Order a “caffè corretto” in Italy, and you’ll get an espresso with a kick of something extra. The legendary drink was the inspiration for Cask & Crew whiskey, an imaginatively crafted and inventively flavored premium brand that LiDestri Spirits calls a “whiskey corrected.” Not that it needs correcting; the word communicates the infusion of flavors that unite, yet respect, the whiskey’s blend of rye and corn.
Cask & Crew straight and flavored whiskeys are a 51%/49% blend of fine three-year-old Canadian rye and classic barrel aged American corn whiskey respectively. It is characterized by a sophisticated profile that skillfully marries smoky and sweet notes to achieve an ultra-smooth taste. The line’s three initial flavors include a straight blend of rye and whiskey (40% ABV), and two that are “corrected” with Walnut Toffee or Ginger Spice (35% ABV).
All three Cask & Crew flavors from its first batch earned Silver Medals at the 2016 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition.
Priced at $24-$26.99 for 750 ml bottles, Cask & Crew’s Batch 1 is currently sold in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Maryland and Kentucky, and will be available in 12 states by spring. With brisk sales, Batch 1’s 22,500 bottles (7500 per flavor) are expected to sell out by March and LiDestri is gearing up production for Batch 2.
“Brown flavored spirits are really having a moment,” LiDestri Spirits Vice President Joe Ragazzo said. “We wanted to create something that was complex enough to appeal to whiskey aficionados, yet inviting enough to be an intriguing experience for people exploring whiskey for the first time.”
The name “Cask & Crew” is homage to the new American oak casks (charred for the rye and raw for the corn whiskey) that were carefully selected to make the two whiskeys, and the adventurous crew of folks who brought the brand to life,” Ragazzo noted. Before selecting these two whiskeys, LiDestri Spirits’ innovation team—a group of knowledgeable whiskey connoisseurs and enthusiastic novices—crossed state and international boundaries to find the best options possible.
“We sampled a wide range of fine whiskeys from some of our renowned distillery partners in North America, and went through dozens of iterations using a wide range of whiskeys to achieve the final blend,” Ragazzo said.
Cask & Crew is the first premium spirit in LiDestri’s expanding portfolio. The eight-year-old company is a division of LiDestri Food and Drink.
About LiDestri Spirits
The Rochester, NY-based company is a division of LiDestri Food & Drink, and provides a variety of services including contract manufacturing for high-proof spirits, liqueurs, wine-based products, cream liqueurs, wines and other custom or specialty liquor-based products. Its state-of-the-art facility produces a wide range of product formulations, sizes and designs. Proprietary brands include Pink Limoncello, mü coffeehouse cocktails, Recipe 21, LiDestri Sangria, Tuttobello Liqueurs and Cask & Crew whiskey.
