O.H.S.O. barrels into new whiskey-nerd territory with its seasonal Rotary series.
We’ll never forget a certain spring morning in 2016 here at PHOENIX magazine.
Arriving at the office for work, we were delighted to find an alluringly large cardboard box sitting in the mail room. And inside the box: eight polished bottles of flavored vodka, the first edition of O.H.S.O. Brewery’s incipient Arcadia vodka series. It was a bold, exciting step for O.H.S.O., then known chiefly for its craft beer and awesome dog-friendly patio. Nine years later, O.H.S.O.’s distilling program has grown just a smidge. “We bottle quite a few different styles at this point,” says head distiller Brandon Egbert, recruited from his home state of Washington by O.H.S.O. founder Jon Lane to run the program. “Just with flavored vodkas we have nine, then two bourbons, two flavored whiskeys, two different rums, two gins and then a seasonal whiskey program where they’re aged in different kinds of barrels.” Dubbed the Rotary series, the seasonal whiskey piqued our interest, and Egbert was happy to pour.
Egbert starts with the O.H.S.O. bourbon mash bill: 75 percent corn, 24 percent rye and a smidge of barley. But instead of aging the distillate in new American oak – as one does with bourbon – he gets creative.
For the current Rotary series, he tracked down two barrels used to age vanilla and maple syrup. He also found a barrel that once contained Tannat, a French wine varietal, and filled them all with whiskey.
After two years, Egbert combined the vanilla- and maple-barrel whiskeys, which became Rotary Maple. “My favorite cocktail with that is an Old Fashioned… it’s excellent,” he says.
The wine-barrel-aged whiskey became Rotary Tannat – darker, drier and more complex than its counterpart. “I like to drink that one neat.”
Once the current Rotary editions are gone, they’re gone. For his next Rotary release, Egbert is aging whiskey in barrels previously used for reposado tequila. “I love [the series],” he says. “Jon puts no restrictions on what I do, and it’s really fun.”
$54
O.H.S.O. Brewery + Distillery Rotary
Available at select O.H.S.O. locations
ohsobrewery.com
