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DRINK THE RAINBOW!

As it turns out, there is no such thing as “ornamental” corn! These colorful corns demonstrate great flavor in spirits and great nutrition when eaten. As we have come to learn after many years of distilling many corns, COLOR = FLAVOR. Healthy, diverse plants make for flavorful and dynamic spirits that pleasantly surprise you upon each dynamic sip.

We are the first to distill most of these rare varieties, and you need to know that all these corns taste so damn different. Isn’t that wonderful? We are going waaay back from the modern Yellow #2 Dent feed grade/fuel corn that is so vilified and overgrown/misused today. We have been finding very old corns from various regions, and showing them off like a cafe shop shows off single origin expressions as well as blends of coffees.

We buy from farmers growing their own heirlooms, which is one of the best kinds of direct action. It is no easy task to have kept growing these corns throughout industrialism, given that these farmers did not have much of a market for these corns until a new wave of consumers wanted to know not just what their food was doing to their own body, but also where their food came from and how it affected the people and soil from which it came.

“Bolita Belatove”
a Oaxacan Pink/Purple/Red Corn known for its dynamic flavor, available as a 100% variety expression, shipping now. Named for the ball shape, “bolita” Spanish for “globe” or “pellet” and “belatove” Zapotec for the maguey (agave) worm of the same color as this corn. This corn is grown rustically (aka without sprays, with much hard labor) by many families in Oaxaca and until recently was set for extinction given the ungenerous and close-minded demands of the modern industrial food market. A company called Masienda sources these corns and has advocated for collectivism and empowerment amongst the families growing these corns in Oaxaca. This one is an ancient landrace, a precious food staple for thousands of years; for any chef or Bourbon drinker this whiskey is a must given that this is the first time in modernity that this corn has been offered in spirit form and the flavor is pure magic. It is aged in used oak for a bit under a year because we do not want you to taste much of the oak at all, this is about the ingredient, not the processing. From Masienda “When we began working with belatove in 2014, researchers estimated that it had less than five tons in cultivation across the entire state of Oaxaca. At such a low production level, they feared it to be at risk of near-term extinction. By offering premium pricing and upfront off-take to farmers, Masienda has directly contributed to growing this landrace population by more than five times (and counting)!”

“Mexican June”
a white corn from Sonora and Chihuahua Mexico that has been the heart of tortillas and elotes in the region for centuries, but is rarely seen on menus today, is available for pre-order now. We hope to be a positive force with this corn—any restaurant looking to use it on their menu need only reach out to us to be connected to the farmer—we want to share this crucial piece of Sonoran cuisine that is now so uncommon. We secured five tons of this very special, organically grown corn recently from a multi-generation family farm near the border of Arizona and Sonora. This is A+ corn showcasing all the deep and long flavors expected from regeneratively grown agriculture, which by default allows plants to become more of themselves, more flavorful because they haven’t been bred to exclusively produce starch. This farm and countless others do not have a guaranteed future whatsoever because of how our one-size-fits-all commodity economy works, which is not designed for small producers focusing on quality of plant and human life. This is tragic, as many families have to disband their historic farms and sell them to heartless corporations who disrespect their land and historical practices. This has been and is still happening to producers of coffee, corn, and many other good plant foods that do not fit in to the culture-less and flavor-less spectrum of Monsanto-style food production that is now the norm globally and responsible for disease of people/place and displacement specifically of indigenous peoples. One of the things we as distillers and food-obsessives can do to fight this wave of cold standardization, is to buy their heirloom corn (etc), constantly learn about the greater issues and act on them, and find as many lovers of this tasty corn as possible.

We blend this corn into our Southwest Blend which is now in distribution.

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The proof is in the flavor though, not just the ethics, and we deliver on that as well. The spirits made by our distiller, even the young spirits, have received silvers, golds, and double golds from the SF Spirits Competition, American Distilling Institute, and multiple Good Food Awards, the latest being for our Oaxacan Pink Corn Whiskey.

WHAT MAKES A WHISKEY?
The age statement? The marketing story? The barreling? We think not. We think what defines a spirit are the INGREDIENTS and the intent, not the marketing tale, and we are here to shed light on an industry that will not tell you anything about their ingredients! They do not want you to think about grains, because the Bourbon/whiskey industry is completely focused on big profits, disrespectfully low paid labor, and cheap ingredients; not quality or ethics whatsoever. We are here with rare transparency, to tell you down to the farmer, the grain, and their practices and how the practices influence the Earth and the final spirit. Soil erosion in the USA alone is at 80%, pesticides are one of the main causes of ocean acidification, and our wildlife is being wiped out and burned for beef and feed production; it is time to shift our agricultural practices before we are all toast.