Taconic Rolling Hills Rum

About Taconic

Taconic distillery’s home is the iconic Hudson Valley. Saturated with National Historic landmarks, the area boasts bountiful farms. With a fervor for the rustic outdoors and a strong desire to work the land, the Coughlin family purchased a portion Laured beef Farms, in Stanfordville, NY, in 2010. Renaming it Rolling Hills Farm.

The former farm’s 113 acres of rolling hills, became the inspiration for Taconic Distillery’s entrance to Dutchess County’s local agribusiness market. Inspired by a sporting lifestyle, Taconic’s team share a love of the outdoors. Together they embrace hunting, fishing, and a general passion for the outdoor life. This lifestyle is imprinted upon all their products.

This area is also the number one wine-producing region in the United States, and home to a world class culinary institute. Taconic prides itself on preserving a bourbon whiskey tradition:

“From George and Martha Washington’s home during the American Revolution, to the Great Estates of the Vanderbilt’s, Roosevelt’s and Rockefeller’s, to the hunting preserves and horse farms of today, bourbon whiskey has been savored for generations” (Taconic Distillery).

To maintain an unadulterated flavor of the whiskey, Taconic never chill filters, and distill their whiskeys below 160 proof to retain the flavors from the grains. It is the flavor of the grains that are transferred through the distilling process as fatty molecules or “flavor oils” which results in a “cloudiness” in the whiskey. Those flavors are transferred through the distilling process as fatty molecules (flavor oils). Some distillers will chill filter the fatty molecules and sacrifice a certain amount of flavor for clarity.

Taconic uses distinct Coopers Select, Char #3 new oak barrels made by the Independent Stave Company. Their barrels have a unique maturation process; aged in shipping containers. Less is lost to the angel’s share, due to the saturation of the air inside the containers. Being exposed to great temperature fluctuations, results in greater movement of spirit in and out of the barrel staves. Aging occurs in cycles, during times of increased temperature such as in the summer, the whiskey expands through the char, through to the untreated wood beneath. While in the wood, the whiskey dissolves various flavorful compounds. When temperatures drop, the liquid contracts and brings out all of the flavors of the wood, producing flavors that complement the body of the whiskey.