Craft distilling pioneer Few Spirits has unveiled their latest innovation: Few Immortal Rye. This is cask-strength Few straight rye whiskey proofed to bottling strength with cold-extracted “8 Immortals” tea from the Denver-based tea purveyor, The Tea Spot.
The mash bill of Few Immortal Rye is 70% rye, 20% corn and 10% malted barley. Proofed with tea, the flavors include peach, honey and dragon fruit, the company says. No sugar or additional additives went into this whiskey.
“One of the real joys of this job is the freedom to wonder, ‘what if?’ and then having the creative team in place to try to search for an answer,” says Paul Hletko, Few Spirits founder and distiller. “Just as we’ve done with previous innovation favorites like Few Cold Cut Bourbon, Few Immortal Rye is an example of taking the space to think about things that have never been done before, whittling that list down to the ones that are actually worth trying and then creating something that people will not only want to try, but add to their regular drinking rotation.”Advertisement
The Tea Spot 8 Immortals Dancong oolong tea comes from leaves grown at an altitude of 2000 feet before a process of sun drying and repeated oxidizing, rolling and fluffing. Dancong oolongs teas originate from the mountainous, humid southeastern corner of Guangdong Province, China, the company says.
The 8 Immortals are a group of xian (translated in English to ‘immortals”) in Chinese mythology, most of which are said to have been born in the Tang or Shang Dynasty. They are said to live on a group of five islands in the Bohai Sea, the company says, which includes Mount Penglai. These figures represent the Taoist interest in achieving immortality. The Immortals are associated with health and prosperity, so their images often appear at special occasions like weddings and birthdays.
Each bottle of Few Immortal Rye features dragon label art inspired by artwork showcased at the 1893 World’s Fair, which was held a short drive down the Lake Michigan waterfront from where the Few Spirits headquarters stands today.
Few Immortal Rye weighs in at 46.5% ABV/93 proof. An initial 6,000 750-ml. bottles will be available nationwide for a suggested retail price of $44.99 each.
