CORN WHISKEY FAQ'S

A mash is a combination (a "mash-up") of grains in a blended spirit. The mash for Sierra Norte Whiskey combines pure grain 85% native Oaxacan corn and 15% malted barley. We source our corn from local farmers—nothing is genetically modified—and our barley from Mexican beer suppliers. The mash is then double distilled—first in stainless steel pot stills and then slowly in copper pot stills.

All Sierra Norte whiskey matures in French oak barrels. It is single-barrel bottling for maximum appreciation of the wonderful nuances that occur within each barrel. The barrel-aging process is an art, not a science, and the notes and flavors of each small batch of whiskey will vary.

Oaxaca is the birthplace of corn in the world. It has been growing in this region naturally for over 7,000 years. This ancestral corn is called Maiz Criollo.

The Maiz Criollo heirloom corn in Oaxaca grows in many colors. The most common corn colors are white, yellow, and black and we have smaller portions of red and green corn that we have been replanting and reviving from probable extinction. There are multi-colored corn cobs as well, which we use for our rainbow corn whiskey. We have built and grown heirloom corn seed banks over the past 30 years to preserve this heritage of “open pollinated seeds” which are neither hybrid nor GMO (genetically modified) corn.

Some of our heirloo corn is estate grown but most is grown by traditional farmers in the Oaxacan Valley, all within 10 miles of our distillery.

We buy heirloom corn grown and harvested by subsistence-level farmers who tend to single-village family farms. They preserve the local culture of heirloom corn in Oaxaca—a tradition passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. This is sustainable agriculture.

We purchase all our heirloom corn from single-village, small family farmers. They are preserving the tradition and culture of the criollo corn in Oaxaca that has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. They are subsistence-level farmers committed to traditional methods of sustainable agriculture.

No, we don't chill-filter our whiskey.

We use Bordeaux and Bourgogne red wine barrels. The barrels are French oak from the Limoges forest, one of the 7 forests in France where oak is sourced to make wine barrels.

The growers are single village small family farmers. They are subsistence level farmers. They are preserving the tradition and the culture of the criollo corn in Oaxaca that has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. This is sustainable agriculture.

We pay 2 to 3 times the market price of GMO corn for the natural (non-GMO) criollo corn. Because of this, local traditional farmers can earn fair wages, equally as much money as the GMO farmers and the imported corn suppliers. We promise to buy their whole crop at fair trade prices to ensure their livelihood. We offer long-term purchasing plans at fair trade prices so that the farmers can maintain economic stability and security, so they can remain in Oaxaca instead of migrating to the USA for work.

Master Distiller Douglas French has been hand-crafting fine spirits the old-fashioned way for 30 years, making natural mashes and slow double distillation in traditional pot stills.