Virginia Distillery Co. Blue Ridge Toasted Barrel Finish

After more than a decade of work by distillers and advocates, American single malt became the first new (official) American whiskey category in over 52 years back in January 2025. Virginia Distillery Co. was a founding member of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, and this particular release – initially aged in first-fill bourbon barrels, then finished in new toasted oak barrels from the Blue Ridge Mountains – was named Best American Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards 2026.

Perhaps more than other single malt producers in the USA, Virginia Distillery Co. was established with a commitment to traditional Scottish whisky-making techniques, but still necessarily adapted for the American climate where heat, humidity, and levels of evaporation are all extremely different. Oh, and unlike most American distilleries, they spell “whisky” without the ‘e’!