“Unearthing unique flavors, local peats role in American single malt whisky.” 

Artisan Spirit Magazine recently sat down with TDC Head Distiller, Ari Klafter to discuss “Unearthing unique flavors, local peats role in American single malt whisky.” 

We look forward to sharing this unique whisky with you as we patiently wait for it to mature in the barrel house. We anticipate the initial limited release to be in late 2024/early 2025 (Ari is waiting for the whisky to let him know when it’s ready). 

The “Prairie Peat” project started back in 2017 when Andy asked Ari, “if we harvest peat from a local peatbog, what effect could the peated malt have on the whisky’s flavor? 

The idea was intriguing. We believe peat is the truest expression of terroir in whisky and an Illinois peatbog containing prairie grasses and wildflowers would offer a unique regional expression worth exploring. That question eventually led us to distill the Midwest’s first locally peated single malt whisky.

But the project nearly failed to launch. We didn’t want to use a readily available and commercially processed peat product, so we searched for a local peatbog from which we could harvest very small batches of raw peat. We then realized why it hadn’t been done – sourcing a local peat proved next to impossible. After searching for over 3 years the stars aligned and we met Jeff the rancher in western Illinois. So then in November 2020, Ari and Andy packed up the truck and headed out to the banks of the Mississippi River to hand harvest our first small batch of peat. 

After drying the peat in open air, we delivered it to our friends at @sugarcreekmaltco. Not long thereafter we laid down our first barrels of “Prairie Peat American Single Malt Whisky.”

Since then, we have been patiently waiting.