Nashville’s Marathon Village, a building which has housed a range of industries beginning with gasoline-engine and motor car manufacturing in 1884, and has since turned into a mega cool boutique, brewery, distillery and winery marketplace just a few minutes from Germantown.
We enter into a sleek bar where the back wall is lined with the full Corsair Distillery spirit collection. Shot by shot, our knowledgable bartender describes each flavor, the steam processes used for concocting our spirit menu, and how best to slurp, to fully experience vodka gin, rum-aged gin, barley gin and a noteworthy assortment of whiskeys. Delicious and fine in taste from clear to brown, most memorable were the Quinoa and Triple Smoke Whiskies.
Corsair pays to grow quinoa in Saskatchewan, chosen in lieu of South America to help fight against rising production costs for locals. This whiskey is smooth and light and a bit nutty.
Their triple smoke is a three-way blend of barley smoked in cherry wood from Wisconsin, peat from Scotland, and beechwood from Germany. This whiskey has a smooth flavor much more akin to Scotch than Bourbon, and the smokiness is subtle making it quite delectable for someone like me, who normally doesn’t like peaty scotches as I generally find them overpowering.
The folks behind Corsair Distillery make beer too and are experimenting with blending the spirit and beer barrels for new tastes and flavors. Next door to the dimly lit spirit bar is a small tap room serving up their own crafts. This is where I sipped my first Turkish Coffee stout with flavors of cardamon and cinnamon. Dry, smooth, caffeinated and delicious – this is a beer to try!
Go for the tour which includes a full spirit tasting and a beer-to-go for the walk through the barrels.
I am loving following your trip….maybe you will gather enough material to do a self published travel book : Across America!