Last fall, Mammoth Distilling provided Suttons Bay-based Tandem Ciders with three 30-gallon barrels: one each from our rum, rye and bourbon production. The masters at Tandem added the same special blend of ciders to each barrel, and then came the hard part—waiting.
Nearly six months later, it’s almost time to sample the results. On May 12th, Tandem is planning a fun-filled outdoor event to, in their words, “tap into the barrels with great fanfare and celebration.” We can’t wait!
“This is a really cool collaboration,” shares Collin Gaudard, Assistant Distiller at Mammoth Distilling. “The barrel blend Tandem aged is based on their Pretty Penny cider which uses copper to pull the sulfur from their cider. That’s the exact same reaction that happens using a copper pot still. The similarities of these processes should unite perfectly in those barrels.”
By using the same cider blend in each of the barrels, Collin says it will allow the subtle differences of each spirit to be highlighted in the final product.
“It will provide a fantastic opportunity to taste each of the three and discover how the different barrels imparted their character on the palate of the cider” Collin adds. “I can see this working so well that we collaborate again on a larger scale to offer a similar limited coordinated release every year. It’s been a ton of fun working with those guys.”
Because the quantity of cider from these three barrels will be very limited, no bottling of this product is expected. To sample the Mammoth barrel-aged cider, you’ll have to come out to Tandem Ciders on May 12th to join in the fanfare and celebration.