Cut Spike Arrives

After all that hype, you can finally try Cut Spike for yourselves. I don't think you'll be disappointed. We wouldn't have taken on this much responsibility and product (being their sole online retail outpost) if we didn't think this was something special. However, if you're expecting 12 year old Scottish single malt that tastes exactly like Macallan, then you might be a bit bummed out. It's a honeyed, sweet vanilla profile with a rich malty mouthfeel, but it's still young. Nevertheless, we think it's the next big thing.

Cut Spike Nebraska Single Malt Whisky $59.99 - At first we couldn't believe our mouths. We knew that Cut Spike single malt had just taken Double Gold honors at the 2014 San Francisco Spirits competition (the highest possible honor), so obviously other people thought it was good, too. But after tasting so many mediocre American attempts at single malt whisky, we had become accustomed to the idea that the Scottish style of distillation would never be recreated here at home. There would be spin-offs, and experimental gasps at greatness, but that supple, malty profile would simply be something we needed to import from abroad. Then the folks at Cut Spike sent us a sample of their two year old Nebraskan single malt whisky made from 100% malted barley on a pot still crafted in Rothes, Scotland. Fermented at the brewery next door to Cut Spike in La Vista, the malt was matured for two years in new American oak with varying levels of char. The result is an incredible hybrid: soft, barley and vanilla-laden whisky that tastes somewhat like your standard Scottish single malt, but has its own unique character simultaneously. It's the kind of whisky that you taste once and enjoy, but then the next day suddenly crave intensely. It impresses you instantly, yet doesn't really reveal its full character until weeks later. The new oak blurs seamlessly into the malty mouthfeel, adding a richness on the finish normally not tasted in standard Scottish selections. The Cut Spike is a major accomplishment for American distillation, pure and simple.

-David Driscoll