Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon returns: Sold out whiskey a ‘lesson in patience’
Chris Cross, co-owner and operator of New World Distillery, poses inside the Ogden distillery with all six handcrafted spirits.
Beautiful artwork matters. "It's the first thing people see," owners Ashley and Chris Cross said. The Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon pays tribute to Ogden's railroad history.
The still at New World Distillery, easily visible through the glass wall from the tasting room, offers 100% transparency.
The Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon won a silver medal from the American Distilling Institute.
A view of New World Distillery, where educational tours — on hold for the time being due to COVID-19 — are one of the most important efforts in contributing to their industry, owners say.
The last batch of Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon sold out in 57 minutes after its August 2020 release, said New World Distillery owners Ashley and Chris Cross. As they were getting ready to restock more than 500 additional bottles of the award-winning bourbon, reemerging on shelves Thursday, March 11, they opened their Eden distillery, where it will be sold exclusively, to discuss the “painful lesson in patience” that is the art of whiskey-making.
Part of the reason for the swift sales is limited supply. Chris Cross said they’re going as fast as they can to keep up with demand but the only time he can do bourbon is when there’s a break in the production schedule.
Open since Dec. 19, 2016, the Crosses have crafted and produce six spirits that aim to “exceed the quality and limitations of big booze,” four of which are available in liquor stores across the state: Oomaw Gin, Rabbit and Grass Agave Spirits Blanco and Reposado, and Wasatch Blossom Utah Tart Cherry Liquor. Ogden Valley Vodka, one of only two vodkas in the country distilled from agave, the seasonal Uncharted Series, and Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon are only available at the distillery.
The first batch of Nine Rails Bourbon didn’t arrive until December 2019, after they got a device that allowed them to mash grains, essential for whiskey, and started the painstaking process of hands-on experimentation. “You have to have experience to know how to do it,” said Chris Cross, who was distilling in his backyard for over a decade before opening New World Distillery. “There are a lot of steps in the process, and rather than a checklist, you’ve got to think about every step, how each changes the outcome, and how you can do it better.”
He said people in “big booze” typically follow a checklist and ferment as fast as they can to get more out, but fermenting more slowly results in better-flavored alcohol. “It’s the same reason lasagna tastes better two days later,” Ashley Cross said. And unlike other producers, New World doesn’t source. The Crosses do everything themselves; they mash, ferment and age on site.
“Even if you are making your product on-site, you still have to differentiate yours from all the rest,” Chris Cross said.
According to the Crosses, Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon is distinguished by its unique mash bill (the specific mixture and proper ratio of grains used to make whiskey) and three-dimensional flavor.
A proper bourbon only requires a minimum of 51% corn, according to Chris Cross. “If you go to 10 or 12 distilleries in Kentucky, they are all doing it the same. There is not a lot of ingenuity,” he said.
He explained that they tend to have very similar mash bills, probably around 75% corn. “Why, if you have from 51-100?” he asked. It is the lower corn ratio in his bourbon, he said, that results in a bigger flavor profile.
“A big slab of European butter on top of cinnamon toast” is how Ashley Cross describes it. Chris Cross said bourbon is usually two-dimensional with a sweet start from the corn and a body but without that third finish. “You want that back of the throat taste,” he said. “We’ve got that in there.”
Theirs is the only bourbon in the state that is fermented and distilled on the grain, according to Ashley Cross. “It’s better than anything you might taste on a commercial big booze scale,” she said. Typically, the grain is mashed and separated from the wort, then the wort is distilled, she explained. “We don’t separate anything.”
Chris Cross said having the organics (grains) present with the alcohol is how flavor is developed, and nobody else is doing it because “it’s hard and messy.” But whiskey is different from beer. “We care about the actual alcohol taste when it comes to whiskey,” he said.
The beautiful artwork on the handsome bottle adds to its attraction. Ashley Cross said artist Tyler Davis (42 Brushes) from Salt Lake, who also did their logo and the intricate dragonfly image on the Oomaw gin bottle, “knocked it out of the park.” If you look closely at the foil wrap along the edge, you can see the railroad spikes by their color specialist, who also added the cream color.
A bourbon of such high distinction deserves a name that pays honorary tribute to the area in which it’s made. Ashley Cross said the name Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon was inspired by the creative district that was burgeoning downtown. “The Monarch was developing about the time when we started conceptualizing what we wanted the bourbon to be like, and we tied that all in with the history of Ogden,” she said. Loyal Ogdenites since 1999, Ashley and Chris Cross said it was important for them to get the name into the title.
Ogden Nine Rails Bourbon will be available at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 11, at New World Distillery in Ogden. The line may be long, so they warn to get there early. And there’s no limit because, as their saying goes — “It’s not government cheese.” Visit newworlddistillery.com.