Would you wait in line for hours on end in subzero temperatures for a bottle of whiskey? Of course, you would. That’s what hundreds of Colorado residents do twice a year just to get their hands on a bottle of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey.
If you don’t hail from Colorado, you’ve probably never even heard of Stranahan’s, or Stranny’s to the locals. The distillery prides themselves as authentic Rocky Mountain whiskey makers and use a special mash recipe to create their small batch whiskey. Their straight whiskey is rumored to be amazingly smooth and tasty but it’s their Snowflake whiskey that has people camping out all night long.
Snowflake is a special batch of Stranahan’s that is sold on a first-come, first-serve basis at the distillery in Denver. A week before the release, they make an announcement on their Facebook page and the whiskey lovers flock from all over the state.
So what makes it so special? The most recent batch of Snowflake started nineteen months ago when head distiller Rob Dietrich selected three barrels of Stranahan’s whiskey that were transferred into oak barrels that were previously filled with wines (Zinfandel and Sangiovese) from local wineries. After aging, the three bottles are meticulously combined to create the perfect blend. Whiskey aged in wine barrels? We would wait in line too.
Since the first bottle of Snowflake, 14 batches have been released. Each one is named after one of Colorado’s mountains, the latest dubbed Mount Sneffels. It was released on December 7 and within three hours all 975 bottles were gone. There’s no telling when the next batch will be out, but we’ll be waiting not so patiently for a chance to try it.