“The winner of this next category is receiving two awards tonight: Best in Class Rye Whiskey and Best in Show Whisk(e)y.”
We held our breath. It was getting close to 9 p.m. at the Top Shelf Awards Gala in San Francisco, and we’d spent the evening waiting for the whiskey categories, hoping our Epoch 6 Year Cask Strength Rye might take home Best in Class.
Our tablemates from Wenzel Distillery and Lasso Hotel had just won awards of their own, and we were starting to feel pretty good about our chances. But now they were announcing both awards at once.
And then we heard it. “Epoch 6 Year Cask Strength Rye. Baltimore Spirits Company.”
We’d won. Both of them. It’s still sinking in.
As the magnitude of the win started to settle, we looked at the whiskeys that had taken Best in Show before us. The previous five winners were all Scotch single malts aged between 25 and 45 years. Only three other American whiskeys had ever received the honor. And here we were, a small distillery from Baltimore, with a six-year-old Maryland rye.
The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is one of the most respected blind-tasting competitions in the industry, with more than 6,000 spirits entered this year. We’ve entered Epoch for years, earning five Double Gold medals along the way. We always believed in what we were making, but this was something else entirely.
When we started Baltimore Spirits Company eleven years ago, we had big ambitions and a lot to learn. We had plenty of ideas about what we wanted to make, but very little idea of where those ideas would take us.
Now we’re bringing one of the biggest awards in whiskey home to Baltimore.
To everyone who’s supported us along the way: we love you, and thank you. And to everyone who’s new here: welcome! We’d love to tell you a little about how we got here.
Yes, You Can Try It For Yourself!
In Baltimore? Grab a bottle of Epoch Rye for pickup at our distillery.
Not in Baltimore? Order online and have it shipped right to your door.
Eleven Years In The Making
Epoch Wasn't Even on the List
When we first started filling barrels with our rye whiskey, we put together a list of about 50 possible names. We crossed some off, debated others, and eventually arrived at the deadline to make a decision. Then we missed it.
Two weeks after our own deadline, we finally settled on Epoch. A name that hadn’t even been on the original list.
We liked that Epoch meant the beginning of a new era. Rye whiskey was finding a new audience, and we wanted a name that reflected that moment. Our original tagline said it all: A new Epoch of rye whiskey has arrived.
You can learn more about Epoch Rye and the whiskey we’ve been building ever since.
We Weren't Trying to Recreate Someone Else's Rye
We came into distilling with backgrounds in homebrewing and professional brewing, where experimenting with ingredients, fermentation, and flavor was second nature. We brought that same curiosity to whiskey.
We settled on a mash bill made entirely from rye grain: 75% unmalted rye and 25% malted rye. We chose Belgian brewing yeast because we loved the fruity, complex flavors it could produce. And rather than use the continuous column distillation common in American whiskey production, we committed to a true double-pot-distilled process.
We also decided to use traditional 53-gallon oak barrels rather than pursue the accelerated aging techniques that were popular among new craft distilleries at the time.
We’re product people at the end of the day. We wanted Epoch to taste like Epoch.
If you’re curious about the decisions behind those flavors, we’ve written more about how we built Epoch Rye’s flavor.
You Can't Speed Up Time
After all the work we’d put into developing our recipe, we finally filled our first barrels, put them away, and looked at each other. Well, we’ll see you in a couple of years, we guess.
We loved our original two-year Epoch Rye. It was bright, fruity, and full of character. But we always wanted to see what would happen as it spent more time in the barrel.
As whiskey ages, oxygen moves through the barrel, and the compounds responsible for its flavors continue reacting with one another. It’s not just a matter of adding vanilla or oak flavor. The whiskey is actually changing at the molecular level, developing new characteristics that weren’t there before.
That doesn’t necessarily mean older whiskey is always better. Some flavors appear in year three, disappear in year four, and come back in year seven. There are sweet spots along the way, and for Epoch, six years has turned out to be a particularly special one.
Our six-year expression brings together the bright fruit character of our younger rye with deeper notes of stone fruit, cherry, cedar, mint, and rye spice.
Seeing this particular expression earn both Best in Class and Best in Show makes all those years of work feel pretty incredible.
We Just Want More People to Taste It
We’ve had some pretty amazing moments over the years, from the reactions to our very first two-year rye to our first Double Gold medal in San Francisco. But one of the best parts has always been seeing someone discover Epoch for the first time.
More than anything, we hope this award helps our whiskey hit more palates.
We’re also proud of what this recognition means for Maryland rye. There’s an incredible community of distillers making whiskey here today, and we hope this brings more attention to what they’re doing.
But the project is never done. Some of the whiskey we’re making today won’t be ready for another ten or fifteen years. You only get a couple of chances in your life to make whiskey that old, and we’re still learning what Epoch can become.
If you haven’t tried Epoch yet, we’d love to change that. Come visit us for a tasting or distillery tour.
Now It's Time to Party!
We’re bringing the celebration home to Baltimore, and you’re invited.
Join us Friday, November 13, at 6 PM for our We Did It! Party!!
We’ve got smash burgers from Chef Jesse, DJs, cocktails, and plenty of reasons to raise a glass. Tickets are $15 and include a cocktail and admission to the party.
Get your tickets and come celebrate with us!
To everyone who’s been part of this journey, from the earliest days to our newest fans: thank you.
Here’s to the next Epoch.
