Thursday, September 15, 2016

Spirits Review: Dragon Distillery's "Bad" Bill Tutt Original Moonshine and Clustered Spires Vodka

The craft distillery revival is growing steadily in the Free State with 20 distilleries joining the Maryland Distillers Guild. One new member is Dragon Distillery, the first Distillery in Frederick city. The distillery is owned by Mark & Tania Lambert. Mark is a Navy Veteran who's family has been tilling a 200 acre tract of land - located about 25 miles from the distillery - since the mid 1700s.  Dragon Distillery offers several products including the "Bad" Bill Tutt Original Moonshine and the Clustered Spires Vodka that my brother-in-law was able to acquire at a local liquor store. The first spirit pays tribute to "Bad" Bill Tutt, Mark's great-grand father who in addition to his medical career was a gambler and moonshiner. And apparently this moonshine is based on an old family recipe. The vodka pays tribute to the city of Frederick and it's many clustered spires.  Great brand stories for these products but I only wish the actual products lived up to the stories. Neither was clean nor smooth as if parts of the heads or tails were included in the hearts. Heavy burn as well. Between six of us who have sampled, none gave the thumbs up. Let's hope this was just a flaw in an early batch and future runs are cleaner.

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