Cedar Ridge Quintessential Single Malt Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Iowa’s Cedar Ridge Distillery has spent several years perfecting their malt whiskey. They released their first batch in 2014, and each successive batch saw a major tweak in the production process. At one point, they adopted a solera system, and no two batches were ever the same when it came to cask stock choices for both primary and secondary maturation.

But when I got my hands on Cedar Ridge The QuintEssential, it looked very much as if their era of tinkering and learning was over. Both the bottle and the canister design are strongly reminiscent of the Scotch whiskies that the father and son team at Cedar Ridge, Jeff and Murphy Quint, profess to admire (and yes, the title is a play on their family name as well).

For the 92 proof QuintEssential, the single malt whiskey is aged in Cedar Ridge’s own ex-bourbon barrels. From there, it goes out for finishing in a variety of cask types: brandy, rum, wine, port or sherry. Then the whiskey is brought back together for marrying in their solera vat.

The Whiskey
A pour of the QuintEssential takes on a light gold coloring, with a scent that is rather effervescent. I set it down, left the room for several minutes, and returned to find the nose reaching out to greet me from a distance of a couple of yards. That scent lead with red pears and honey, followed by notes of peppermint and lavender. So, it has fruity, sweet and herbal nose in the main, this atop a foundation of toasted cereals.

Taking a sip keeps those elements, but swaps their precedence and prominence. On the palate, the toasted cereals and honeyed syrup lead, while the red pears and herbs bring up the rear. The finish is sweet with honey and spice.

I don’t know which Scotch whisky the Quints admire most, but they’ve done a fair job of fitting into Speyside with this one.

The Price
The price tag is fairly in tune with Speyside as well: a bottle of Cedar Ridge The QuintEssential will set you back about $60.