b'One of the makers of whisky with aJourneyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Mich. lower amount of wheat is major distillery(100% organic Michigan wheat).Brown-Forman. Its first wheat whisky,Last Mountain Distillery in launched in spring 2018, contains 52%Saskatchewan is another that makes wheat, 8% rye and 20% each maltedwhisky from wheat, and in the case of their barley and corn in the mash. In Australia,Canadian Whisky, wheat and rye. Their Starward makes a 60-40 wheat-to- 100% wheat whiskies include a Single malted barley blend whisky, distilled andCask and a Red Wine Barrel Aged. matured separately in red wine barrels.Last Mountain Head Distiller and However, many other distilleries useGeneral Manager of Operations Braeden 100% wheat. These include Dry Fly DistillingRaiwet explains that when the owners in Spokane, Wash. (local winter wheat),Colin and Meredith Schmidt started the Breuckelen Distiling in Brooklyn,distillery, they did some experimenting with N.Y. (New York state whitedifferent grains to see what flavor profile wheat, and the firmthey liked bestand wheat won the day. also makes aThe wheat gives the whisky a sweeter wheat gin)and smoother taste than something like a andrye grain, he says. Having easy access to wheat right in our backyardour wheat comes from a farmer about 40 km down the roadis an added bonus.He notes that wheat mash doesnt become overly thick like rye mash, which makes it bit more forgiving and easier to work with. Raiwet adds that for an unmalted grain, it actually ferments quite well, and we get fairly decent conversion out of it.Stumbletowns Purple Wheat Vodka was an The wheat is alsoexperiment to try and get new flavor into a a bit softer thandrink thats hard to experiment with. something like an unmalted rye, which helps tonotes that a lot of vodkas are made speed up theof wheat, but any grain can be used. grinding process. Stumbletown had never made vodka but decided to go for it after hearing about GettingSK Purple. Creative withWere all about trying new things, and Vodka this wheat seemed to be a good opportu-Still innity, Holland says. Its hard to be creative Saskatchewan,about vodka. Its supposed to be an odour-there are at leastless and tasteless spirit, but each grain two other wheatdoes provide a little flavor, and we do have vodka-makers,a lot of flavor in this one. Its got a really both with unusualsmooth mouthfeel and can be enjoyed on products. Luckyice. Weve also done an oaked version lim-Bastard Distillers makesited edition, and its just about gone. a Rhubarb Vodka andThe release of Stumbletowns Purple Stumbletown Distilling hasWheat Vodka has resulted in a lot of media Saskatchewan Purple Wheat is used tocreated the first spirit in theattention. Holland says theyve gotten make Stumbletowns Purple Wheatworld made from 100% locally- requests for shipping it all over the world. Vodka. grown Saskatchewan PurpleWe may ship it in future, but right Wheat. Its Purple Wheat Vodka wonnow its only available within the prov-the Platinum Award at SIP Awards 2019.ince, he says. We may do a purple Stumbletown owner Craig Hollandwheat whisky at some point in the future. 12/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020'