KO Distilling — Attraction in Manassas

There's a lot that is Hard and Unhappy in the world right now, but KO Distilling is a spectacular​ oasis from that. Not only do they know their craft inside and out, they are brilliant​ at it, and they are wonderful, real​ people to boot. We'd bought their gins and whiskey before (their Navy Strength Gin is one of our favorite gins--and now their Single Barrel Rye is my favorite rye!) but we'd never been to the distillery, and I'm so glad we did--we had a truly great time. We were lucky enough to have a personal tour of the distillery with Greg Rixon, the resident Executive Bourbon Steward, who is incredibly​ knowledgeable about their processes and the science and history and world of whiskey and spirits in general, and gave us a wonderfully fun, and informative tour. The tasting room (and fabulous outdoor seating area!) were inviting (and safe!) and was a place I felt comfortable and welcome, and want to come back to again and again. Even though we'd had some of them before, we did a tasting of their 3 gins (to try the Barrel Finished Gin- yum!) and the wheat, rye and bourbon whiskey (which are all unique and fabulous), brought to us by Greg who took a lot of his time to talk with us and continue to make us feel incredibly welcome and cared about. He told us all sorts marvelous stories and shared his adventures in cocktail creation--and when it was time to pick which drink we wanted, my husband asked him to make us his own specially designed cocktail (which was Straight-Up Amazing!) and I asked him to make me his favorite whiskey cocktail--which turned out to be The Most Delicious Sazerac I Have Ever Had. Not only does KO make some of The Best (and in my opinion, THE Best Rye and Navy Strength Gin) spirits anywhere (let alone just in Virginia!), their cocktails are high-end, unique, and delicious​ creations--but at real-people prices, served by amazing and real people, in a warm, inviting place. ​AND among the bottles we bought to take home was their newest release, their Distiller's Reserve Bourbon. We just opened it last night, and were blown away by how absolutely incredible​ it is--soft, warm vanilla and caramel and brown sugar, baking spices--I'm no professional taster, but I can tell you it is more than worth what they are asking for it, and if you're a bourbon lover, you need to get a bottle of this before its gone. It's also now taken its place as my new favorite bourbon! (Clearly) I cannot say enough good things about KO--if you haven't taken the time to go visit them, you really, really should. Thank you to everyone there for all your hard work that goes into all the deliciousness you create and the awesomeness that is your space, and an extra thank you so much to Greg for making our visit there such a great time. We will...

Support local... Bourbon Whiskey! Having visited much of the Bourbon Trail stops in Kentucky, we were just expecting a small distillery operation with a local brewery/distillery feel and that it exactly what we got!

On their website, it seems that they only offer two flights of the same spirits, one being cocktails. However, we were excited that they also offer one of just their single barrel whiskey offerings. This flight includes single barrel (3) tastings of their wheat, bourbon (corn), and rye whiskeys as well as (3) tastings of their cask strength single barrel varieties. The cocktail tasting is perfect for us to bring our wives next time who did not enjoy their bourbon tastings during our Bourbon Trail... don't worry, we did not let it go to waste :)

[Short whiskey background]

Small batch whiskeys are a blend of 2-4 barrels to produce a master distiller's intended profile. A single barrel whiskey is generally from the lower section (slow aging) of a rickhouse and provide a more distinct/flavorful profile. Both small batches and single barrels are slightly diluted with water, however cask strength whiskeys are not. Whether cask strength (small batch or single barrel), these whiskeys pack a spicier punch at around 115+ proof, while having a wider flavor profile.

Each of the whiskeys were great, but our favorites were their Single Barrel Rye, Single Barrel Bourbon, and the Single Barrel Cask Strength Rye.

Their staff were very friendly and everyone was decked out in Christmas cheer (early December)... so tell your wife you have a Christmas event planned (including sipping the devil's nectar) and stop here!

KO Distillery is known for their Bare Knuckle whiskeys. We have had the opportunity to try their wheat whiskey at Jack Rose (largest whiskey selection in Western Hemisphere) and each of their small batch whiskeys at the annual “Beer, Bourbon, BBQ” festival in Leesburg, VA. KO has their bottles avaliable for sale in their distillery store with a much larger selection than Virginia ABC stores. Also, their single barrel bottles were autographed by the staff behind their bourbon, very cool!

We did not attend one of their tours (2-3 occured while we sat at the bar), but we plan to be back to support this...

Great cocktail tasting with fun miniature flights. My fiancee went with the straight neat tasting, while I chose the more adventurous mini cocktail flight. Instead of having the difficulty of choosing only a couple of cocktails from a long list, I really like how KO offers a tasting of its gin, moonshine, bourbon, rye, and straight whiskey with accompanying juices (i love the homemade blackberry juice!). It's nice to not have to wrestle on which drink to get - you get to try them all!

It's nice to get a taste of the spirit neat and then try it with a juice for a balanced flavor. Although I enjoyed the spirits, the homemade juices really stood out to me and complemented the spirits. My favorites were the pear chai lemonade with barrel finished gin, homemade blackberry juice with gin, honey ginger ale with rye whiskey, and pear shrub apple cider with bourbon whiskey. The tartness and sweetness of the juices provided great flavor to the spirits. I wasn't a big fan of the Arnold Palmer and regular lemonade, they were a bit too sweet for me.

In addition to the variety of juices in the tasting, I really enjoyed how the tasting was done at my own pace. The bartender kindly brought over 2 drinks at a time to the sofa and explained each one without rushing us through.

As my fiancee polished off a bottle of the Bare Knuckle bourbon, will be back to get another bottle and try out more...