Creating A Whiskey For NOLA Bourbon Festival With Chicken Cock

Cocktails Distilled

New Orleans has a long tradition of being the gateway between US Bourbon and the rest of the world. And Chicken Cock, being one of the oldest Whiskey brands in the US, has had a long association with the city.

Even before he started Chicken Cock Whiskey, original founder James A. Miller was shipping barrels of his coveted whiskey down to the ‘Big Easy’ in the 1830s. So it's no surprise that Chicken Cock has been shipping a very special expression down south for this year's New Orleans Bourbon Festival.

A limited-edition, created in collaboration with the festival, the brand's Single Barrel Double Oak Kentucky Whiskey has been aged for nine years—the final two in new American White Oak with a level four char.

We caught up with Master Distiller Gregg Snyder to discuss the expression and what it's like to create a liquid designed to live up to the legends of the city, the festival, and the brand.

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1. Creating A Whiskey For NOLA Bourbon Festival With Chicken Cock (00:00:00)

2. Now, how important is an event like the New Orleans Bourbon Festival to the Bourbon community? (00:01:39)

3. And how involved has Chicken Cock been with the show in the past? (00:02:04)

4. How did the idea for the collaboration come about? (00:02:53)

5. So this has been planned for … what, about six months or so? (00:03:28)

6. And was the idea of the expression something you were working on anyway, or were you able to divert from other stocks? (00:03:44)

7. And who was involved in this collaboration? So obviously you guys, but who else? (00:04:31)

8. I was about to ask, when you have so many chefs in the kitchen, so to speak, is it more difficult to try and do a collaboration like this than it would be just to do a special release on your own bat? (00:05:35)

9. What do you think it was about that particular barrel that gave you that unanimous decision? (00:06:21)

10. It must be a little bit difficult to know how to embody the spirit of an event like this in a liquid. How do you go about that? (00:07:02)

11. Now, speaking of history, I believe that the Chicken Cock itself has a little bit of history in New Orleans. (00:07:38)

12. Can you tell us a little bit about the flavours that you were trying to achieve with this release? (00:10:29)

13. What is it meant to you to be producing this particular expression for the festival? (00:15:13)

14. So when visitors buy a bottle of this, what can they expect from it? (00:15:44)

15. And how would you like to see the liquid used? (00:16:16)

16. Is this a cocktail bourbon though? Or a cocktail whiskey? (00:16:39)

17. In what way do you think this expression best represents the brand? (00:16:54)

18. Will consumers who are interested in the chicken cock story start to find the expressions becoming higher and higher quality as time goes on? (00:17:32)

19. Aside from high quality, how would you best describe the brand if someone's unfamiliar with it? (00:18:03)

20. Will this limited edition expression that you're doing for this show be an annual event? Or is it a one -off? (00:21:35)

21. If people can't attend the show, is there any other way that they can get hold of this expression? (00:22:10)

22. But otherwise the festival is the place to be to get your hands on it. (00:22:49)