Downslope Distilling out of Centennial Colorado is one of the earliest Colorado distilleries, claiming the 16th Distilling license in the state back in 2009. The Distillery name, and the name of their flagship whiskey, both elicit an image of hitting the slopes in one of Colorado’s many ski areas, but actually both come from the still itself. The downslope is part of the top of the still where the alcohol vapors go to be condensed back to liquid form, and the Double Diamond name is from their custom made double diamond pot still. It was a blast to stop into the distillery and try their terrific line up of spirits and learn more about their process. Downslope also offers distilling classes which you can take to learn how to make spirits. You can find more information on the classes at their website: https://downslopedistilling.com/pages/distilling-school
Full disclosure, we were given this particular bottle for free with the condition that we reviewed it. We did buy a few other bottles at the same time, which we will be reviewing in the future.
In the Bottle:
Mashbill:
Age:
Solera aged in both new oak and used cabernet wine casks for a whiskey that is a blend of 18 months to 5 years.
Proof (ABV):
80 (40%)
In the Glass:
Color:
Golden straw with a ruby tint.
Nose:
Sweet floral notes, with some dark fruit, and cereal grains.
Palate:
Very approachable, malty notes and floral sweetness with lots of dark fruit. Sweet right away, but with a drier mid palate. Pretty thick mouthfeel, but that quickly fades away.
Finish:
The cab wine cask influence comes through, a bit of a tannic and dry finish with some peppery and malty notes.
With Water:
Nose:
More of the red fruit and floral notes come out, the cereal grain fades a little bit, but is still noticeable.
Palate:
The malty mouth feel and flavor both come through a lot more, playing off the dark red fruits very well, neither one really overpowering the other. Still thick and layered, the cab casks really start to come through on the middle.
Finish:
The spicy peppery notes come through a lot more, and the finish seems to actually linger longer with the water. It is very clean and malty, again with the cab cask influence really coming through.
Final Thoughts:
It’s really impressive how each flavor seems to play off the other flavors, none of them becoming too overpowering so that anything else fades behind it. Overall this is a great sipper, the cab cask influence really adding a lot of depth that works well with the malted barley and rye.
