Catoctin Creek Distilling Co has partnered with monster metal rock band GWAR to create Ragnarök Rye Whiskey. Launching in February, the new offering is a 92-proof Rye Whiskey aged in charred new white oak, then sugar maple and cherrywood.
Catoctin Creek Ragnarök Rye is a tribute to the GWAR’s originality as the most elaborate and transgressive theatrical production in heavy metal history. Scott and Becky Harris of Catoctin Creek have made sure there is nothing else like this spirit.
“Don’t get me wrong, this is an exciting release, but we were quite surprised when GWAR showed up at our distillery,” said founder and general manager, Scott Harris. “Purcellville is a quiet town, so to have these intergalactic visitors was—honestly—a little stressful. We had to constantly keep an eye on them to keep them from breaking stuff, and they even tried to eat our dog, Otto. The only way we could get them to leave was to agree to bottle their whisky for them.”
“Eons ago the members of the intergalactic shock rock band known as GWAR descended on this world as passengers on a flaming comet that would bring about the destruction of most life on Earth,” explains the press release from the Virginia-based distillery. “The asteroid plowed into the continent of Antarctica with devastating force, melting the ice, setting much of the world ablaze, and leaving a massive crater filled with the purest Antarctic water and a strangely intoxicating ichor that flowed from the veins of the immortal GWAR. Legend recorded these events as the tale of Ragnarök, the end of days. But like all endings, it was also a beginning. Now, this blood of the gods, harvested from the great caldera, has been distilled and bottled by Catoctin Creek as Ragnarök Rye.”
“Ahh, such a powerful spirit,” said The Berserker Blothar of GWAR. “A delicious sacrament to drink in preparation for battle, and it’ll get you really, really crazy.”
Bottled at 46% ABV, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co Ragnarök Rye Whisky is priced at $99 per 750mL. It will be made available across the distillery’s distribution footprint, which includes Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, and internationally in Finland, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Italy, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.