Our Process

THE MASH

Raw Grains from New England Farms

Our process here at Chattermark starts with the mash. Raw grains are shipped in from our friends in Maine and other local New England farms. The mashing process will first unbind starches, which will then be further broken down into sugars, mostly glucose. Starch is the plant’s way to store energy (sugar) until it is needed. Plants store starches by very tightly binding and linking sugars into space efficient little bundles. By introducing grain to water and heat, these bundles become unfurled, leaving long chains of linked sugars. This is known as gelatinization. Different grains have different gelatinization temperatures, and we take great time and care to make sure they are struck accordingly. The process is akin to preparing yourself a bowl of oatmeal. The addition of malted barley and enzymes to the mash chops up these long chains into digestible sugars that the yeast will be able to consume. These enzymes occur naturally within ourselves, and a very similar process occurs during digestion of said bowl of oatmeal.

THE FERMENT

Creating Complex and Subtle Flavor

After the sugars are coaxed out of the grains, we must cool the mash down to a point where yeast will be able to thrive. Fermentation occurs when yeast consumes sugar, and in turn creates alcohol. There are thousands of complex esters and aromas created during fermentation as well. We go to great lengths to keep our ferment happy and healthy by controlling sugar content, nutrients, temperature, and even pH. All of our alcohol and subtle, complex flavors are created at this step.

THE DISTILLATION

Creating Characterful Aged Whiskey

Our custom 1000-liter hybrid Kothe still is a beautiful sight to behold. Its versatility allows us to create any spirit we can think up! Engineered and assembled in Eislingen, Germany, it was then broken down and shipped here to Boston where we re-assembled it piece by piece with the help of the Kothe team.

Distillation is very simple. The still boils the fermented mash to efficiently remove alcohol. Since alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, alcohol vaporizes out of the solution first. This alcohol vapor travels to the stainless steel condenser, which is filled with cold water. When the concentrated alcohol vapor meets the cold water, the vapor condenses and is collected as spirit. Every spirit off of the still, even whiskey, comes out crystal clear. It is not until spirit matures in charred oak casks that whiskey’s golden brown tones emerge.

Over time we discovered that double pot distillation creates the most characterful aged whiskey. This allows us to bypass the columns and use the Kothe like a pot still, the way distillation was first accomplished all those centuries ago. The first pass through the pot still removes all of the alcohol from our fermented mash. This is called a stripping run. It results in low wines, a rough alcoholic solution at a lower proof. We then take these low wines and run them through the still again, making strategic cuts along the way (heads, hearts and tails), to ensure a quality spirit. This second run results in a cleaned up, bright, beautiful new make whiskey. The spirit will then be gently proofed, and laid down in 53 gallon new charred oak casks to rest and mature.

THE MATURATION

Making a Remarkably Complex Spirit

By legal definition, whiskey must be aged in new American oak charred containers. We aim to go far above and beyond meeting basic legal guidelines for our whiskey. Therefore, we source only the finest 53 gallon oak casks available. The large barrel size is important to the development of a spirit. The ideal surface area to spirit ratio cannot be replicated using smaller cooperage. We only source casks that have been air seasoned for a minimum of eighteen months. The vast majority of our barrels far exceed this benchmark and are air seasoned for thirty-six months or more. This extended air seasoning allows the wood to grow beneficial characters and lose the bland wood taste that would otherwise develop in the spirit. It makes for a remarkably complex whiskey that could not be achieved with barrels made with kiln dried oak.