Tennessee Whiskey Finished With Music??

Move over, BLACKENED. There's a new experimental, music-finished sheriff in town, and in classic Chattanooga fashion, they did it their way.

After more than a decade of distilling and over 50 experimental releases, Bad Chattanoogan marks Chattanooga Whiskey's first Tennessee Whiskey and serves as an ode to the city they call home.

The whiskey began with three high malt Tennessee Whiskey mash bills, made primarily from Tennessee-grown corn, wheat malt, and barley malt. To give their distillers a broad palette for blending, the three recipes varied in both grain and distillation method: two were pot distilled, one was column distilled, two were wheated, and one even included 15% Tennessee-grown maple-wood-smoked wheat malt — bringing maple into the whiskey before it was ever distilled.

After distillation, every drop was mellowed through sugar maple charcoal for more than 24 hours using the Lincoln County Process, then aged more than four years in toasted and charred oak barrels — much of it made from Tennessee-grown oak.

And for their first Tennessee Whiskey, they decided to take that connection to maple one step further.

Bad Chattanoogan was finished using playable toasted sugar maple records engraved with original music from Chattanooga rock ’n’ roll trio Dollars Family, fronted by Chattanooga Whiskey Creative Director Rich Abercrombie. Thirty wooden records were placed directly into the whiskey barrels for a 30-day finish, bringing the whiskey, the wood, the music, and Chattanooga together in one very unusual experiment.

The result is two distinct blends and two sides of one very Chattanooga story. Side A was finished on records engraved with “Bad Chattanoogan,” written specifically for the project, while Side B was finished on records carrying “City I Love,” Dollars Family’s own ode to Chattanooga. Every bottle also comes with a playable 4-inch TinyVinyl featuring both songs, so you can hear the music that helped finish the whiskey for yourself.

Side A Blend - "Bad Chattanoogan"
Blend: Mash Bill #1: 50%, Mash Bill #2: 6%, Mash Bill #3: 44%
Age: Greater than 4 Years
Proof: 100 (50% Alc/Vol)
Cooperage: Toasted & Charred Oak Barrels, 44% TN Oak
Batch Size: 9 Barrels
Style: Tennessee Whiskey
Finishing: 1 month with 15 maple wood records engraved with the song "Bad Chattanoogan"
Tasting Notes: Sweet tea, banana bread, chocolate covered dried cherry, and toasted maple granola

Side B Blend - "City I Love"
Blend: Mash Bill #1: 0%, Mash Bill #2: 56%, Mash Bill #3: 44%
Age: Greater than 4 Years
Proof: 100 (50% Alc/Vol)
Cooperage: Toasted & Charred Oak Barrels, 89% TN Oak
Batch Size: 9 Barrels
Style: Tennessee Whiskey
Finishing: 1 month with 15 maple wood records engraved with the song "City I Love"
Tasting Notes: Smoked apple crisp, crème brûlée, dark brown sugar, toasted walnut, and mulling spices