We Took a Philly Field Trip to Hoist a Barrel From the Hottest Craft Distillery

Twelve bucks is a bargain for an Old Fashioned at Shaw starter , Declaration . Hold up , eye - roller , and keep reading : this variation on the classic containsDad ’s Hat Rye , savory sirup made from DC Brau ’s Penn Quarter Porter , a mezcal rinse ( so red-hot right now ) , Angostura bitters , and a rye whisky cerise . What makes it worthy of opening your wallet and establish it rain plastic is that Declaration handpicked a proprietary rye on a cheesesteak - fuel trip to the Bristol , PA distillery . Of course , we had to trail along to catch the bar ’s cocktail maven plant his flag in something particular .

" The intake for the restaurant is the Declaration of Independence , so we tried to close up in elements that make sense , like serving a rye from Philly , " says John Hogan , who is also the drink adviser for Declaration ’s sister eating house – Lincoln and Teddy & The Bully Bar . If you have a home bar deserving a shucks , you probably recognize his patsy from the label of Bar Keep lavender bitters .

attach to this bar giving guess on our head trip was a crew from DC - based Ledroit Brands – a liquor distribution company that gets anything - but - boring products into your favorite bars with swaggie . It was the first to bring Dad ’s Hat out of Pennsylvania . " That ’s why they let us get away with murder a little bit , " says managing better half Mike Cherner . Fast - forward to the present tense , when you may find Dad ’s Hat up and down the East Coast , as well as across the country in California , and overseas in Europe and Asia .

old fashioned philly

Declaration’s Old Fashioned | Laura Hayes/Thrillist

slaying , indeed . Dad ’s Hat was named " Craft Whiskey Distillery of the Year " in the March topic ofWhiskey Advocate . That signify few proprietary , or " gun barrel select " parliamentary law for stripe or restaurants . " We ’re taking the foot off the treadle for the consequence , just because there is such a high demand for our whiskey , " says founder and distiller Herman Mihalich . " We got caught with our pant down a picayune turn when the award come out , because everybody double their rescript . " See why that $ 12 drink is set about to seem like a better economic value than an Adele slate ? It ’s practically liquid accolades .

After a tour of the facility ’s fermenters , tankful , and stills , we grab taster eyeglasses in pursuit of finding Declaration , something customers would go gaga over . And get this : as is Dad ’s Hat custom – and so painfully Philly – the palate cleaner between nips of rye were none other than Entenmann ’s chocolate sinker holes and Herr ’s pretzel rods . The only affair that would have been more brotherly passion is if each gun barrel was forebode a jawn .

Mihalich guided us from gun barrel to barrel , drawing out rye whisky with a whiskey stealer so we could evaluate its merits – often stopping to turn in his favorite line , " Are you Secale cereale - singular ? " ( T - shirt come in shortly . ) There was significant relish variation between whisky aged in 53 - gallon barrel versus 15 - gallon barrels : the small gun barrel receive the cleanest cut of whiskey come off the still because they age for significantly less time – only six or seven months – while the 53 - gallon barrels can handle liquid that ’s a little more gruff because it has year to mellow out . While we called out descriptors like " grassy , " " fruity , " and " juiceless , " Mihalich was not as verbose . " For me , it ’s yes or no – it ’s an emotional kind of thing , " he says .

philly distillery

John Hogan, Herman Mihalich & Chris Schmid of Ledroit Brands | Laura Hayes/Thrillist

The first cold shoulder was the deepest for Hogan . Despite try out at least ten pull of whisky , he fell for the first one we tried – a juicy blending of rye from 15 - gallon barrel . Typically , Dad ’s Hat haul in grain from a farm in Bucks County , but this particular Secale cereale came from a different source , making it stick out : the Secale cereale was velvety , like Mexican burnt umber , but with a kick . It was also ironical and a fiddling vegetal . " If you chew on it a footling , you ’ll sense the heat on your gums , " Mihalich supply . Hogan determined it would stand up to all of the other players in the cocktail .

Hogan score beaucoup bottles of his made - in - heaven rye whiskey mates , with the hopes of the supply lasting through the summertime . fatty probability , in a urban center fueled by brown pot likker , but our fingers are crossed . He ’s dubbed the first heap " Declaration Straight Rye , " and issue forth descent , he ’ll regress to the distillery to make a sassy pick . He plans to name each subsequent batch after a signatory of the Declaration of Independence .

barrel distiller