going to enjoy this one. It’s unique and I can see this whiskey being used in cocktails or maybe you want to use it in your BBQ meats. This is another one of their whiskeys which some will like while others will not.

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My final tasting notes for this blog will be their Pumpkin Spice Moonshine. I was under the impression that this would be a seasonal product, but they did have it available. Since Fall is my favorite time of the year and I love all things pumpkin and spice, I had to try it.

Pumpkin Spice Moonshine Tasting Notes

Nose: Sweet, spices and vanilla

Palate: slightly sweet, spices, nutmeg and light pumpkin notes

Finish: long and spiced

The first thing to point out, the pumpkin notes in this moonshine are very subtle. It is more spiced than it is pumpkin. Out of everything I had here at Corsair this ended up being my favorite. It’s the one product that inspired me the most when it came to cocktail recipes. It a moonshine that works well in cocktails and it can also spice up your coffee.

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I was very surprised on how great many of their flavors did work together and I would be lying to you if I said I disliked what I tasted, because I didn’t. What I wish they would do, cut down on their big whiskey range and focus on a smaller number of products that are good now, but can be made better.

This is a distillery with many ideas and what you can expect from them are unique products that may or may not appeal to everyone. This is definitely not a boring distillery and what I appreciate is that they are not afraid to experiment with different flavor profiles. Overall Triple Smoke is still my favorite product of theirs and I look forward to seeing what else they come up with.

Cheers!

Note: The contents on my blog are solely my opinion. To me every palate is different! Although I may or may not like a product, I always recommend for people to try it and make up their own minds.