Scottsdale Arizona has long been known as a place to relax amongst nature’s grandeur, luxury resorts and world class dining. This playground in the high desert now offers excellent small batch, family owned distilleries that pay homage to the region.
Scotchdale Whisky Is a Story About Friendship and A Dream Come True in Arizona. Most often one can find an interesting story behind a brand and Scotchdale certainly, is no different. Many times, when good friends get together over a whisky, ideas start to flow faster than the spirit itself. John McDonnell and Travis Ranville, two Scotch whisky aficionados and friends came up with a brilliant idea, making Scotch whisky inspired by their locale of Scottsdale Arizona.
Their entrepreneurial dream kicked into high gear; Scotchdale would be crafted using only the finest blended malt whisky. With that in mind, their sojourn took them to the Highland and Speyside regions of Scotland in search of Scottish distiller Angus Dundee. As a premier distiller, Dundee had what they were looking for, a high quality, pure malt whisky.
Scotchdale is aged in charred American oak bourbon barrels for 8 years. In the glass there are notes of honey, chocolate, caramel, of course oak and coffee on the back end. They combine into a fine whisky that is sure to impress even the most discerning Scotch whisky drinkers. “We used the coolest blends to tame the Arizona heat- we have the most livable whisky!”they said with a smile.
Only launched in 2018, John and Travis are doing quite well. Scotchdale, inspired by local flavors and landscape is available at over 50 bars, restaurants and retailers in the area and growing fast. Like it anyway you chose. It’s brilliant neat, on the rocks and of course in a cocktail such as Rob Roy, Rusty Nail and even a Blood and Sand.
Local Mixologist, Chuck Fowler created “A Hikers Peak” just for Scotchdale. Why not give it a go!
Recipe:
2 oz Scotchdale
0.50 oz cinnamon syrup
2 dashes mocha java bitters
Grated cinnamon
Lemon/ orange oil express
Blue Clover Distillery founded by Founded by Weston Holm along with Duane and Scott Koch are longtime friends who came from a wide variety of backgrounds. This combination of generations of experience in farming and construction they built the distillery literally from the ground up. “Our background influenced everything we do, from the DIY construction of the distillery to the name itself. “Blue” pays respect to the Danish farming heritage, while “Clover” signifies our Irish love for fire and great spirits” said Weston Holm.
Relatively new one the scene like many of Scottsdale’s distilleries, they have obtained a reputation of producing premium small-batch spirits in a short amount of time. The Blue Clover Vodka is 80 Proof distilled from gluten free corn. Even the water used is from a reverse osmosis system that gives it the spirits clean taste and then passes through charcoal filter and left to rest until ready.
Blue Clover Gin is very smooth and unique in many ways. The Gin is 85 Proof and Distilled from Corn. Taking into consideration of their location in Arizona, they were inspired by Blood Orange, Rose and Peach all of which are used as the main botanicals.
Using a proprietary multistage process, the gin is bright a fresh in the glass with all the aromas of the botanicals coming through.
Unique to Blue Clover is they have a full bar and a restaurant for guests to enjoy. Take a seat at the bat and sip on the Marshalls Way- a brilliant use of Blue Clover Grapefruit Vodka, Blue Clover Strawberry Vodka, Pomegranate, with a dash of Lemon & Lime.